One Thousand, Two Hundred and Thirty-Four Eggs
Egg shells on canvas
1320 x 2210 mm
1997
The artists signature nibbled out of a field of white eggshells stuck to a canvas.
This is a later signature piece, with Turk’s name nibbled out of white eggshells. The work references not only manzoni’s ‘Achrome’ paintings – textured white canvases – but also the Belgian Surrealist Marcel Broodthaers, who made a series of paintings consisting of eggshells fixed to canvas.
Eggs recurs again and again in Gavin’s work as sculptural metaphors for the surreal philosophical puzzle; which came first, the chicken or egg? Symbols of life, of creation, of originality, fragility and mortality Turk’s eggs appear as surreal faces, as giant duck eggs, as broken shells depicting his signature and in liquid form as mayonnaise and egg tempura, while his “hare” eggs create mythical new hybrids altogether. Transforming eggs from the sacred to the profane, the pure to the parasitical, a symbol of creation to something created, Turk journeys from eggs to eggs cups to egg-cup shaped fonts as he explores the delicate relationship between life and death, art and artist.
Exhibitions
- Negotiation of Purpose, Grenoble - Magasin, 2007
- The Stuff Show - South London Gallery, 1998
- The Years - Ben Brown Fine Arts, 2013
Essays
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Eggs - Martine Rouleau
SHOW
Eggs - Martine Rouleau
Eggs incarnate pure balance. Their harmonious simplicity of form is only rendered more poignant by their function: they hold and protect life. The strength of the shell that harbours the makings of a living creature is all the more impressive because although it can withstand surprising levels of pressure – the egg of the ostrich is reputed to support up to 20 stone – it can not resist the impact of a drop or a knock. Once the ovoid shape has been cracked by an external force, the life it was meant to protect no longer exists. Once it is broken from the inside, this life begins. Although the shell itself is made of minerals, essentially calcium, and can sometimes have the rough texture of a stone, it also has thousands of pores through which oxygen can get to the embryo.
The nurturing virtues of the egg have carried over to various cultural beliefs. Although eggs are most often perceived as tokens of affection, exchanged as an expression of love by the Alsatians or used to announce the forthcoming birth of a child by the Chinese, they are sometimes destroyed as a form of protection. Indeed, the