Gavin Turk (b 1967) is a British born, international artist. He has pioneered many forms of contemporary British sculpture now taken for granted, including the painted bronze, the waxwork, the recycled art-historical icon and the use of rubbish in art.

Turk’s installations and sculptures deal with issues of authorship, authenticity and identity. Concerned with the ‘myth’ of the artist and the ‘authorship’ of a work, Turk’s engagement with this modernist, avant-garde debate stretches back to the ready-mades of Marcel Duchamp.

Gavin Turk (b 1967) is a British born, international artist. He has pioneered many forms of contemporary British sculpture now taken for granted, including the painted bronze, the waxwork, the recycled art-historical icon and the use of rubbish in art. Turk’s installations and sculptures deal with issues of authorship, authenticity and identity. Concerned with the ‘myth’ of the artist and the ‘authorship’ of a work, Turk’s engagement with this modernist, avant-garde debate stretches back to the ready-mades of Marcel Duchamp.

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Following a long-established art historical tradition, eggs have a metaphorical role in Gavin Turk’s work. A symbol of life and creation, originality and mortality, eggs feature in his practice as giant totems, surreal heads and signatures made from broken shells, as well as in liquid forms as mayonnaise, and egg tempera paint. In total, Turk has created over 600 artworks where the egg is present.

Oeuvre (Verdigris)&nbsp;is made of bronze and features markings reminiscent of a duck egg. Placed in a natural landscape setting at YSP, this oversized egg seems realistic and familiar, whilst also being comic and surreal due to its scale.&nbsp;Oeuvre (Verdigris)&nbsp;is part of a series of works based on different birds’ eggs. Their titles play on the similarity between the word for the life’s work of an artist – ‘Oeuvre’ – and the French word for egg – ‘oeuf’.

Courtesy of Gavin Turk’s studio and Ben Brown Fine Arts.

Further information <a href="https://ysp.org.uk/art-outdoors/oeuvre-verdigris">here</a>.&nbsp;

Eggs

Following a long-established art historical tradition, eggs have a metaphorical role in Gavin Turk’s work. A symbol of life and creation, originality and mortality, eggs feature in his practice as giant totems, surreal heads and signatures made from broken shells, as well as in liquid forms as mayonnaise, and egg tempera paint. In total, Turk has created over 600 artworks where the egg is present.

Gavin Turk: Oeuvre (Verdigris)

