Cosmic Egg (Moon Rising)

Mixed media and resin on plywood

Eggs

Alchemy

Recycling

Plywood, plexiglass and found water-bottles

Bottles

Untitled (Newham 069, 751)

Installation info: Can be installed in different configurations under guidance by artist'The broken mirror maze degraded and shattered so it exists as a series of small corners or small barriers. Once proudly installed as a clinical, controlled and controlling architecture, the panels are now coated with distressed paper and the ingress of moisture behind the film. The milky failure of perfect material corrupted with the organic deposits of mildew and spores. The title as a thinly veiled spoken word play on Duchamp’s ‘the Large Glass’ refers to the eponymous Yard. That place of abandoned things contains the accumulation of human aspiration and cultural failure.  Smashed but preserved in a broken form, capitalising on the natural process of nature reclaiming even the most impenetrable of materials. The constituent parts create a mathematical labyrinth drifting apart like icebergs in the space. An ancient symbol now a dotted-line imbroglio. Reflecting back our shattered selves.'Text by Gavin Turk, 2015

The Yard Glass

Aluminium Frame, laminated glass, mirror film and paper residue

'The broken mirror maze degraded and shattered so it exists as a series of small corners or small barriers. Once proudly installed as a clinical, controlled and controlling architecture, the panels are now coated with distressed paper and the ingress of moisture behind the film. The milky failure of perfect material corrupted with the organic deposits of mildew and spores. The title as a thinly veiled spoken word play on Duchamp’s ‘the Large Glass’ refers to the eponymous Yard. That place of abandoned things contains the accumulation of human aspiration and cultural failure. Smashed but preserved in a broken form, capitalising on the natural process of nature reclaiming even the most impenetrable of materials. The constituent parts create a mathematical labyrinth drifting apart like icebergs in the space. An ancient symbol now a dotted-line imbroglio. Reflecting back our shattered selves.'Text by Gavin Turk, 2015

Labyrinths

Duchamp

Sculpture

Installation info: Can be installed in different configurations under guidance by artist 'The broken mirror maze degraded and shattered so it exists as a series of small corners or small barriers. Once proudly installed as a clinical, controlled and controlling architecture, the panels are now coated with distressed paper and the ingress of moisture behind the film. The milky failure of perfect material corrupted with the organic deposits of mildew and spores. The title as a thinly veiled spoken word play on Duchamp’s ‘the Large Glass’ refers to the eponymous Yard.

Gavin Turk was commissioned by Opera Erratica to design the set of a three-part opera piece titled Triptych.This original opera consists of three seemingly unrelated plays, composed by Chris Mayo, Thomas Smetryns and Christian Mason, with librettos by Orlando Wells and Patrick Eakin Young. Here, a selection of Gavin Turk's artworks are reproduced in a trompe l'oeil fashion as a simulation of the artist's exhibition, and reinserted into the context of the stage. In relation to Turk's oeuvre this presentation effects a double-distancing (a simulacrum of the simulacrum), or mise en abîme i.e a technique in which an image contains a smaller copy of itself. The stage becomes an apt conceptual space for themes of representation, reproduction and recomposition - and also for the deconstruction of these themes. As a back-drop it prevents each play from sitting too comfortably on itself, acting as a doubly false setting that occasionally reverts into the real setting as the characters' roles shift and return to their original stance.

Triptych

Paint on canvas and wood

Gavin Turk was commissioned by Opera Erratica to design the set of a three-part opera piece titled Triptych.This original opera consists of three seemingly unrelated plays, composed by Chris Mayo, Thomas Smetryns and Christian Mason, with librettos by Orlando Wells and Patrick Eakin Young. Here, a selection of Gavin Turk's artworks are reproduced in a trompe l'oeil fashion as a simulation of the artist's exhibition, and reinserted into the context of the stage. In relation to Turk's oeuvre this presentation effects a double-distancing (a simulacrum of the simulacrum), or mise en abîme i.e a technique in which an image contains a smaller copy of itself. The stage becomes an apt conceptual space for themes of representation, reproduction and recomposition - and also for the deconstruction of these themes. As a back-drop it prevents each play from sitting too comfortably on itself, acting as a doubly false setting that occasionally reverts into the real setting as the characters' roles shift and return to their original stance.

