Things are everywhere. We create them, collect them, cherish them, give them meaning, and just as easily discard them. Artists notice what we often overlook — hidden within all these objects around us: the stories, memories, societal developments, and even new artworks. In the collection exhibition The Life of Things, Voorlinden delves into the world of objects: what do they really reveal about us?With sculptures, still lifes, readymades, and installations, the artists in the collection exhibition The Life of Things reveal what the objects around us convey — about our relationships, systems, and the meanings we create through them. The exhibition opens with the impressive work Famished Road (2023) by Ibrahim Mahama. He has constructed a monumental 5-by-10-metre wall made up of around 2,000 shoemaker’s boxes. Created especially for Voorlinden, the work almost obstructs the passageway, embodying histories while exuding life and hope.‘When you really think about it, it is truly breathtaking how many things you surround yourself with. In The Life of Things, we delve into the world of things. What are they doing here? What histories do they harbour? And what do they say about us?’ – Suzanne Swarts, director VoorlindenCollection Voorlinden reflected From Ai Weiwei, Hans Op de Beeck, and Michael Craig-Martin to Sun Yitian, Gavin Turk, and Wouter Paijmans – the exhibition The Life of Things reflects the breadth of the Voorlinden collection. It showcases works by both internationally renowned artists and emerging talent from the Low Countries, alongside globetrotters such as He Xiangyu and Anouk Kruithof. The latter constructs a pixelated landscape at Voorlinden using 3,500 books from the former GDR. Each book has its own story, and together they reflect how digitalisation seems to be replacing the physical object. The Life of Things concludes with an installation by Oliver Beer, giving a voice to objects from all eras and across the world.‘Artists in The Life of Things have put their ear to things like shoe maker boxes, stools, books, school chairs and fire hoses and invite you to do the same. You’ll discover that things are containers of stories; they are anything but silent.’ – Barbara Bos, head of exhibitions

Things are everywhere. We create them, collect them, cherish them, give them meaning, and just as easily discard them. Artists notice what we often overlook — hidden within all these objects around us: the stories, memories, societal developments, and even new artworks. In the collection exhibition The Life of Things, Voorlinden delves into the world of objects: what do they really reveal about us?

The Life of Things

'Looking at the precious and overlooked nature of product packaging, I have become a domestic anthropologist, attempting to uncover the conspiracy of blindness imposed by ideological perspectives."Gavin&nbsp;Turk is renowned for transforming banal, overlooked objects – refuse bags, apple cores, matchboxes&nbsp;– into intricately constructed works of fine art, be it&nbsp;through his hand-painted bronzes or masterful canvas paintings. For his new project he began by preserving and cataloguing used disposable packaging, in what the artist refers to as 'an exercise in self-portraiture.' By listing the products depicted in each composition in the artwork titles, Turk offers a glimpse into his consumption habits, prompting reflection on the significance of these mundane artifacts as traces of human presence over time. As Turk aptly states, "We are what we throw away."&nbsp;Each work is set within a bespoke frame, suggesting a distinctive historical journey for each piece, culminating in their convergence for this exhibition. The paintings are&nbsp;meticulously executed in a restricted tonal palette&nbsp;against a monochrome background, sometimes highlighting an objects in accents of colour, inviting a close&nbsp;study of rhythmically arranged lines and forms. Through the elevation from&nbsp;empty containers of used products to classical models, Turk challenges the viewer to explore this juxtaposition,&nbsp;while simultaneously reminding us of our consumer driven culture.

Gavin Turk 

'Looking at the precious and overlooked nature of product packaging, I have become a domestic anthropologist, attempting to uncover the conspiracy of blindness imposed by ideological perspectives."

