Che Gavara Red

Silkscreen on paper

1006 x 762 mm

2000

A print of the Artist as Che Guevara in red on a red background. Printed in the style of an Andy Warhol silkscreen.

The inspiration behind Turk’s Che Gavara art works is the Alberta Korda photograph of the infamous Argentinean freedom fighter whose wild hair and beard, guerrilla beret and long distance stare came to personify the ultimate symbol of rebellion. Interested in the role of the outsider but also, how images and symbols are reduced to cliché through reproduction and repetition, Turk’s Guevara is transformed into a Warholian screen print, where the formerly rebellious is re-appropriated as cliché. But this Che is also given the “Gav” treatment, with Turk’s face replacing that of the Marxist hero as he continues his exploration of the uneasy relationship between artist/outsider and the market, advertising, celebrity and branding.