Ursula's Apple

Painted bronze

Apples

Food

Trompe L'oeil

Waste

Painted Bronze

Tulips are classically thought of as an icon of the Netherlands, however historically they arrive from the Ottoman Empire (Turkey) in 17th Century. Gavin Turk blends associations with cultural heritage and identity, nature vs nurture. 

Here The Rite of Spring see’s the first fallen petal from the wilting flower of a Tulipa Gavin Turkish, a cultivar baptised by the Artist in 2017 part of a larger project Turkish Tulips.

The sculpture is carefully crafted in bronze, and painted to match the markings of the flower in its demise. 

The Rite of Spring

Painted bronze, wood and glass

Tulips are classically thought of as an icon of the Netherlands, however historically they arrive from the Ottoman Empire (Turkey) in 17th Century. Gavin Turk blends associations with cultural heritage and identity, nature vs nurture. Here The Rite of Spring see’s the first fallen petal from the wilting flower of a Tulipa Gavin Turkish, a cultivar baptised by the Artist in 2017 part of a larger project Turkish Tulips.The sculpture is carefully crafted in bronze, and painted to match the markings of the flower in its demise.

Sculpture

Tulips are classically thought of as an icon of the Netherlands, however historically they arrive from the Ottoman Empire (Turkey) in 17th Century. Gavin Turk blends associations with cultural heritage and identity, nature vs nurture. Here The Rite of Spring see’s the first fallen petal from the wilting flower of a Tulipa Gavin Turkish, a cultivar baptised by the Artist in 2017 part of a larger project Turkish Tulips. The sculpture is carefully crafted in bronze, and painted to match the markings of the flower in its demise.

Fig etymologically can be traced back to an abbreviation of ‘figure’, namely that ‘which is formed’, thus a sea of elliptical references. Ficus is the Latin genus name for the fig plant. This fig leaf, depicted by the Artist as a falling autumnal leaf is a floating signifier leading the audience to question what is being concealed. The painted surface hides a bronze repoussage, where the metal is hammered and pressed into the leaf form. Adam and Eve ate from the tree of knowledge, upon consuming the forbidden fruit they developed a consciousness and realised they were naked, so to conceal their genitals they covered them with a fig leaf. As such the fig leaf holds a curious relation to sex, religion and censorship, as played out through the history of art.

Ficus

Fig etymologically can be traced back to an abbreviation of ‘figure’, namely that ‘which is formed’, thus a sea of elliptical references. Ficus is the Latin genus name for the fig plant. This fig leaf, depicted by the Artist as a falling autumnal leaf is a floating signifier leading the audience to question what is being concealed. The painted surface hides a bronze repoussage, where the metal is hammered and pressed into the leaf form. Adam and Eve ate from the tree of knowledge, upon consuming the forbidden fruit they developed a consciousness and realised they were naked, so to conceal their genitals they covered them with a fig leaf. As such the fig leaf holds a curious relation to sex, religion and censorship, as played out through the history of art.

Fig etymologically can be traced back to an abbreviation of ‘figure’, namely that ‘which is formed’, thus a sea of elliptical references. Ficus is the Latin genus name for the fig plant. This fig leaf, depicted by the Artist as a falling autumnal leaf is a floating signifier leading the audience to question what is being concealed. The painted surface hides a bronze repoussage, where the metal is hammered and pressed into the leaf form.

Playworn Pig

Enamel, acrylic, wood and fibreglass

Animalia

Public Sculpture

Oil paint on mirror polished stainless steel

Magritte

Illusion

Painting

Reflections in a Window

Transubstantiation

Paint on brown paper bag in skip

Packaging

Injuries also occur in the language

Identity

Football

Unique un-numbered series of 8 Styrofoam Box

Veggie Box

Unique un-numbered series of 8Styrofoam Box

Consume

Unique un-numbered series of 8 Styrofoam Box

Life scale rusty nail made in bronze appearing to have been hit in the ground at an angle

Figure

Patinated bronze

Nail

Life scale rusty nail made in bronze appearing to have been hit in the ground at an angle

Ping Pong

Diamond dust and acrylic paint on canvas

Acrylic paint and diamond dust on canvas

Acrylic on canvas with string 

Performance

Installation info: Handle carefully with gloves, ensuring when placed it is done so gently as painted edges are fragile. Ensure signed underside is face down.  Avoid direct sunlight, temperature fluctuations and moisture.

H.M.S Ariadne

Ariadne

Installation info: Handle carefully with gloves, ensuring when placed it is done so gently as painted edges are fragile. Ensure signed underside is face down. Avoid direct sunlight, temperature fluctuations and moisture.

Installation info: Handle carefully with gloves, ensuring when placed it is done so gently as painted edges are fragile. Ensure signed underside is face down.  Avoid direct sunlight, temperature fluctuations and moisture.Painted bronze cast of an open match box containing two matches

H.M.S Odyssey

Installation info: Handle carefully with gloves, ensuring when placed it is done so gently as painted edges are fragile. Ensure signed underside is face down. Avoid direct sunlight, temperature fluctuations and moisture.Painted bronze cast of an open match box containing two matches

Recycling

The Sea

Domestic

Installation info: Handle carefully with gloves, ensuring when placed it is done so gently as painted edges are fragile. Ensure signed underside is face down. Avoid direct sunlight, temperature fluctuations and moisture. Painted bronze cast of an open match box containing two matches

H.M.S Ulysses

Missile

Pavement

Fire

Burnt Out

Boddingtons

A bronze cast of an apple core, thin at one end and fat at the other, with a long stalk and pips showing, painted to look real.