The Age of Entanglement 

"Did you sleep well?" is a question often asked of each other. A basic question in which the response of the interviewee immediately gives an insight into the alertness, mood and relatability of the person in question. Sleep, like food and drink, is a basic necessity of life. Magazines are filled weekly with tips and tricks for a good night's sleep: with the golden rule of rest, cleanliness and regularity recurring as the ideal form of sleep hygiene. Human beings spend a third part in sleep: a situation in which we have a lowering of consciousness that results in a lack of contact with the outside world. Our body and mind come to rest. We surrender to it, vulnerable and thrown back on ourselves. Why we sleep is still an unsolved mystery. Cellular repair process, energy conservation, learning and recording of memories are three main pillars in current theories.WAKE SLEEP DREAM REPEAT The family exhibition Sleep! takes you on a little exploration into the great domain of sleep and dream, through the eyes of some fifty visual artists and designers. Here, for a moment, another time reigns. You go through the four sleep stages from slumber to light sleep, continue to deep sleep and (sleep) walk through the dream to the great hall where the bed is central. Or you make the detour via Sleep/Wake, because by no means everyone has an ideal sleep cycle. Stress and anxiety often lead to insomnia and sleep problems. If you wish, make a second round trip to a second sleep cycle, just as long until you hopefully leave the exhibition completely refreshed!Why do we sleep the way we sleep? The Amersfoort-based Kunsthal KAdE seeks an answer to that question with a dream of an exhibition, in which you can - sometimes literally - sink completely. (Nederlands Dagblad)Participating artists: Philip Aguirre Y Otegui (BE) / Anas Albraehe (SY) / Barbora Adamonytė-Keidūnė (LT) / Stéphane Argillet and Gilles Paté (FR) / Carolien Arnold (NL) / Hans van Bentem (NL) / Stijn Ter Braak (NL) / Paul Bogaers (NL) / Harm van den Berg (NL) / Sophie Conroy (UK) / Bekhbaatar Enkhtur (MN) / Martin Fenne (NL) / Giovanni Battista Franco (IT) / Louis Fratino (US) / Lenz Geerk (CH) / Jacques de Gheyn (III) (NL) / Aalt van de Glind (NL) / Daniel Godínez Nivón (MX) / Francisco José de Goya (ES) / Frank Halmans (NL) / Geoffrey Holder (TT / US) / Mona Hatoum (LB) / Sarah Mei Herman (NL) / Teun Hocks (NL) / Li Hui (CN) / Leiko Ikemura (JP) / Saodat Ismailova (UZ) / Carlijn Jacobs (NL) / Pieter Jennes (BE) / Yasmijn Karhof &amp; Merel Karhof (NL) / Carla Kogelman (NL) / Koen Ebeling Koning (NL) / Frank Koolen (NL) / Friedrich Kunath (DE) / Gerard de Lairesse (BE) / Alexandra Leykauf (DE) / Domenico Marchetti (IT) / Tony Matelli (US) / Frans Xaver Messerschmidt (DE) / Hendrik Moolenyzer (NL) / Bernard Picart (FR) / Paul de Reus (NL) / Julika Rudelius (DE) / Tobias Schalken (NL) / Hinke Schreuders (NL) / Sondi (CM | DE) / Ted Spagna (US) / Mladen Stilinović (SV) / Daniel Willem Stoopendaal (NL) / Maurice van Tellingen (NL) / Troika (UK) / Gavin Turk (UK) / Kaari Upson (US) / Utsav Verma (IN) / Marcel van der Vlugt (NL) / Andy Warhol (US) / Willem Weismann (NL) / Lothar Wolleh (DE)Additional location Mannenzaal The monumental Mannenzaal of the St. Pieters and Bloklands Gasthuis built in 1531, still has 22 original bedsteads, allowing visitors to get a unique idea of how the guests lived here. Every summer Living History Foundation in the Men's Hall bring the past to life. They depict historical events and/or time periods through demonstrations of everyday life. During the exhibition Sleep! the Men's Hall will be an additional venue for one month. Artworks are on display and there is an extensive public program.At various times, the performance Voulez-vous coucher - created especially for the exhibition - developed by theater producer Carolien Arnold and the MAAT Saxophone Quartet, commissioned by September Me and Kunsthal KAdE, will be performed.Further info can be found <a href="https://www.kunsthalkade.nl/en/exhibitions/sleep/">here.</a>

Sleep!, 2024, Kunsthal KAdE, Amersfoort, The Netherlands. Photo Peter Cox

WAKE SLEEP DREAM REPEAT

"Did you sleep well?" is a question often asked of each other. A basic question in which the response of the interviewee immediately gives an insight into the alertness, mood and relatability of the person in question. Sleep, like food and drink, is a basic necessity of life. Magazines are filled weekly with tips and tricks for a good night's sleep: with the golden rule of rest, cleanliness and regularity recurring as the ideal form of sleep hygiene.

