The title, "Sayonara," suggests a farewell, a bittersweet adieu to the year just past. Turk invites us to bid farewell to the tumultuous year 2022, allowing us to reflect on the collective experiences that shaped the world during that time. Through his artistic lens, the artist captures the essence of an entire year in a haunting and symbolic manner.

Sayonara

Oil and acrylic on canvas

The title, "Sayonara," suggests a farewell, a bittersweet adieu to the year just past. Turk invites us to bid farewell to the tumultuous year 2022, allowing us to reflect on the collective experiences that shaped the world during that time. Through his artistic lens, the artist captures the essence of an entire year in a haunting and symbolic manner.

Fate

Signs

The End

Painting

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

Sculpture

A Vision in White

White neon with black painted front mounted on white wall

Pink neon mounted on white wall

Installation info: Neon Craft spec:1 set of (Blue 4) neon numbers in 15mm glass to read "7,201,964,238" height of number "7" 925mm over all spread of installation 8.5m x 1.26m tall (to be fitted onto the frame with cetral height of 1.5m) including 1 off 10/50 and 1 off 6/50 transformers with protection built in. double insulated HT cables, Supports and Electrode covers to suit.  See notes regarding internal install parts included in casing for Yard at CCA (June 2015)First mounted on the exterior of the Bowes Museum’s iconic façade in 2014 for the solo exhibition 'Seven Billion Two Hundred and One Million Nine Hundred and Sixty-Four Thousand and Two Hundred and Thirty-Eight', Turk’s monumental neon sign broadcasts the number 7,201,964,238; the specific median population of planet Earth at the time both the exhibition and the work itself opened on the 25th January 2014 at 6pm.Set high above the museum’s main entrance, Turk’s sign is a symbolic threshold: inviting visitors to transcend through a fixed point in time, bearing testimony to each individual’s solitude, power, and transient existence as part of an unimaginably expansive whole. "This monumental neon sign broadcasts the number 7,201,964,238; the specific median human population at the time the work itself opened on the 24th January 2014 at 6pm. Turk’s sign is a symbolic threshold: inviting visitors to transcend through a fixed point in time, a broken clock referring to a historical moment in our exponential growth as a species.  Like On Kawara’s date artworks here is a recording of the now (passed), a pause for thought captured in the gas of the neon. Electricity passes through the gas in the tube exciting the electrons which convert into photons that light up. The Neon light itself is a symbol of consumer culture: alluding to the objects of desire beyond it.  It’s a hand written sign as if by Mario Merz as part of his Fibonacci series. The geometry and geography of nature repeated in patterned sequences - in plants, seeds, crustaceans and leaf growth. Here encapsulating the human condition. We are one – the individual as part of the masses. The large number equals one." Gavin Turk, 2015

We Are One

Blue neon

Installation info: Neon Craft spec:1 set of (Blue 4) neon numbers in 15mm glass to read "7,201,964,238" height of number "7" 925mm over all spread of installation 8.5m x 1.26m tall (to be fitted onto the frame with cetral height of 1.5m) including 1 off 10/50 and 1 off 6/50 transformers with protection built in. double insulated HT cables, Supports and Electrode covers to suit. See notes regarding internal install parts included in casing for Yard at CCA (June 2015)First mounted on the exterior of the Bowes Museum’s iconic façade in 2014 for the solo exhibition 'Seven Billion Two Hundred and One Million Nine Hundred and Sixty-Four Thousand and Two Hundred and Thirty-Eight', Turk’s monumental neon sign broadcasts the number 7,201,964,238; the specific median population of planet Earth at the time both the exhibition and the work itself opened on the 25th January 2014 at 6pm.Set high above the museum’s main entrance, Turk’s sign is a symbolic threshold: inviting visitors to transcend through a fixed point in time, bearing testimony to each individual’s solitude, power, and transient existence as part of an unimaginably expansive whole. "This monumental neon sign broadcasts the number 7,201,964,238; the specific median human population at the time the work itself opened on the 24th January 2014 at 6pm. Turk’s sign is a symbolic threshold: inviting visitors to transcend through a fixed point in time, a broken clock referring to a historical moment in our exponential growth as a species. Like On Kawara’s date artworks here is a recording of the now (passed), a pause for thought captured in the gas of the neon. Electricity passes through the gas in the tube exciting the electrons which convert into photons that light up. The Neon light itself is a symbol of consumer culture: alluding to the objects of desire beyond it. It’s a hand written sign as if by Mario Merz as part of his Fibonacci series. The geometry and geography of nature repeated in patterned sequences - in plants, seeds, crustaceans and leaf growth. Here encapsulating the human condition. We are one – the individual as part of the masses. The large number equals one." Gavin Turk, 2015

