Painted bronze bust of the Artist with a shotgun nose inspired by the Magritte portrait 'Oscar'.This rather curious looking character with bulging eggs for eyes and a shotgun nose is taken from a Magritte painting ‘L’ellipse’. He has become a self portrait turned 2D to 3D and cast in bronze and then painted with all the lurid and clashing colours of the original. Magritte is one of the most striking and consistent of the so-called surrealists and his imagery permeated the Artist’s work His child-like painting syle produces image after image of the familiar meeting the unfamiliar. Like dreams that take the realities of the day and collage them into impossible yet highly plausible scenarios, Magritte expresses his subconscious on canvas. Oscar is a character from a period of his life called by critics his ‘Vache’ or ‘Renoir’ period, when he appeared to be reacting against the controlled, meticulous and tranquil clocks and pipes and moustaches: the signifiers of ordered civilized European society. Suddenly he got expressive and violent – but with humour.The violent imagery of the shotgun impotently and Pinnochio-like in place of a nose (sneezing out the bullets), juxtaposed with the spooky eye peering from the bowler hat – symbol of power and professionalism and of course the grown-up gentleman’s ill fitting check suit. This contrasts with the fay positioning of the back to front hands offering up – or is it pleading in supplication?

Oscar (Yellow Face)

Painted bronze self portrait (after Magritte)

Magritte

Self-Portrait

Painted Bronze

Painted bronze bust of the Artist with a shotgun nose inspired by the Magritte portrait 'Oscar'.

A bronze figure of gnomic image taken from the Magritte painting 'le stropiat' with several pipes sticking out of his face, displayed in a large vitrine and heated in such a way that through a smoke-filled cabinet it could be detected by an infrared camera.

Smokey Joe

Painted bronze, smoke, infared camera, screen & vitrine

Pipes

Smoke

Bronze cast of a medium sized watermelon painted to look real.

Pablo's Melon

Painted bronze

Bronze cast of a medium sized watermelon painted to look real.

Food

A print of the Artist as Che Guevara in pink. Printed in the style of an Andy Warhol silkscreen.

Che Gavara Pink

Acrylic silkscreen on paper

Icons

Revolution

Alchemy

Silkscreen

A print of the Artist as Che Guevara in red on a red background. Printed in the style of an Andy Warhol silkscreen.The inspiration behind Turk’s Che Gavara art works is the Alberta Korda photograph of the infamous Argentinean freedom fighter whose wild hair and beard, guerrilla beret and long distance stare came to personify the ultimate symbol of rebellion. Interested in the role of the outsider but also, how images and symbols are reduced to cliché through reproduction and repetition, Turk’s Guevara is transformed into a Warholian screen print, where the formerly rebellious is re-appropriated as cliché. But this Che is also given the “Gav” treatment, with Turk’s face replacing that of the Marxist hero as he continues his exploration of the uneasy relationship between artist/outsider and the market, advertising, celebrity and branding.

Che Gavara Red

A print of the Artist as Che Guevara in red on a red background. Printed in the style of an Andy Warhol silkscreen.