SLEEP!

“How come the simple premise of the show has proved so rich? Perhaps because, not only is identity the central subject of much recent art, but art often takes place at the boundary between the real and the imagined.“THISPERSONDOESNOTEXIST proves a stimulating and novel context for just those concerns. Indeed, it’s hard to imagine that the show would have been as thought-provoking had the artists based their works on people who do exist. The AI has done its job! I wonder whether it can take any pleasure in that…”Paul Carey Kent, London 2024

This Person Does Not Exist

Two pieces will be included in this years Royal Academy Summer Exhibition 2024'Metaphysical Bottle' 2023 Oil on canvas 554 x 450 mm (572 x 624 mm Framed)'Vincents Van Boots'&nbsp; 2020 Mixed media 870 x 646 x 622 mm'As co-ordinator for the 2024 Summer Exhibition,&nbsp;I plan to explore the idea of making space, whether giving space or taking space. This can be interpreted in various ways: to make space can mean openness – making space for something or someone, also making space between things. Ann Christopher RA

Two pieces will be included in this years Royal Academy Summer Exhibition 2024'Metaphysical Bottle'2023Oil on canvas554 x 450 mm (572 x 624 mm Framed)'Vincents Van Boots' 2020Mixed media870 x 646 x 622 mm'As co-ordinator for the 2024 Summer Exhibition, I plan to explore the idea of making space, whether giving space or taking space. This can be interpreted in various ways: to make space can mean openness – making space for something or someone, also making space between things. Ann Christopher RA

Royal Academy Summer Exhibition 2024

It's that time of the year again when Art in Mayfair, (10 June - 7 July) in partnership with the Royal Academy of Arts, celebrates art, fashion, and culture with Bond Street at its heart. Timed to coincide with the RA's annual Summer Exhibition, this immersive event sees world-leading fashion and jewellery houses team up with leading artists and sculptors to transform this historic art district into a vibrant live show. Alongside pop-up installations and in-store events, specially commissioned art flags by Lizzie Munn, recent postgraduate of the Royal Academy of Art, are suspended above the iconic Bond Street. The current exhibit features large-scale, print-based installations that interact with their surroundings. Presented as a continuous installation, the flags integrate with the surrounding architecture and elements, making them dynamic components of the artwork.Meanwhile, Art in Mayfair's Sculpture Trail promises large-scale sculptures by world-renowned artists such as Gavin Turk, David Breuer-Weil and Pieter Obels alongside existing public works by Sean Scully, Dame Elisabeth Frink, Henry Moore, and Antony Gormley.Brands across the destination from Bond Street, Mount Street, Savile Row, and Mayfair will also participate, hosting mini-exhibitions, showcases, collaborations, talks, tours, and events. Look out for street photography walks, and the 'in conversation' podcast series in which Maeve Doyle chats with leading artists and designers.And, of course, while in Mayfair, take time to visit the Royal Academy of Arts annual Summer Exhibition, the world's oldest open submission exhibition, its taken place every year since 1769!

Gavin Turk Figure sculpture 

Figure 

Alchemy

It's that time of the year again when Art in Mayfair, (10 June - 7 July) in partnership with the Royal Academy of Arts, celebrates art, fashion, and culture with Bond Street at its heart. Timed to coincide with the RA's annual Summer Exhibition, this immersive event sees world-leading fashion and jewellery houses team up with leading artists and sculptors to transform this historic art district into a vibrant live show.