Gavin Turk subverts still-life painting and says: ‘We are what we throw away’In his new series of paintings, British artist Gavin Turk presents arrangements of domestic and commercial packaging. Displayed against monochrome backgrounds, flattening the depth of field, the objects jostle for space and attention, the bright oranges, blues and highlighter-yellows of manufactured plastic countering the muted earth- and stone-tones of cardboard, jars, and eggboxes.&nbsp;While these paintings affirm the artist’s enduring interest in consumer waste – the subject of his famous Bag (2000), a bronze sculpture resembling a black bin liner, bulging with rubbish, as well as recent watercolours of single-use plastic bottles – ‘The Conspiracy of Blindness’ also engages with the work of Italian artist Giorgio Morandi, best known for his own paintings of sleekly formed domestic objects.&nbsp;(‘My art is always other people's art,’ <a href="https://www.wallpaper.com/art/gavin-turk-interview-kerze-london">Turk told us in a 2023 interview</a>, of his approach of referencing other artists in his work.)<h2 id="gavin-turk-x2018-we-are-what-we-throw-away-x2019-3">Gavin Turk: ‘We are what we throw away’</h2>‘One can travel this world and see nothing,’ said Morandi. ‘To achieve understanding it is necessary not to see many things, but to look hard at what you do see.’ Echoing the restricted palette and distinctive stillness of Morandi’s work, Turk’s paintings encourage us to ‘look hard’ at the objects furnishing our lives, brought into homes, often then buried in landfill.&nbsp;In Turk’s hands, these accumulated objects acquire a sense of abstraction. Stripped of their identifying marks and labels, removed from their original contexts, the pure form of each bottle, box, or carton is permitted to take centre stage, at once recognisable and strangely defamiliarised, beautiful and oddly alien. Begun as an attempt to catalogue his own encounters with disposable packaging – what he has termed ‘an exercise in self-portraiture’ – Turk’s paintings confront our habits of consumerism and the global ramifications of the products that surround us.&nbsp;The titles of each painting offer an index, both honest and exposing, of the items on display, restoring brand names and identities, as in the ‘Thai Dragon Siracha Hot Chilli Sauce’ and ‘Scala Vegan Basil Pesto’ of one canvas, or the tubs of ‘Delphi Foods Humous’ and boxes of ‘Maldon Sea Salt Flakes’ that recur in several paintings.&nbsp;It is as though Turk’s series mounts a two-part challenge to the viewer: What would these paintings show if they were yours? Would you be happy to display them in a gallery in London? The work is reminiscent of Michael Landy’s installation, Break Down (2000), which saw the artist offer up his personal belongings (7,226 items) for systematic destruction, dismantled by a team of workers along a conveyer belt, an inverted production line.&nbsp;Turk’s paintings subvert the conventions of traditional still-life painting. Where the lavish spreads of shellfish, fruits, and perishable flowers of 17th-century Dutch still life imply the inevitable rotting and disintegration of their contents, Turk’s plastic bottles and containers don’t so easily suggest a set of objects on the cusp of vanishing&nbsp;On the contrary, it seems almost possible that Turk’s paintings won’t outlive the very objects they depict, that his bottles of ‘Squeeze It Orange Drink’ may still be here long after we have disappeared. Turk’s new paintings confront us, boldly, with this legacy. As he so bluntly puts it: ‘We are what we throw away.’&nbsp;Gavin Turk, ‘The Conspiracy of Blindness’ is at Ben Brown Fine Arts from 15 March – 10 May 2024Full article can be read <a href="https://www.wallpaper.com/art/exhibitions-shows/gavin-turk-still-life-paintings-conspiracy-of-blindness-ben-brown-fine-arts-london">here</a>.&nbsp;

Gavin Turk Maldon Sea Salt Flakes, Cif Original Cream Cleaner, Morrisons Thick Bleach Lemon, Dr Bronner's Organic 18-in-1 Rose Pure-Castile Soap, Duvel Belgium Strong Blond, Yeo Valley Organic Whole Milk, Farm Shop Organic Free Range Eggs, 2023

Gavin Turk considers wasteful consumer culture in ‘The Conspiracy of Blindness’ at Ben Brown Fine Arts, London

Gavin Turk subverts still-life painting and says: ‘We are what we throw away’In his new series of paintings, British artist Gavin Turk presents arrangements of domestic and commercial packaging. Displayed against monochrome backgrounds, flattening the depth of field, the objects jostle for space and attention, the bright oranges, blues and highlighter-yellows of manufactured plastic countering the muted earth- and stone-tones of cardboard, jars, and eggboxes. 