A print of the Artist as Che Guevara in white on a white background. Printed in the style of an Andy Warhol silkscreenThe Artist made a series of artworks based on revolutionaries from 1998 to 2000. First he made a self-portrait waxwork as the French revolution activist Marat lying (perhaps) dead, assassinated in the bath where he was suffering from an acute skin condition.Then he made a waxwork of Che Guevara caught like a specimen, trapped in a glass case with his army fatigues and his gun. This figure was posed in the same stance as the 'Pop', 1993, the first of the Artist's works to be bought by the Saatchi Collection. This is a waxwork self-portrait of Sid Vicious singing 'My Way' whilst posed as Elvis in the Andy Warhol 'Triple Elvis' picture. Finally he made a morbid waxwork self-portrait as Che Guevera after his assassination in Bolivia. The pose of the figure was taken from the moment when the Bolivians had redressed his body to resemble the classic media image of Che. This image was taken from the photograph taken by Albert Korda in 1957.Che Guevara is a heroic figure whose early death added to his ever-growing mythology. The Artist is interested in him because he has become one of the most famous and all pervasive symbols of anti-establishment and counter culture throughout the world. Every western teenager who is reacting against the authority of their parents or of the state has a poster of Che Guevara up on their bedroom wall. Many political movements have appropriated the image for their cause: even pacifist causes such as the recent Anti-war march carried images of Che Guevara, even though he is always pictured in army fatigues carrying weapons about to go on some rebel offensive or other. During this period the Artist made some images for posters and some screen prints of himself as Che Gavara (sic), in the Andy Warhol factory style - with colours overlaid with colours - the image Warhol never made. Gavara (White on White)' is one of those images, this time an almost invisible, creamy white image on a white background. Camouflaged in the white of the gallery, strangely deathlike and neutral.

Che Gavara White on White

A print of the Artist as Che Guevara in white on a white background. Printed in the style of an Andy Warhol silkscreenThe Artist made a series of artworks based on revolutionaries from 1998 to 2000. First he made a self-portrait waxwork as the French revolution activist Marat lying (perhaps) dead, assassinated in the bath where he was suffering from an acute skin condition.

A print of the Artist as Che Guevara in yellow. Printed in the style of an Andy Warhol silkscreen.

Che Gavara Yellow

Photo of graffiti reading the word ‘Che’

Che Graffiti

Installation info: place in a suitable position on the floorA bronze cast of a full black bin bag painted to look real.A bag full of discarded products, unrecycled organic matter thrown in with the by-products of our wasteful consumerist lifestyles. This rubbish is encapsulated in the formal roundness of this classic trompe l’œuil artwork. We are defined by what we throw away and conversely we are deconstructed by what we choose to display in our hallowed museum halls.

Rubbish

Consume

Waste

Bin Bags

Installation info: place in a suitable position on the floorA bronze cast of a full black bin bag painted to look real.A bag full of discarded products, unrecycled organic matter thrown in with the by-products of our wasteful consumerist lifestyles. This rubbish is encapsulated in the formal roundness of this classic trompe l’œuil artwork. We are defined by what we throw away and conversely we are deconstructed by what we choose to display in our hallowed museum halls.

Installation info: place in a suitable position on the floorA bronze cast of a full black bin bag painted to look real.

Bag (2)

Installation info: place in a suitable position on the floorA bronze cast of a full black bin bag painted to look real.

Bag (3)

Bag (4)

Bag (5)

Bag (6)

Turk’s work is one of a portfolio of ten prints collectively entitled Bugs. The portfolio was published by the Byam Shaw School of Art in London. Produced as a fundraiser, the proceeds from the portfolio sales were dedicated to providing bursaries to support Byam Shaw students from overseas, particularly those from Latin America, Eastern Europe, Africa and India. The works in the portfolio use various printmaking processes and share an insect theme which has been interpreted in diverse ways. Originally intended to refer specifically to insects found in London, it was conceived of as a sequel to another print portfolio published by the school in 1994, Nine London Birds. The decorative treatment deployed by a number of the artists involved contrasts with a subject matter commonly regarded as repugnant. From a strictly limited edition of 90 offset lithograph on paper print. The work has been signed and numbered by the artist.

Metamorphosis

Offset Lithograph on Paper

Work on paper

Turk’s work is one of a portfolio of ten prints collectively entitled Bugs. The portfolio was published by the Byam Shaw School of Art in London. Produced as a fundraiser, the proceeds from the portfolio sales were dedicated to providing bursaries to support Byam Shaw students from overseas, particularly those from Latin America, Eastern Europe, Africa and India. The works in the portfolio use various printmaking processes and share an insect theme which has been interpreted in diverse ways.

