Artworks2017Argon Candle (Small)

Because neon is a gas, it doesn’t have material form. It’s a toxic vapour made luminous by electrical current; its synthetic glow exudes an alluring power, as if it possesses a magical essence. Neon is often thought of as a very contemporary medium, though its technology has been made obsolete in the digital age; in Turk’s work it represents a portal between future and past via modernism’s unfulfilled aspirations. In art historical paintings, candles were often depicted as memento mori, a symbol of the inevitability of death. Turk’s neon tubing moulded to the shape of a candle is less a sculpture than a container, embodying the ‘eternal flame’ of neon’s supernatural light.