Article - Wallpaper* by Rowland Bagnall

GAVIN TURK ON CONTEMPORARY SOCIETY’S ‘CONSPIRACY OF BLINDNESS’Lee Sharrock in conversation with <a href="https://fadmagazine.com/tag/Gavin-Turk">Gavin Turk</a> about his solo exhibition at <a href="https://fadmagazine.com/tag/ben-brown-fine-arts/">Ben Brown Fine Arts</a>, how it relates to society’s ‘conspiracy of blindness’ towards over-consumption and waste, influences from Magritte to Morandi, and his reinvention as a ‘domestic anthropologist’.&nbsp;Lee Sharrock: Is your exhibition The Conspiracy of Blindness at Ben Brown a version of your recent&nbsp; ‘Still Life’ solo show at Maruani Mercier Knokke gallery in Belgium? And where did the title come from?&nbsp;Gavin Turk: The Magrittian show title comes from the Idea that there is a conspiracy of blindness to waste. Currently, over-consumption is an ideological norm that is part of the systemic breakdown of the environment that itself challenges a habitable world.Since September last year, I have been concentrating on a series of paintings of empty packaging from stuff I have consumed. The still lifes re-frame these objects, creating portraits of waste. The shapes and colours of the objects often ‘supermarket’ familiar return the viewer to the historical and technical necessity of packaging. The show The Conspiracy of Blindness at Ben Brown gallery is a continuation of the exhibition ‘Still Life’ at Maruani Mercier gallery in Belgium that took place at the end of last year.&nbsp;You’ve described yourself as a ‘domestic anthropologist’, what do you mean by that?&nbsp;&nbsp;‘Domestic anthropology’ is a new concept I am exploring. I understand it as an exploration into the familiar items of home life, through the lens of the uncanny or the unheimlich (un-homely). Mundane objects such as the black bin bag on the doorstep reflect societal interpretations. Everyday actions like going to the local shop signify identity politics, showcasing cultural boundaries. Notions of waste become central to the search for value and by implication what is believed to be real.&nbsp;The paintings featured in The Conspiracy of Blindness are inspired by 20th Century Italian artist Giorgio Morandi, yet you have decided to depict ordinary objects such as unbranded sauce bottles and cleaning products. What is it about seemingly mundane, everyday objects that inspires you to make them focal points of your artworks?&nbsp;Giorgio Morandi has become a kind of standard in relation to the still life painting; ‘Natura Morta’ (in Italian crudely translated as dead nature)&nbsp;He painted over a thousand small pictures of a limited number of vessels, vases, cups and pots with particular attention to the light. The paintings have a minimal background, painted in his bedroom studio and are often reduced to a single line; table and wall behind.&nbsp;My paintings are of emptied packaging, taken from my kitchen and placed in my studio. I then curate mise en scene with the objects, sometimes overpainting the outside of the forms or the insides. I am interested in the graphical element of the objects; however, in this Morandi-esque process, it’s not my focus.&nbsp; I am enjoying questioning the classical mythical lens of painting, by using it to depict what would normally be discarded.&nbsp;You have a busy exhibition schedule for 2024 including a group show in France, ‘Faire Corps’ at FoundationVilla Datris’ in May and ‘Rebel Garden’ at the Musea Brugge in April. Are there any exhibitions or collaborations you’re particularly excited about this year?&nbsp;I am excited to be putting together a catalogue around this new series of still lifes, of which Darian Leader (British psychoanalyst and author) has already written an excellent essay. Following this, I am looking at various public sculptures and speaking with Museums on solo exhibitions on new works and retrospectives. News to follow soon…You are one of the OG ‘Young British Artists’, since your 1991 MA exhibition, where you presented a whitewashed studio space containing a single blue heritage plaque commemorating your presence, attracted the attention of Charles Saatchi.&nbsp; Do you ever tire of the Moniker YBA?&nbsp;Yes, I think the main point is it was a very useful shorthand to talk about a particular moment in history. I suppose I’m less interested in my past and more interested in the present. Obviously, I do like to bring art history into the present! I continue to experiment, in the search of my metier.&nbsp;As a multi-disciplinary artist, do you enjoy the audience interaction that your outdoor sculptures inspire – such as the monumental door that you exhibited in Frieze Sculpture Park a couple of years ago –&nbsp; as opposed to the less participatory experience viewers are offered through your paintings?&nbsp;I enjoy any or all forms of engagement with my work. I like the audience to be involved, whether it’s spiritually, physically or conceptually. LÂge d’Or (Green &amp; Red), 2019 was brilliant at Frieze, it’s now permanently placed in Rotterdam directly opposite the Fenix Migration Museum, as part of Sculpture International Rotterdam.&nbsp;&nbsp;I do think, however, that the painting exhibition is something of an installation. The window of the gallery has an assemblage mimicking my studio set up and within the show, each frame is carefully considered. As such it gives a sense that each work has had a lived experience, and then been recalled especially for this exhibition.During more than three decades of artistic practice, you have challenged perceived notions of value, identity, authorship and identity through your work, sometimes referencing modern masters, other times placing yourself in your artworks. Where does your inspiration come from, and what is the starting point for each oeuvre?&nbsp;For me, it all starts with a question of origin, a bit like an egg. You crack it open, and there’s this whole world of possibilities inside.&nbsp;My inspiration? It’s like a compost of art history, everyday experiences, and those lightbulb moments when something just clicks. They often sneak up on me when I’m least expecting it, when I’m deep into something else entirely. My brain’s on this constant treasure hunt for ideas, and sometimes it strikes gold when I’m looking the other way. A bit like solving a puzzle, but the pieces keep changing shape as you go. I love diving into the problem-solving aspect of art, tweaking and tinkering until it feels just right. But, you know, every solution tends to throw up a dozen more questions, which keeps the whole cycle going.&nbsp;Gavin Turk, The Conspiracy of Blindness through to 10th May 2024, <a href="https://www.benbrownfinearts.com/exhibitions/212-gavin-turk-the-conspiracy-of-blindness/">Ben Brown Fine Arts</a>Full piece can be accessed <a href="https://fadmagazine.com/2024/04/05/gavin-turk-on-contemporary-societys-conspiracy-of-blindness/">here.&nbsp;</a>