Art History

The End

Performance

Installation

Gavin Turk was commissioned by Opera Erratica to design the set of a three-part opera piece titled Triptych.This original opera consists of three seemingly unrelated plays, composed by Chris Mayo, Thomas Smetryns and Christian Mason, with librettos by Orlando Wells and Patrick Eakin Young. Here, a selection of Gavin Turk's artworks are reproduced in a trompe l'oeil fashion as a simulation of the artist's exhibition, and reinserted into the context of the stage.

Installation info: Handle carefully with gloves, ensuring when placed it is done so gently as painted edges are fragile. Ensure signed underside is face down.  Avoid direct sunlight, temperature fluctuations and moisture.

H.M.S Queequeg

Painted bronze

Waste

Packaging

The Sea

Domestic

Painted Bronze

Installation info: Handle carefully with gloves, ensuring when placed it is done so gently as painted edges are fragile. Ensure signed underside is face down. Avoid direct sunlight, temperature fluctuations and moisture.

H.M.S Ahab

Installation info: Handle carefully with gloves, ensuring when placed it is done so gently as painted edges are fragile. Ensure signed underside is face down.  Avoid direct sunlight, temperature fluctuations and moisture.Painted bronze cast of an open match box containing two matches

H.M.S Odyssey

Installation info: Handle carefully with gloves, ensuring when placed it is done so gently as painted edges are fragile. Ensure signed underside is face down. Avoid direct sunlight, temperature fluctuations and moisture.Painted bronze cast of an open match box containing two matches

Trompe L'oeil

Installation info: Handle carefully with gloves, ensuring when placed it is done so gently as painted edges are fragile. Ensure signed underside is face down. Avoid direct sunlight, temperature fluctuations and moisture. Painted bronze cast of an open match box containing two matches

H.M.S Ulysses

Found carton drink carrier resembling a face hung from either vertical orientation.

Ready Made

Rotavator

A frame taken from a 1970's Warhol artwork reused by the Artist to surround a white signature written backwards on the inside of a perspex cover casting a shadow signature on to a white canvas.

This is one of a series of works made bringing together recycling and the signature. They bring the two together in a seamless join. The obviousness of the idea hides its complexity. The piece starts with a second hand frame which has come from a small Andy Warhol print that has probably found itself upgraded to a newer frame. Into the frame is set a blank canvas. This ensemble is then set into a perspex box frame which has been signed by the artist on the inside with a chinagraph pencil. The signature then casts a shadow onto the blank canvas and the shadow of the signature becomes the subject of the picture. Except it is not quite so simple as that. The artist has, for instance, signed his signature backwards so that it can be captured on the inside of the outer frame but still read forwards.

Andy Warhol Self-portrait with Hands Around Neck

Recycled frame, acrylic on canvas & chinagraph pencil

Appropriation

Warhol

Signatures

A frame taken from a 1970's Warhol artwork reused by the Artist to surround a white signature written backwards on the inside of a perspex cover casting a shadow signature on to a white canvas.

Photograph of all the works in the South London Gallery exhibition 'The Stuff Show' covered up in the style of Christo for the opening night. Guests at the opening of Turk’s solo exhibition at the South London Gallery in 1998 found that the artist had covered all of the works with linen dustsheets for the evening. Turk had effectively made a one-night exhibition inviting the audience to take a look at their own expectations, and responses ranged from wry enjoyment to outright indignation. ‘Droste Effect’ is a panoramic image of the covered exhibition, and was itself included among the covered works – an apparent impossibility; how could the photograph be on the white wall while it has been taken? The work’s title comes from a Dutch cocoa powder, Droste, which features on its tin a picture of a nun carrying a tray with a tin of Droste, which in turn has the same picture of the nun….and on into infinity.

Droste Effect

C-type colour print collage

Photograph of all the works in the South London Gallery exhibition 'The Stuff Show' covered up in the style of Christo for the opening night. Guests at the opening of Turk’s solo exhibition at the South London Gallery in 1998 found that the artist had covered all of the works with linen dustsheets for the evening. Turk had effectively made a one-night exhibition inviting the audience to take a look at their own expectations, and responses ranged from wry enjoyment to outright indignation. ‘Droste Effect’ is a panoramic image of the covered exhibition, and was itself included among the covered works – an apparent impossibility; how could the photograph be on the white wall while it has been taken? The work’s title comes from a Dutch cocoa powder, Droste, which features on its tin a picture of a nun carrying a tray with a tin of Droste, which in turn has the same picture of the nun….and on into infinity.

