Artworks2017Axis Mundi
Axis Mundi
Patinated bronze and steel
1800 x 1800 x 250mm
Gavin Turk’s Axis Mundi, a cover for the new ecological bore hole at Paddington Basin is a out of scale bronze facsimile of a traditional well-used sink plug. Referencing the work is Bouche-evier a work by Marcel Duchamp the cast of a plug hole. The name of the sculpture Axis Mundi means ‘Centre of the Earth’ (the point between heaven and earth where the four compass points meet), reminiscent of the Socle du Monde by Piero Manzoni. The work continues in the spirit of the artists previous public art commissions, which include a 12m bronze ‘Nail’ outside St Paul’s Cathedral and a series of freestanding painted bronze doors ‘L’Âge d’Or’ and ‘Ajar’.