Gavin Turk - The Conspiracy of Blindness 

GAVIN TURK ON CONTEMPORARY SOCIETY’S ‘CONSPIRACY OF BLINDNESS’

GAVIN TURK ON CONTEMPORARY SOCIETY’S ‘CONSPIRACY OF BLINDNESS’Lee Sharrock in conversation with Gavin Turk about his solo exhibition at Ben Brown Fine Arts, how it relates to society’s ‘conspiracy of blindness’ towards over-consumption and waste, influences from Magritte to Morandi, and his reinvention as a ‘domestic anthropologist’. 

Interview - FAD Magzine by Lee Sharrock 

Frieze 20th Anniversary, visit Ben Brown Fine Arts at FRIEZE MASTERS Stand B13 for Seminal works by Gavin, including 'Cavey' a ‘historical blue plaque’ to commemorate work done by the artist during his time at the Royal College of Art. The blue ceramic English heritage plaque reads “Gavin Turk, Sculptor, worked here 1989 – 1991”. A commemoration of a life, it marks the presence of the artist with the most powerful and evocative of the tools that might be at his disposal - his absence. The curtain has fallen. The titles are rolling. Gavin Turk has left the stage. Death as performance. 
 
Plato’s famous allegory, tells of a hidden reality we can neither see nor know. In an unexpected twist to the tale, Cave has additionally become infamous as the piece of work that "won" Turk a fail for his Masters which he had been studying for at the Royal College of Art. Ironically, it has gone on to become regarded as one of Turk's most iconic pieces.

Ben Brown Fine Arts

Frieze 20th Anniversary, visit Ben Brown Fine Arts at FRIEZE MASTERS Stand B13 for Seminal works by Gavin, including 'Cavey' a ‘historical blue plaque’ to commemorate work done by the artist during his time at the Royal College of Art. The blue ceramic English heritage plaque reads “Gavin Turk, Sculptor, worked here 1989 – 1991”. A commemoration of a life, it marks the presence of the artist with the most powerful and evocative of the tools that might be at his disposal - his absence. The curtain has fallen. The titles are rolling. Gavin Turk has left the stage. Death as performance.