Art in Mayfair 2024 

DOMINION, an exhibition curated by Connor Hirst which brings together works from Damien Hirst’s collection, is on view across all six gallery spaces at Newport Street Gallery until 1 September 2024.The exhibition features 80 works by artists including Johannes Albers, Francis Bacon, Banksy, Georg Baselitz, John Bellany, Ashley Bickerton, Ross Bleckner, Gillian Carnegie, Dan Colen, Mat Collishaw, John Copeland, Keith Cunningham, Alan Davie, Tracey Emin, Angus Fairhurst, Zhang Haiying, Peter Halley, Marcus Harvey, Julie Heffernan, Roger Hiorns, Damien Hirst, Rachel Howard, John Hoyland, Franz Kline, Jeff Koons, Wes Lang, Sadie Laska, Sarah Lucas, Alessandro Magnasco, Margaret Mellis, Antony Micallef, Richard Prince, Boo Saville, Bosco Sodi, John Squire, Haim Steinbach, Graham Sutherland, Gavin Turk, Andy Warhol, Joel Peter Witkin, Cerith Wyn Evans.Damien Hirst opened Newport Street Gallery in London in 2015, the realisation of his long-term ambition to share his art collection, and the works of artists he admires, with the public.Recent exhibitions have included Brian Clarke: A Great Light, Damien Hirst: The Currency, and Keith Cunningham: The Cloud of Witness. Admission to the gallery is free.The exhibition has been arranged in association with HENI.

Transit Disaster Diptych, 2011 

DOMINION, an exhibition curated by Connor Hirst which brings together works from Damien Hirst’s collection, is on view across all six gallery spaces at Newport Street Gallery until 1 September 2024.

DOMINION

SYNOPSIS "The body is in the world as the heart is in the organism: it keeps the visible spectacle continuously alive, animating and nourishing it from within.” Maurice Merleau-Ponty.In 2024, FAIRE CORPS, the 14th exhibition of The Villa Datris Foundation, explores visions of the “body” through the works of 60 established and emerging artists, both French and international. In the Foundation’s human-scale spaces and in its gardens, visitors will explore various facets of this classic but relevant subject.How do we see the body today? The body is shaped by its structure and inner life as much as by the way we look at it.Since the 19th century, and in keeping with profound mutations in society, representations of the "classical" body and the "ideal" nude have been increasingly called into question. In this exhibition, we explore the body as an object of concern for racialized, feminist, and gendered representations.FAIRE CORPS also critiques the transcendent physical body, a site central to capitalism, along with the body’s role in social injustice, immigration, bioethics, cybernetics, wars, and contagions, as well as the body as a militating ecological force.These subjects, while tangible, become in the hands of the artists an ode to beauty and life. The body-its prostheses, costumes and second skins-enter into action, blurring traditional boundaries between sculpture and performance art. Some works are activated, others linked to film or video.FAIRE CORPS focuses, above all, on the body as restorative, joyful and comforting, while addressing its aesthetic and conceptual shifts in contemporary art. In this way, classical sculpture is deployed for political ends. Notions of prosthesis become an excuse for phantasmagorical excess, or reveal a hybrid, cybernetic future. Costumes go beyond transvestitism to become second skins or select corporeal identities.Finally, the body’s absence, whether dematerialized or invisible, is just as powerful as its representation.

Artwork by : Gavin Turk, Nomad, painted Bronze  & Alexandra Bircken, 2017 

L'ISLE-SUR-LA-SORGUE

SYNOPSIS"The body is in the world as the heart is in the organism: it keeps the visible spectacle continuously alive, animating and nourishing it from within.” Maurice Merleau-Ponty.In 2024, FAIRE CORPS, the 14th exhibition of The Villa Datris Foundation, explores visions of the “body” through the works of 60 established and emerging artists, both French and international. In the Foundation’s human-scale spaces and in its gardens, visitors will explore various facets of this classic but relevant subject.