A giant fibreglass egg painted to look like a brown hen's egg.Turk has produced several of these large forms, based on the eggs of different bird species. The first of these works was commissioned for the 2001 exhibition &lsquo;DEAD&rdquo;, organized by the artist-led group Welfare State International. The exhibition explored alternative, celebratory approaches to the taboo of death, and each artist was invited to create non-traditional versions of the cultural trappings that surround death. Turk created &lsquo;Coffin&rsquo;, later re-titled &lsquo;Oeuvre&rsquo;. The collective title of the subsequent series of giant birds&rsquo; egg sculpture &ndash; &lsquo;Oeuvre (Hen)&rsquo;, &lsquo;Oeuvre (Duck)&rsquo; etc &ndash; plays on the similarity between the word for the life&rsquo;s work of an artist, &lsquo;Oeuvre&rsquo;, and the French word for egg, &lsquo;oeuf&rsquo;.

Oeuvre (Hen)

Painted fibreglass

Eggs

Animalia

Sculpture

A giant fibreglass egg painted to look like a brown hen's egg.

A waxwork of Che Guevara based on the photograph famously taken to prove his death.

Alberto Korda’s famous 1960 photograph of Cuban revolutionary hero, Che Guevara, has come to stand for revolution in all its forms. A second famous image of Che, on which Turk’s ‘Death of Che’ is based, was taken in 1967 by the CIA-led Bolivian troops that executed him. For this photograph the soldiers dressed Che’s dead body in his military fatigues and propped up his head to mimic the Korda image. In Turk’s recreation, the artist plays the role of the revolutionary martyr, connecting the political use of Che’s image with that of Marat’s in his previous waxwork, ‘Death of Marat’.

Death of Che (2)

Waxwork & concrete

Death

Fool

Outsider

A waxwork of Che Guevara based on the photograph famously taken to prove his death.

Death of Che

A painted bronze bust of the artist with a shotgun nose inspired by Magritte&rsquo;s Oscar.This rather curious looking character with bulging eggs for eyes and a shotgun nose is taken from a Magritte painting &lsquo;L&rsquo;ellipse&rsquo;. He has become a self portrait turned 2D to 3D and cast in bronze and then painted with all the lurid and clashing colours of the original. Magritte is one of the most striking and consistent of the so-called surrealists and his imagery permeated the Artist&rsquo;s work His child-like painting syle produces image after image of the familiar meeting the unfamiliar. Like dreams that take the realities of the day and collage them into impossible yet highly plausible scenarios, Magritte expresses his subconscious on canvas. Oscar is a character from a period of his life called by critics his &lsquo;Vache&rsquo; or &lsquo;Renoir&rsquo; period, when he appeared to be reacting against the controlled, meticulous and tranquil clocks and pipes and moustaches: the signifiers of ordered civilized European society. Suddenly he got expressive and violent &ndash; but with humour. The violent imagery of the shotgun impotently and Pinnochio-like in place of a nose (sneezing out the bullets), juxtaposed with the spooky eye peering from the bowler hat &ndash; symbol of power and professionalism and of course the grown-up gentleman&rsquo;s ill fitting check suit. This contrasts with the fay positioning of the back to front hands offering up &ndash; or is it pleading in supplication?

Oscar 

Appropriation

A painted bronze bust of the artist with a shotgun nose inspired by Magritte’s Oscar.