Frieze Masters 2023

Ben Brown Fine Arts is thrilled to announce ‘The Conspiracy of Blindness’, our fifth solo exhibition of British artist Gavin Turk at the London gallery (15th March – 10th May). The exhibition will reveal a recent series of still-life paintings that pay homage to early 20th century Italian artist Giorgio Morandi. In typical Turk style, he has subverted Morandi’s serene arrangements of vases and handmade vessels, by replacing the models with quotidian product packaging.The paintings in this anachronistic series are meticulously executed in a restricted tonal palette against a monochrome ground, some of the objects highlighted in accents of colour, inviting a close study of the rhythmically arranged lines and forms. The audience is encouraged to explore these curious juxtapositions, as empty containers from used products are elevated to classical models, while simultaneously reminding us of our consumer driven culture.

Ben Brown Fine Arts is thrilled to announce ‘The Conspiracy of Blindness’, our fifth solo exhibition of British artist Gavin Turk at the London gallery (15th March – 10th May). The exhibition will reveal a recent series of still-life paintings that pay homage to early 20th century Italian artist Giorgio Morandi. In typical Turk style, he has subverted Morandi’s serene arrangements of vases and handmade vessels, by replacing the models with quotidian product packaging.

The Conspiracy of Blindness

MARUANI MERCIER is pleased to present Still Life, an exhibition of a new series of paintings by Gavin Turk, on view at the Knokke Zeedijk gallery from December 23, 2023 to January 21, 2024. In Still Life, Turk carefully paints images of product packaging arranged in a way that recalls the work of the artist Giorgio Morandi. Each work is uniquely framed, creating an impression that each work has had its own journey and has been brought back together for this exhibition. Conflating the slow and layered painterly process of classical still life with images of disposable objects, the works highlight the ever-accelerating pace of consumption in the present-day economy. “It’s a kind of proto-realistic method that includes images of not only what we throw away but a genre of painting.” – Gavin Turk The paintings are executed in a restricted tonal palette against a monochrome ground, some of the objects are highlighted in accents of colour, inviting a close study of rhythmically arranged lines and forms. Empty bottles in glass and plastic, reflect the hues of nearby objects, simultaneously alluding to the shortness of their shelf-life. Foregrounding empty containers as classical still-life models, Turk addresses the awkward invisibility of these items, designed to be discarded and ultimately devoid of tangible value to the consumer in a culture driven by convenience. Stripped of labels or branding, the quotidian nature of the shapes is nevertheless obvious in artwork titles which list all products employed in the composition in a kind of diaristic fashion. Indeed, all the products featured in the series were used by the artist or his friends and family, suggesting an unexpected role of food containers as traces of one’s presence over time. He says, "We are what we throw away." Presenting a considerable variance in shapes, the objects in the paintings emerge as relics of our material culture. Designed to evoke a specific psychic response, such as desire or trust in the product, images of packaging here summon a reflection on the nature and repercussions of our day-to-day consumer choices. This exploration of pathos and nostalgia serves as a reminder that in the detritus of our disposable culture, there exists an elusive meaning that can unlock the clues to what we might wish to take forward into our future.

MARUANI MERCIER is pleased to present Still Life, an exhibition of a new series of paintings by Gavin Turk, on view at the Knokke Zeedijk gallery from December 23, 2023 to January 21, 2024. In Still Life, Turk carefully paints images of product packaging arranged in a way that recalls the work of the artist Giorgio Morandi. Each work is uniquely framed, creating an impression that each work has had its own journey and has been brought back together for this exhibition.

Inside the Studio: Gavin Turk On His New Series 'Still Life

Enter the studio of British artist Gavin Turk as he describes his artistic style and past work in our first Inside the Artist's Studio (ITAS) of our 2022 Winter Auction.

Lot 200. Gavin Turk, 4 Eggs. Photograph on Paper.

Enter the studio of British artist Gavin Turk as he describes his artistic style and past work in our first Inside the Artist's Studio (ITAS) of our 2022 Winter Auction. Lot 200. Gavin Turk, 4 Eggs. Photograph on Paper.

Gavin Turk: Oeuvre (Verdigris) Yorkshire Sculpture Park

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The Conspiracy of Blindness

Inside the Studio: Gavin Turk On His New Series 'Still Life

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