Faire Corps

Musea Brugge presents the most urgent art exhibition of the moment: Rebel Garden. What is man's impact on nature, and how does it affect our environment? The ambitious expo breaks out of traditional museum walls and occupies no fewer than three museum sites. Old and contemporary art take a close look at the tumultuous relationship between man and nature and highlight the painful wound that is climate crisis. An exhibition in the context of Triennial Bruges.The garden as a refuge and a battleground. The central theme "garden", which symbolises nurturing, creation and resistance, connects Rebel Garden's three sites: Groeninge Museum, Gruuthuse Museum and Museum Sint-Janshospitaal. Gardens are the local barometers of the state of the planet: they form part of our ideal living environment and, at the same time, a place of resistance where the effects of ecological change are becoming increasingly visible. An ideal starting point to test our complex relationship with nature.Old and contemporary art. Rebel Garden and its accompanying extensive public programme broach highly topical themes such as the effects of global warming, the sixth mass extinction and climate activism, man's symbiosis with nature and the relationship between artist and garden. A selection of artworks from our own collection introduces those themes and engages in debate with some recent works and creations.Works from our own collection by Roger Raveel, Emile Claus and Otobong Nkanga, amongst others, are on display, but you can also expect top-notch work by over fifty contemporary artists such as Guillaume Bijl, Christine Ödlund, Giuseppe Penone, Rose Wylie and Per Kristian Nygård, whose garden sculpture is one of the eye-catchers of Rebel Garden on Gruuthuseplein.Rebellious museum garden. The inner garden of the Groeninge Museum is transformed into a rebellious guerrilla garden, where thought is also given to the various functions of the future BRUSK garden, which will be created right next door within a few years. An edible garden, a picking forest, a green meeting place for inhabitants of Bruges and other visitors... A cocreative experiment in collaboration with the Applied Architecture students of Howest and coached by eco-entrepreneur Louis De Jaeger, to be visited permanently during Rebel Garden.Musea Brugge's latest expo is a must-see exhibition that is part of Triennial Bruges. Artist list Contemporary artists: Allora &amp; Calzadilla (USA &amp; CUB), Vaughn Bell (USA), Joseph Beuys (DEU), Guillaume Bijl (BEL), Ross Bleckner (USA), Gillian Brett (FRA), Dorota Buczkowska (POL), Damien Cadio (FRA), Chih Chiu (TWN), Christine Clinckx (BEL), Caroline Coolen (BEL), Peter De Cupere (BEL), Anuna De Wever (BEL), Daniël Dewaele (BEL), Lise Duclaux (FRA), Nick Ervinck (BEL), Tanya Goel (IND), Joanna Hadjithomas &amp; Khalil Joreige (LBN), Eckart Hahn (DEU), Paul Harfleet (GBR), Riitta Ikonen &amp; Karoline Hjorth (FIN &amp; NOR), Aki Inomata (JAP), Maartje Korstanje (NLD), Emilio López-Menchero (ESP), Thomas Maddens (BEL), Tony Matelli (USA), Monali Meher (IND), Wesley Meuris (BEL), Sofie Muller (BEL), Otobong Nkanga (NGA), Per Kristian Nygård (NOR), Christine Ödlund (SWE), Ronald Ophuis (NLD), Giuseppe Penone (ITA), Renée Pevernagie (BEL), Nayra Martín Reyes (ESP), Pamela Singh (IND), Ben Sledsens (BEL), Howard Sooley (GBR), Gavin Turk (GBR), Maarten Van den Eynde (BEL), Awoiska van der Molen (NLD), Helmut Wimmer (AUT), Tatiana Wolska (POL), Rose Wylie (GBR), XR...In dialogue with MB’s collection: Alphonse Asselbergs, Frits van den Berghe, Marcel Broodthaers, Pieter Bruegel II, Jean Brusselmans, Emile Claus, Henry Coeylas, Joseph Théodore Coosemans, Cornelis Cort &amp; Frans Floris, Anna De Weert, Théodore Fourmois, Pierre Paulus, Roger Raveel, Roelant Savery, Gustave De Smet.

Musea Brugge presents the most urgent art exhibition of the moment: Rebel Garden. What is man's impact on nature, and how does it affect our environment? The ambitious expo breaks out of traditional museum walls and occupies no fewer than three museum sites. Old and contemporary art take a close look at the tumultuous relationship between man and nature and highlight the painful wound that is climate crisis. An exhibition in the context of Triennial Bruges.

