209 words The Spirit of Painting: Mysteriously landing on the cupola of the Coronet Theatre during the quiet of a global pandemic, a lonely figure poses in the adlocutio stance of an Emperor in ancient Rome addressing his troops. Contra to this heroic posture, this figure portrays the artist in his studio overalls painting the sky with a paintbrush instead of sword, palette as shield. Originally designed to have a sculpture of Mercury on the roof of the theatre, now the messenger God of commerce has become a prophetic painter of our current hubris. ‘I imagined being ‘in’ the sky, I thought of an oversized paint splattered stepladder on the roof, to help a giant decorator to paint the clouds or change the earth’s light bulb (sun)’ Gavin Turk Gavin Turk uses art historical referencing as a material to question art itself. This figure takes its form from Alfred Drury’s sculpture of Sir Joshua Reynolds, a familiar iconic statue grand-standing in the courtyard of The Royal Academy. Where the Drury sculpture portrays the first president of the RA as a member of the establishment, this contemporary classic presents the artist as artisanal workman. At this time of fierce debate around public sculpture this portrait brings a new provocation to the conversation. ----------- 117 words The Spirit of Painting: On the cupola of the Coronet Theatre, this sculpture portrays the adlocutio stance. Instead of an Emperor addressing his troops, this figure portrays the artist in his studio overalls painting the sky with a paintbrush instead of sword, palette as shield. Originally designed to have a sculpture of Mercury on the roof of the theatre, now the messenger God of commerce has become a prophetic painter of our current hubris. ‘I imagined a decorator en plein air painting the clouds’ Gavin Turk This figure takes its form from Alfred Drury’s sculpture of Sir Joshua Reynolds the first president of the RA, instead this contemporary classic presents the artist as artisanal workman.

Spirit of Painting

Painted aluminium

209 words The Spirit of Painting:Mysteriously landing on the cupola of the Coronet Theatre during the quiet of a global pandemic, a lonely figure poses in the adlocutio stance of an Emperor in ancient Rome addressing his troops. Contra to this heroic posture, this figure portrays the artist in his studio overalls painting the sky with a paintbrush instead of sword, palette as shield. Originally designed to have a sculpture of Mercury on the roof of the theatre, now the messenger God of commerce has become a prophetic painter of our current hubris. ‘I imagined being ‘in’ the sky, I thought of an oversized paint splattered stepladder on the roof, to help a giant decorator to paint the clouds or change the earth’s light bulb (sun)’Gavin Turk Gavin Turk uses art historical referencing as a material to question art itself. This figure takes its form from Alfred Drury’s sculpture of Sir Joshua Reynolds, a familiar iconic statue grand-standing in the courtyard of The Royal Academy. Where the Drury sculpture portrays the first president of the RA as a member of the establishment, this contemporary classic presents the artist as artisanal workman. At this time of fierce debate around public sculpture this portrait brings a new provocation to the conversation. -----------117 wordsThe Spirit of Painting:On the cupola of the Coronet Theatre, this sculpture portrays the adlocutio stance. Instead of an Emperor addressing his troops, this figure portrays the artist in his studio overalls painting the sky with a paintbrush instead of sword, palette as shield. Originally designed to have a sculpture of Mercury on the roof of the theatre, now the messenger God of commerce has become a prophetic painter of our current hubris. ‘I imagined a decorator en plein air painting the clouds’ Gavin Turk This figure takes its form from Alfred Drury’s sculpture of Sir Joshua Reynolds the first president of the RA, instead this contemporary classic presents the artist as artisanal workman.

Identity

Masks

Self-Portrait

Faces

Public Sculpture

209 words The Spirit of Painting: Mysteriously landing on the cupola of the Coronet Theatre during the quiet of a global pandemic, a lonely figure poses in the adlocutio stance of an Emperor in ancient Rome addressing his troops. Contra to this heroic posture, this figure portrays the artist in his studio overalls painting the sky with a paintbrush instead of sword, palette as shield. Originally designed to have a sculpture of Mercury on the roof of the theatre, now the messenger God of commerce has become a prophetic painter of our current hubris.