Installation info: Neon Craft spec: 1 set of (Blue 4) neon numbers in 15mm glass to read "7,201,964,238" height of number "7" 925mm over all spread of installation 8.5m x 1.26m tall (to be fitted onto the frame with cetral height of 1.5m) including 1 off 10/50 and 1 off 6/50 transformers with protection built in. double insulated HT cables, Supports and Electrode covers to suit.

c-type prints

C-type colour print collage

Illusion

Photographic Work

Green neon

Star

Cross

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

Duchamp

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.

A neon observing eye, based on The Observer, which lights up in sequence.

The Observing Eye

Neon glass bulbs

Eyes

A neon observing eye, based on The Observer, which lights up in sequence.

An early 1900&rsquo;s style shop sign reading Gavin TurkEngland as a nation of shopkeepers is a notion attributed to economist Adam Smith and then later to Napoleon who was scathing in his attitude to Britain as a worthy opponent. The artist spent his formative years under the political regime of Margaret Thatcher, herself a daughter of a grocery shop owner, she took on the task of radicalizing the free market and embracing capitalism. The nostalgia generated by Relations and the other works in the shop sign series reflects a cultural shift from small family run business to global brands more allied to America than to Europe. England is no longer a nation of shopkeepers but factory fodder for corporate consumerism. The irony of an individualist free-thinking artist being part of a family business is bound up in this paradoxical image. The artist could not have been running the business that the sign implies, his grandparents could perhaps: but then again. They would have sold up long ago. This work suggests that the sign has been found like several other works in the exhibition. A prop from a film found in a junk shop, an accidental readymade, a piece of ephemera rather than the meticulously crafter artifact that it actually is.

Shop Sign

Gold leaf, black gloss paint & glass on wood

An early 1900’s style shop sign reading Gavin TurkEngland as a nation of shopkeepers is a notion attributed to economist Adam Smith and then later to Napoleon who was scathing in his attitude to Britain as a worthy opponent. The artist spent his formative years under the political regime of Margaret Thatcher, herself a daughter of a grocery shop owner, she took on the task of radicalizing the free market and embracing capitalism.

A hand painted shop sign with the inscription 'Gavin Turk' in archaic script de-restored to look old, weather beaten and careworn, as if a relic or piece of junk shop memorabilia.England as a nation of shopkeepers is a notion attributed to economist Adam Smith and then later to Napoleon who was scathing in his attitude to Britain as a worthy opponent. The artist spent his formative years under the political regime of Margaret Thatcher, herself a daughter of a grocery shop owner, she took on the task of radicalizing the free market and embracing capitalism. The nostalgia generated by Relations and the other works in the shop sign series reflects a cultural shift from small family run business to global brands more allied to America than to Europe. England is no longer a nation of shopkeepers but factory fodder for corporate consumerism. The irony of an individualist free-thinking artist being part of a family business is bound up in this paradoxical image. The artist could not have been running the business that the sign implies, his grandparents could perhaps: but then again. They would have sold up long ago. This work suggests that the sign has been found like several other works in the exhibition. A prop from a film found in a junk shop, an accidental readymade, a piece of ephemera rather than the meticulously crafter artifact that it actually is.

Relations

Gold leaf, enamel, emulsions & crackle glazes on wood

A hand painted shop sign with the inscription 'Gavin Turk' in archaic script de-restored to look old, weather beaten and careworn, as if a relic or piece of junk shop memorabilia.England as a nation of shopkeepers is a notion attributed to economist Adam Smith and then later to Napoleon who was scathing in his attitude to Britain as a worthy opponent. The artist spent his formative years under the political regime of Margaret Thatcher, herself a daughter of a grocery shop owner, she took on the task of radicalizing the free market and embracing capitalism.