Infinity

Photographic Work

Photograph of all the works in the South London Gallery exhibition 'The Stuff Show' covered up in the style of Christo for the opening night. Guests at the opening of Turk’s solo exhibition at the South London Gallery in 1998 found that the artist had covered all of the works with linen dustsheets for the evening. Turk had effectively made a one-night exhibition inviting the audience to take a look at their own expectations, and responses ranged from wry enjoyment to outright indignation.

The skip image used on a poster advertising the &lsquo;Material Culture&rsquo; exhibition cut out and collaged onto plain white paper.

Pimp Recycled

Printed image on paper

Rubbish

Work on paper

The skip image used on a poster advertising the ‘Material Culture’ exhibition cut out and collaged onto plain white paper.

A page torn from an Yves Klein catalogue originally showing Klein&rsquo;s 'Untitled Monogold&rsquo;, altered by the Artist by adding a recycling symbol in gold leaf.This work, like &lsquo;Untitled Blue Flag&rsquo; (1997) and &rsquo;24 Carat GT&rsquo; (1997), also started with a page ripped out of an Yves Klein catalogue. This time the title of the original artwork &lsquo;Untitled Monogold&rsquo; (1967) morphed into &lsquo;Recycled Monogold&rsquo; (1997) with the addition of a recycling symbol in gold leaf. The circular universe. Nothing is new under the sun.

Recycled Monogold

Gold leaf on printed paper

Klein

A page torn from an Yves Klein catalogue originally showing Klein’s 'Untitled Monogold’, altered by the Artist by adding a recycling symbol in gold leaf.This work, like ‘Untitled Blue Flag’ (1997) and ’24 Carat GT’ (1997), also started with a page ripped out of an Yves Klein catalogue. This time the title of the original artwork ‘Untitled Monogold’ (1967) morphed into ‘Recycled Monogold’ (1997) with the addition of a recycling symbol in gold leaf. The circular universe. Nothing is new under the sun.

The Artists signature in the centre of a piece of recycled paper with recycling logo in bottom right corner.

Recycled Title

Pen & pencil on recycled paper

The Artists signature in the centre of a piece of recycled paper with recycling logo in bottom right corner.

A three panel painting of the artists signature entirely made from recycled materials with information about the materials used hand-sewn in the bottom right corner. Produced while studying at the Royal College, this was Turk’s first signature-based work. Being a student at the time, his signature was worth little in the art world and, as the artist’s signature was brazenly the painting’s only subject, Turk expected some viewers to take exception to such a provocative art work. To counter these reactions, Turk made the work from recycled materials and employed a medieval string-and-peg process to stretch the canvas, avoiding staples and environmentally damaging adhesives. He even planted a tree to replace the recycled timber. The construction process was explained as a small label onto the canvas: nobody could criticise the work for being a waste of resources. In essence, the piece took nothing from the world and gave nothing back, except the artist labour.

Title

Lead free pigment on canvas

A three panel painting of the artists signature entirely made from recycled materials with information about the materials used hand-sewn in the bottom right corner.Produced while studying at the Royal College, this was Turk’s first signature-based work. Being a student at the time, his signature was worth little in the art world and, as the artist’s signature was brazenly the painting’s only subject, Turk expected some viewers to take exception to such a provocative art work. To counter these reactions, Turk made the work from recycled materials and employed a medieval string-and-peg process to stretch the canvas, avoiding staples and environmentally damaging adhesives. He even planted a tree to replace the recycled timber. The construction process was explained as a small label onto the canvas: nobody could criticise the work for being a waste of resources. In essence, the piece took nothing from the world and gave nothing back, except the artist labour.

Identity

Artist

Painting

A three panel painting of the artists signature entirely made from recycled materials with information about the materials used hand-sewn in the bottom right corner. Produced while studying at the Royal College, this was Turk’s first signature-based work. Being a student at the time, his signature was worth little in the art world and, as the artist’s signature was brazenly the painting’s only subject, Turk expected some viewers to take exception to such a provocative art work.