Pink neon mounted on white wall

Signs

Sculpture

Now, the neon sculpture by artist Gavin Turk, positioned upon the facade of Somerset House, displays the number 7,315,694,298 - the estimated population of the world at 6pm of Tuesday 17 March 2015, the moment of its first illumination. &nbsp; Turk describes the artwork as “a symbolic threshold, inviting visitors to transcend through a fixed point in time” as they pass underneath it to enter Somerset House’s New Wing, a testimony to “each individual’s solitude, power, and transient existence as part of an unimaginably expansive whole.”

Red neon mounted on a box behind perspex

Now, the neon sculpture by artist Gavin Turk, positioned upon the facade of Somerset House, displays the number 7,315,694,298 - the estimated population of the world at 6pm of Tuesday 17 March 2015, the moment of its first illumination. Turk describes the artwork as “a symbolic threshold, inviting visitors to transcend through a fixed point in time” as they pass underneath it to enter Somerset House’s New Wing, a testimony to “each individual’s solitude, power, and transient existence as part of an unimaginably expansive whole.”

Installation

Now, the neon sculpture by artist Gavin Turk, positioned upon the facade of Somerset House, displays the number 7,315,694,298 - the estimated population of the world at 6pm of Tuesday 17 March 2015, the moment of its first illumination.   Turk describes the artwork as “a symbolic threshold, inviting visitors to transcend through a fixed point in time” as they pass underneath it to enter Somerset House’s New Wing, a testimony to “each individual’s solitude, power, and transient existence as part of an unimaginably expansive whole.”

That

Blue neon mounted on white wall

A Vision in White

White neon with black painted front mounted on white wall

Black holes burning through our retinas like staring at the sun, the charcoal-like mark of the exhaust in a feat of comical automatic drawing. The fart of the car, like a contemporary cave drawing, encapsulating the ironies of our age: waste made exquisite – T. S. Eliot would have approved. The central altarpiece in this room absorbing the power of the human to give and to take away.

Emission Edition

Exhaust emissions on canvas

Smoke

The End

Vehicles

Stain

Painting

Black holes burning through our retinas like staring at the sun, the charcoal-like mark of the exhaust in a feat of comical automatic drawing. The fart of the car, like a contemporary cave drawing, encapsulating the ironies of our age: waste made exquisite – T. S. Eliot would have approved. The central altarpiece in this room absorbing the power of the human to give and to take away.

The table is made of steel. The top is finished with clear original ‘Briwax’ (for lustre) and the table legs are finished with linseed oil (to protect against discolouration). Being steel, the table will be vulnerable to rust if exposed to moisture, so should be stored off the floor in a dry place. The table can be buffed to a shine without re-waxing: use separate cloths for the legs and the tabletop. The exhaust is made of blown glass. This is a more delicate material than domestic glass and should be treated with great care. The surface is very vulnerable to scratching and all abrasive contact should be avoided. When cleaning, use only water and very mild products such as vinegar, baking soda or glass cleaner suitable for lead crystal. Take care to use only cloths, which will leave no lint behind, especially when cleaning the inside. ‘Wypall’ cloths or e-cloths are very good for this purpose.When handling and moving the glass exhaust, great care should be taken to support each piece at its most vulnerable points. Each piece should be supported under the main chamber (the heaviest part) with the other parts being cradled to prevent any stress at the different junctions. Take care to keep the glass away from zips and buttons on your clothes as you are carrying. The glass exhaust and tabletop will both be marked if the two are scuffed together, so when installing the glass work on the table, lift into place rather than dragging. Wear gloves to avoid fingerprints on either surface. Because the table surface is waxed, the glass exhaust will move and spin if it is knocked. Push the two glass parts together firmly to improve the stability of the piece.For Turk the exhaust pipe represents the transport of air and is a metaphor for both breathing and exhaustion. The 'pregnant snake-like object' also holds up an anthropological mirror to societies reliance on roads and transportation and the consumption of resources at the heart of this. This work relates to his current series of bronze exhaust pipes convincingly painted to resemble rusty iron that alludes to Duchamp's readymades whilst also referring to the pipe as a symbol of more innocent times, as Bertrand Russell and his fellow intellectuals puffed their way to enlightenment and the brave new world. In this particular manifestation, the pipe is created using the exhalation or exhaustion of breath to hand blow the glass into the desired shape.'

This Is Not A Pipe

Blown glass on steel table.

Transit

Automaton

Duchamp

Glass

The table is made of steel. The top is finished with clear original ‘Briwax’ (for lustre) and the table legs are finished with linseed oil (to protect against discolouration). Being steel, the table will be vulnerable to rust if exposed to moisture, so should be stored off the floor in a dry place. The table can be buffed to a shine without re-waxing: use separate cloths for the legs and the tabletop.

Installation info: To be displayed in custom made steel and glass vitrine as per photosBronze exhaust pipe painted to look real

Conduit

Painted bronze

Installation info: To be displayed in custom made steel and glass vitrine as per photosBronze exhaust pipe painted to look real

Exhaust

Waste

Painted Bronze

Installation info: To be displayed in custom made steel and glass vitrine as per photos Bronze exhaust pipe painted to look real

Cross

Star

Installation info: Wall mounted with clear plastic spacers and nickel wire and with three plugsAs a direct reference to the painting ‘La Victoire’ by Rene Magritte. Port is a surreal gateway: a spiritual journey through the imagination.  It is a key to unlocking ideas of the infinite as mused on by Aldous Huxley quoting Blake. "If the doors of perception were cleansed, everything would appear to man as it is, infinite."	It simultaneously references Duchamp earlier work ‘11 Rue Larrey’ the door that is never open or shut.