Injuries also occur in the language

Painted bronze

Trompe L'oeil

Football

Painted Bronze

Installation info: Hang on wall avoiding direct sunlight, heat and moistureLips taken from Pop image in black and pink on white

White Sneer

Silkscreen ink and metallic paint on canvas

Installation info: Hang on wall avoiding direct sunlight, heat and moistureLips taken from Pop image in black and pink on white

Punk

Silkscreen

Installation info: Hang on wall avoiding direct sunlight, heat and moisture Lips taken from Pop image in black and pink on white

Double Pop

Elvis

Warhol

Fright Wig on Paper

Acrylic paint peel on paper

Celebrity

Fright Wig Pink and Black on Yellow

A film of the artist as Wolfgang von Kempelen’s ‘Mechanical Turk’playing the ‘Knight's Tour’. Screened life size from the floor upwards.

In this fourteen minute film, Turk disguises himself as a life-sized 18th Century chess-playing automaton, The Mechanical Turk, whose technical wizardry was said to have outwitted even Napoleon, as this elaborate hoax toured around the most illustrious courts of Europe. The film shows Turk replaying the Knight’s Tour, a clever yet pointless circular ritual which takes the Knight across every square on the board in a mechanical mimicry of the “original” “fake”.

The Mechanical Turk

14 minute film projection, cabinet, candlestick & candle and one knight chess piece.

Automaton

Chess

Film

A film of the artist as Wolfgang von Kempelen’s ‘Mechanical Turk’playing the ‘Knight's Tour’. Screened life size from the floor upwards.

Somebody’s Son (2007) is a waxwork of the artist as a Queen’s guard in his sentry box. Resembling an oversized toy from a souvenir shop, the caricature with his absurd and darkly comic uniform and deadly machine gun stands encumbered by his huge bearskin protuberance – the artist’s face peering out from behind the chinstrap. The title embues a sense of loss, whilst these highly trained soldiers, used as cultural decoration, escape the active duty of war.

Somebody’s Son

Waxwork in wooden sentry box

Somebody’s Son (2007) is a waxwork of the artist as a Queen’s guard in his sentry box. Resembling an oversized toy from a souvenir shop, the caricature with his absurd and darkly comic uniform and deadly machine gun stands encumbered by his huge bearskin protuberance – the artist’s face peering out from behind the chinstrap. The title embues a sense of loss, whilst these highly trained soldiers, used as cultural decoration, escape the active duty of war.

Icons

Flaneur

A poster of Elvis Presley with a check background painted in by the Artist.

The Pebble (Chequered Background)

Acrylic on poster

Artist

Collages

Work on paper

A three panel painting of the artists signature entirely made from recycled materials with information about the materials used hand-sewn in the bottom right corner. Produced while studying at the Royal College, this was Turk’s first signature-based work. Being a student at the time, his signature was worth little in the art world and, as the artist’s signature was brazenly the painting’s only subject, Turk expected some viewers to take exception to such a provocative art work. To counter these reactions, Turk made the work from recycled materials and employed a medieval string-and-peg process to stretch the canvas, avoiding staples and environmentally damaging adhesives. He even planted a tree to replace the recycled timber. The construction process was explained as a small label onto the canvas: nobody could criticise the work for being a waste of resources. In essence, the piece took nothing from the world and gave nothing back, except the artist labour.

Title

Lead free pigment on canvas

A three panel painting of the artists signature entirely made from recycled materials with information about the materials used hand-sewn in the bottom right corner.Produced while studying at the Royal College, this was Turk’s first signature-based work. Being a student at the time, his signature was worth little in the art world and, as the artist’s signature was brazenly the painting’s only subject, Turk expected some viewers to take exception to such a provocative art work. To counter these reactions, Turk made the work from recycled materials and employed a medieval string-and-peg process to stretch the canvas, avoiding staples and environmentally damaging adhesives. He even planted a tree to replace the recycled timber. The construction process was explained as a small label onto the canvas: nobody could criticise the work for being a waste of resources. In essence, the piece took nothing from the world and gave nothing back, except the artist labour.