Eaten and then thrown away, Turk takes the discarded, shrivelled and dead and gives it new life in the form of miniature painted bronze sculptures. Heavy with the symbolism of an English Eden, these once ripe fruits, alongside their associations with knowledge and temptation, Adam’s apple and of course, Eve, have been discarded and tossed away. Now “rotten to the core”, the fruits of the utopian English garden have become a poisonous symbol of man’s fall. Or perhaps they are nothing more ominous than evidence of a healthy diet in which their daily consumption contains the promise to keep the doctor away.

Adam&rsquo;s Apple

A bronze cast of an apple core, thin at one end and fat at the other, with a long stalk and pips showing, painted to look real.

Adam's Apple

A bronze cast of a browning apple core with red skin and pips showing, painted to look real.

Eaten and then thrown away, Turk takes the discarded, shrivelled and dead and gives it new life in the form of miniature painted bronze sculptures. Heavy with the symbolism of an English Eden, these once ripe fruits, alongside their associations with knowledge and temptation, Adam’s apple and of course, Eve, have been discarded and tossed away. Now “rotten to the core”, the fruits of the utopian English garden have become a poisonous symbol of man’s fall. Or perhaps they are nothing more ominous than evidence of a healthy diet in which their daily consumption contains the promise to keep the doctor away.

Eve&rsquo;s Apple

A bronze cast of a browning apple core with red skin and pips showing, painted to look real.

Eve's Apple

A bronze cast of a dishevelled polystyrene burger tray, painted to look real.

Burger Tray

Polystyrene

A bronze cast of a dishevelled polystyrene burger tray, painted to look real.

Trash

Rubbish

Bin Bags

A chrome plated bronze cast of an indented pillow in a pillow case.

Somewhere between sleeping on the streets and the silver clouds

Chrome plated bronze

Clouds

A chrome plated bronze cast of an indented pillow in a pillow case.

A bronze cast of a used match painted to look real.

A miniature echo of

Burnt Out

, this match was used to start the fire. Its sulphur is used up and the tiny tool discarded.

The simple tool used to start a fire, Turk’s bronze spent matches tells a story of life and early civilisation but also of destruction, fire-starters and revolutionaries. But the life of these matches has come to an end. Their purpose fulfilled, they have been discarded as waste - symbols relating to fire but also of fires which have burnt out. And yet this tiny piece of detritus, so easy to overlook on the street, has been cast in bronze. Something fragile, ephemeral and worthless has been transformed at the hand of Turk into something solid and permanent, containing within it both hidden value and hidden meaning.

Spent Match

A bronze cast of a used match painted to look real. A miniature echo of Burnt Out , this match was used to start the fire. Its sulphur is used up and the tiny tool discarded.

A bronze cast of a small polystyrene cup painted with green smears to resemble the leftover traces of mushy peas.

Peas &amp; Love

A bronze cast of a small polystyrene cup painted with green smears to resemble the leftover traces of mushy peas.

Peas & Love

A bronze cast of the middle of a toilet roll painted to look real.

In Memory of Piero Manzoni

A bronze cast of the middle of a toilet roll painted to look real.

A bronze cast of a wooden chip fork painted to look real.

Just a Chip Fork

A bronze cast of a wooden chip fork painted to look real.

A bronze cast of a polystyrene chip tray painted to look real with pieces of resin to resemble chip residue. Finding beauty in the trashy and ugly, Turk gives the polystyrene used chip tray &ndash; alongside with its cousin the burger tray &ndash; a grandiose makeover, transforming rubbish into art in the form of a painted bronze sculpture. The remains of a traditional English dish and cheap street food for the masses, Turk&rsquo;s chip trays become elegiac and nostalgic relics not just of a hearty meal but a set of cultural values which appear to be rapidly vanishing.

Chip Tray

Resin & painted bronze

A bronze cast of a polystyrene chip tray painted to look real with pieces of resin to resemble chip residue. Finding beauty in the trashy and ugly, Turk gives the polystyrene used chip tray – alongside with its cousin the burger tray – a grandiose makeover, transforming rubbish into art in the form of a painted bronze sculpture. The remains of a traditional English dish and cheap street food for the masses, Turk’s chip trays become elegiac and nostalgic relics not just of a hearty meal but a set of cultural values which appear to be rapidly vanishing.

Ursula's Apple

The Rite of Spring

Ficus

Playworn Pig

Reflections in a Window

Transubstantiation

Injuries also occur in the language

Veggie Box

Figure

Ping Pong

Figure

H.M.S Ariadne

H.M.S Odyssey

H.M.S Ulysses

Missile

Pavement

Ash

Burnt Out

Boddingtons

Adam's Apple

Eve's Apple

Burger Tray

Trash

Somewhere between sleeping on the streets and the silver clouds

Spent Match

Peas & Love

In Memory of Piero Manzoni

Just a Chip Fork

Chip Tray

Desert Island Scenario