Port (Blue)

Blue neon mounted on a black wall

Installation info: Wall mounted with clear plastic spacers and nickel wire and with three plugsAs a direct reference to the painting ‘La Victoire’ by Rene Magritte. Port is a surreal gateway: a spiritual journey through the imagination. It is a key to unlocking ideas of the infinite as mused on by Aldous Huxley quoting Blake. "If the doors of perception were cleansed, everything would appear to man as it is, infinite."	It simultaneously references Duchamp earlier work ‘11 Rue Larrey’ the door that is never open or shut.

Doors

Illusion

Fate

Installation info: Wall mounted with clear plastic spacers and nickel wire and with three plugs As a direct reference to the painting ‘La Victoire’ by Rene Magritte. Port is a surreal gateway: a spiritual journey through the imagination. It is a key to unlocking ideas of the infinite as mused on by Aldous Huxley quoting Blake. "If the doors of perception were cleansed, everything would appear to man as it is, infinite." It simultaneously references Duchamp earlier work ‘11 Rue Larrey’ the door that is never open or shut.

Yellow neon door mounted on a black wallAs a direct reference to the painting ‘La Victoire’ by Rene Magritte. Port is a surreal gateway: a spiritual journey through the imagination.  It is a key to unlocking ideas of the infinite as mused on by Aldous Huxley quoting Blake. "If the doors of perception were cleansed, everything would appear to man as it is, infinite."	It simultaneously references Duchamp earlier work ‘11 Rue Larrey’ the door that is never open or shut.

Port (Yellow)

Yellow neon mounted on a black wall

Signatures

Yellow neon door mounted on a black wall As a direct reference to the painting ‘La Victoire’ by Rene Magritte. Port is a surreal gateway: a spiritual journey through the imagination. It is a key to unlocking ideas of the infinite as mused on by Aldous Huxley quoting Blake. "If the doors of perception were cleansed, everything would appear to man as it is, infinite." It simultaneously references Duchamp earlier work ‘11 Rue Larrey’ the door that is never open or shut.

A white balloon full of air and attached to a block of wood using wax and string.

À Bout de Souffle

Balloon, string, wax, wood and brass plaque

Readymade

Installation info: Place directly in the centre of a plinth or shelf A glass jar of air from 1968.

The Air of Change

Glass jar, lid and air from 1968

Installation info: Place directly in the centre of a plinth or shelfA glass jar of air from 1968.

Found Object

Installation info: Place directly in the centre of a plinth or shelf A glass jar of air from 1968.

A balloon presented on a small wooden plinth with a plaque reading ‘Gavin Turk Breathing Exercise’.

Breathing Exercise

Balloon, wax, wood, brass & string

Manzoni

In his neon works, Turk not only resurrects the motifs of art’s modernist lore, but excavates and further mythologizes his own practice – quite literally sending his own legacy up in lights. Drawing reference to Magritte’s Elective Affinities (1933) – a Surrealist painting of an oversized egg in a cage, where the two seemingly unrelated subjects find a common theme of redundancy, eggs have been a recurring symbol throughout Turk’s career, appearing in his paintings, collages, sculptures, and public monuments. In Neo Egg, Turk uses this image as a sign of interconnectivity and infinity; its soft yellow radiance giving a ‘new religion’ halo effect to his billboard-scale homage to origin.&nbsp;

Neo Egg

Yellow neon

In his neon works, Turk not only resurrects the motifs of art’s modernist lore, but excavates and further mythologizes his own practice – quite literally sending his own legacy up in lights. Drawing reference to Magritte’s Elective Affinities (1933) – a Surrealist painting of an oversized egg in a cage, where the two seemingly unrelated subjects find a common theme of redundancy, eggs have been a recurring symbol throughout Turk’s career, appearing in his paintings, collages, sculptures, and public monuments. In Neo Egg, Turk uses this image as a sign of interconnectivity and infinity; its soft yellow radiance giving a ‘new religion’ halo effect to his billboard-scale homage to origin.____________________________________________Following in the footsteps of Dali, Magritte and Manzoni, 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.

Eggs

In his neon works, Turk not only resurrects the motifs of art’s modernist lore, but excavates and further mythologizes his own practice – quite literally sending his own legacy up in lights. Drawing reference to Magritte’s Elective Affinities (1933) – a Surrealist painting of an oversized egg in a cage, where the two seemingly unrelated subjects find a common theme of redundancy, eggs have been a recurring symbol throughout Turk’s career, appearing in his paintings, collages, sculptures, and public monuments.

An old white table with a metal frame with a glass Perrier bottle spinning on its surface.

En Plein Air

studio table, glass bottle and motor

En Plein Air (1994) consists of a well-used white table with a glass Perrier bottle slowly spinning on its surface. This mechanical artwork is one of a series musing on decision-making. Air in an empty bottle, that once contained mineral water, revolving deliberately on a table – like a ouija board. But the bottle never stops spinning, or reaching its decision, caught in suspended animation.

Vessels

Chance

An old white table with a metal frame with a glass Perrier bottle spinning on its surface.