Turk, Gavin (b.1967)

Creator details

Name
Turk, Gavin (b.1967)
Nationality
British
Biography
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. In 1991, the Royal College of Art refused Turk a degree on the basis that his final show, ‘Cave’, consisted of a whitewashed studio space containing only a blue heritage plaque commemorating his presence ‘Gavin Turk worked here 1989-91'. Instantly gaining notoriety through this installation, Turk was spotted by Charles Saatchi and was included in several YBA exhibitions. Turk’s work has since been collected and exhibited by many major museums and galleries throughout the world. Turk has recently been commissioned to make several public sculptures including L'Âge d'Or (2016), sited on the south corner of the Press Centre building in the Olympic Park and Nail, a 12-meter sculpture at One New Change, next to St Paul’s Cathedral, London, England.

Assets (62 in total)

Turk Crouching with Palette Knife, 2009 (silver gelatin print)
Robert Morris Untitled 1965-72, 1990 (distressed mirror plate glass & wood in four parts)
Nomad, 2002 (painted bronze)
Death of Che, 2000 (waxwork & concrete)
Port (Blue), 2012 (blue neon mounted on a black wall)
Double Red Pop Gun, 2011 (silkscreen)
Oscar, 1999 (painted bronze)
Holy Egg (Large Verdigris), 2017 (copper on birch ply stretcher)
Ajar (White), 2011 (painted bronze)
Burnt Out, 2008 (painted bronze)
Camouflage (Self Portrait), 1998 (r-type print)
Cosmic Tones for Mental Therapy, 2009 (acrylic on canvas)

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