Recycling

Signatures

Painting

A three panel painting of the artists signature entirely made from recycled materials with information about the materials used hand-sewn in the bottom right corner. Produced while studying at the Royal College, this was Turk’s first signature-based work. Being a student at the time, his signature was worth little in the art world and, as the artist’s signature was brazenly the painting’s only subject, Turk expected some viewers to take exception to such a provocative art work.

Installation info: MIRROR INSTALLATION & DEINSTALLATION INSTRUCTIONSPlacing the floor:Take the panels out of the crates and differentiate the position that each one should take in relation to the whole sculpture.  The panels have their positions written on them on the inside center in pencil.  Position the floor base and decide on its orientation. The base needs to be level so if the floor is on a slight slope or on uneven ground use small shims or wedges to keep it as flat and level as possible.Bolt on the twelve floor plates in their corresponding positions, check that the letters correspond with one another and arrange so the letters are always facing up. Make sure sufficient pressure is applied when bolting the panels down so they are firm and secure.Take the floor panel and slide it over the grid of floor plates so it rests on the floor base. Push down evenly to make sure it’s firmly in place. Test the floor panel is securely slotted into place by walking on the base and checking its firm under foot and there is no movement.Joining the panels:Select a perspex strip and place it into the rebate of one of the short sides of the floor panel. Lift the corresponding side panel onto the perspex strip so that the two panels sit at right angles. Make sure the perspex is evenly spaced within the rebate and that the panels are evenly slotted together with an equal gap visible between them. Make sure that someone continues to hold the side panel securely in place. Put the next Perspex strip into the rebate of the floor panel, this will join onto the back panel. Lift the back panel on the perspex as was done with the previous panel when the two panels are both securely held in position and evenly spaced. Slightly tip the two panels back by a few degrees so there is enough room to slot the vertical perspex strip between the two to form the corner. Fit this into place whilst simultaneously lifting the panels back into their vertical position. You should now have the first corner fixed in place. Note that where the three strips of perspex meet there should be an equal triangular space. If the horizontal strips seem to slip down then make small paper shims/wedges to place in the rebate to keep the horizontal Perspex strip in position and the triangular gap even in size.Continue the same technique until all four walls are in place.Placing the roof:Strap or hold the four sides of the sculpture together. Pass the roof section up and onto the top of the walls so that it sits long-ways over-hanging the edges. Make sure there are plenty of people to help (ideally four or more), as this needs to be done very gently so as not to scratch any of the panels.Go inside the sculpture and with a minimum of four persons lift the roof section up and turn it into its desired position so that it’s floating above the walls.  Place the Perspex strips into the rebates on top of the walls. Designate one edge of the roof and lower this to slot onto the corresponding perspex strip. Next ease in the two sides working evenly along both at the same time so the roof evenly slots down into place.  Finally fit the last edge onto the Perspex. The roof should slot in evenly with the same size gaps and triangular spacing as the wall sections.Finish:When the sculpture is assembled make any last alteration by either moving, wiggling or pushing panels. Check that all the gaps between panels are evenly spaced and all the corner triangles are even in appearance. Touch-up, fill, sand and/or repaint any scuffs and/or paint work.Take down:Exactly as above but in reverse, Make sure when taking down panels that the perspex strips are removed early as they are likely to get caught between rebates and can easily drop out and potentially scratch etc.A cubic room with transparent edges and a door on one side. White on the outside, but dark inside, with the only light coming in through the perspex edges.

Mirror

Wood and perspex

A cubic room with transparent edges and a door on one side. White on the outside, but dark inside, with the only light coming in through the perspex edges.

Mirrors

Illusion

Infinity

Installation

Installation info: MIRROR INSTALLATION & DEINSTALLATION INSTRUCTIONS Placing the floor: Take the panels out of the crates and differentiate the position that each one should take in relation to the whole sculpture. The panels have their positions written on them on the inside center in pencil. Position the floor base and decide on its orientation.