A print of the Artist as Che Guevara in white on a white background. Printed in the style of an Andy Warhol silkscreenThe Artist made a series of artworks based on revolutionaries from 1998 to 2000. First he made a self-portrait waxwork as the French revolution activist Marat lying (perhaps) dead, assassinated in the bath where he was suffering from an acute skin condition. Then he made a waxwork of Che Guevara caught like a specimen, trapped in a glass case with his army fatigues and his gun. This figure was posed in the same stance as the 'Pop', 1993, the first of the Artist's works to be bought by the Saatchi Collection. This is a waxwork self-portrait of Sid Vicious singing 'My Way' whilst posed as Elvis in the Andy Warhol 'Triple Elvis' picture. Finally he made a morbid waxwork self-portrait as Che Guevera after his assassination in Bolivia. The pose of the figure was taken from the moment when the Bolivians had redressed his body to resemble the classic media image of Che. This image was taken from the photograph taken by Albert Korda in 1957. Che Guevara is a heroic figure whose early death added to his ever-growing mythology. The Artist is interested in him because he has become one of the most famous and all pervasive symbols of anti-establishment and counter culture throughout the world. Every western teenager who is reacting against the authority of their parents or of the state has a poster of Che Guevara up on their bedroom wall. Many political movements have appropriated the image for their cause: even pacifist causes such as the recent Anti-war march carried images of Che Guevara, even though he is always pictured in army fatigues carrying weapons about to go on some rebel offensive or other. During this period the Artist made some images for posters and some screen prints of himself as Che Gavara (sic), in the Andy Warhol factory style - with colours overlaid with colours - the image Warhol never made. Gavara (White on White)' is one of those images, this time an almost invisible, creamy white image on a white background. Camouflaged in the white of the gallery, strangely deathlike and neutral.

Faces

A print of the Artist as Che Guevara in white on a white background. Printed in the style of an Andy Warhol silkscreen

A bronze figure of gnomic image taken from the Magritte painting 'le stropiat' with several pipes sticking out of his face, displayed in a large vitrine and heated in such a way that through a smoke-filled cabinet it could be detected by an infrared camera.

Automaton

Painted bronze bust of the Artist with a shotgun nose inspired by the Magritte portrait 'Oscar'.

This rather curious looking character with bulging eggs for eyes and a shotgun nose is taken from a Magritte painting ‘L’ellipse’. He has become a self portrait turned 2D to 3D and cast in bronze and then painted with all the lurid and clashing colours of the original. Magritte is one of the most striking and consistent of the so-called surrealists and his imagery permeated the Artist’s work His child-like painting syle produces image after image of the familiar meeting the unfamiliar. Like dreams that take the realities of the day and collage them into impossible yet highly plausible scenarios, Magritte expresses his subconscious on canvas. Oscar is a character from a period of his life called by critics his ‘Vache’ or ‘Renoir’ period, when he appeared to be reacting against the controlled, meticulous and tranquil clocks and pipes and moustaches: the signifiers of ordered civilized European society. Suddenly he got expressive and violent – but with humour.

 
The violent imagery of the shotgun impotently and Pinnochio-like in place of a nose (sneezing out the bullets), juxtaposed with the spooky eye peering from the bowler hat – symbol of power and professionalism and of course the grown-up gentleman’s ill fitting check suit. This contrasts with the fay positioning of the back to front hands offering up – or is it pleading in supplication?

Oscar III

A painted bronze bust of the artist with a shotgun nose inspired by Magritte’s Oscar.This rather curious looking character with bulging eggs for eyes and a shotgun nose is taken from a Magritte painting ‘L’ellipse’. He has become a self portrait turned 2D to 3D and cast in bronze and then painted with all the lurid and clashing colours of the original. Magritte is one of the most striking and consistent of the so-called surrealists and his imagery permeated the Artist’s work His child-like painting syle produces image after image of the familiar meeting the unfamiliar. Like dreams that take the realities of the day and collage them into impossible yet highly plausible scenarios, Magritte expresses his subconscious on canvas. Oscar is a character from a period of his life called by critics his ‘Vache’ or ‘Renoir’ period, when he appeared to be reacting against the controlled, meticulous and tranquil clocks and pipes and moustaches: the signifiers of ordered civilized European society. Suddenly he got expressive and violent – but with humour.The violent imagery of the shotgun impotently and Pinnochio-like in place of a nose (sneezing out the bullets), juxtaposed with the spooky eye peering from the bowler hat – symbol of power and professionalism and of course the grown-up gentleman’s ill fitting check suit. This contrasts with the fay positioning of the back to front hands offering up – or is it pleading in supplication?