Rebel Garden

Curated by Mari Otberg just in time for the start of spring, the show entitled EGG SI BI SCHEN, which is reminiscent of a luring call, brings together over 40 positions that deal with one of the most important symbols of humanity: the egg.&nbsp;While the British sculptor and installation artist Gavin Turk, for example, has been working on the subject for a long time, other works, such as those by Madeline von Foerster, Elisabeth von Samsonow and Nina Vandeweghe, were created especially for the show. Be it in the medium of painting, photography, collage, sculpture, manifesto or installation: the works of the artists shown here enter into an exciting discourse.&nbsp;Otberg's exhibition includes golden eggs, rotten eggs, big eggs, fish eggs, political eggs, conceptual eggs, plastic eggs, composted eggs, cosmic eggs, egg heads, holy eggs, egg noodles, metal eggs, porcelain eggs, fried eggs and many more.&nbsp;EGG SI BI SCHEN also sees itself as an examination of those works of European art history in which eggs are central pictorial motifs: from Hieronimus Bosch's "The Concert in the Egg" to Piero della Francesca's "Pala Montefeltro", where an egg hanging from a shell floats above the Madonna, and Salvatore Dalí's most famous programmatic work "Metamorphosis of Narcissus" to ironic confrontations such as René Magritte's "Questioning Chicken", Maria Lassnig's "Breakfast with Egg" or Sarah Lucas` "Selfportrait with fried Eggs”.&nbsp;With egg tempera as the oldest painting medium, the egg is also materially at the origin of European art, from early medieval panel painting and icon painting on. Botticelli's "Birth of Venus" for instance was painted in egg tempera, Edvard Munch used it for his epochal work "The Scream", the long underestimated Hilma af Klint loved this natural painting medium, which is usually mixed by artists themselves, and the curator and artist Mari Otberg also cultivates this old tradition.&nbsp;However, the egg is not only important in Christian culture, especially around Easter, where it symbolises fertility, resurrection and eternal life, but can also be found in myths of origin around the world. In many versions of it - from Egypt and Greece to India and China - the world and often the first human is created from an egg. Accordingly, there is a whole world to discover in EGG SI BI SCHEN!&nbsp;Artists: Anouk Lamm Anouk • Milo Barsan • Lukas Beck •&nbsp;Manfred Bockelmann • Udo Bohnenberger • Ida-Marie Corell • Nicolas Dellamartina • Lars Eidinger • Madeline von Foerster • Marieli Fröhlich • Georg Herold • Edgar Honetschläger • Luisa Hübner • Christian Hutzinger • Song Jing •&nbsp;Ulrike Johannsen • Gerhard Kaiser &nbsp;• Richard Kaplenig • Franzi Kreis •&nbsp;Karin Lischke • Constantin Luser •&nbsp;Nicole Malbec • Jonathan Meese • Georgij Melnikov • Rudi Molacek • Haralampi G. Oroschakoff • Mari Otberg • Steven Pollock • Heti Prack • Gert Resinger • Gerwald Rockenschaub • Alexander Ruthner • Elisabeth von Samsonow • Eva Schlegel • Maria Serebriakova •&nbsp;Marielis Seyler • Luke Stephenson • Christian Stock • Gavin Turk • Nina Vandeweghe • Anny Wass • Peter Wehr • Nives Widauer • Erwin Wurm

Curated by Mari Otberg just in time for the start of spring, the show entitled EGG SI BI SCHEN, which is reminiscent of a luring call, brings together over 40 positions that deal with one of the most important symbols of humanity: the egg. 

EGG SI BI SCHEN

The exhibition will reveal a recent series of still-life paintings that pay homage to early 20th century Italian artist Giorgio Morandi. In typical Turk style he has subverted Morandi’s serene arrangements of vases and handmade vessels, by replacing the models with quotidian product packaging.&nbsp;Looking at the precious and overlooked nature of product packaging, I have become a domestic anthropologist, attempting to uncover the conspiracy of blindness imposed by ideological perspectives. - Gavin Turk&nbsp;The paintings in this anachronistic series are meticulously executed in a restricted tonal palette against a monochrome ground, some of the objects are highlighted in accents of colour, inviting a close study of rhythmically arranged lines and forms. The audience is encouraged to explore this curious juxtaposition, as empty containers from used products are elevated to classical models, while simultaneously reminding us of our consumer driven culture.&nbsp;Turk began this project by preserving and cataloguing used disposable packaging, in what the artist refers to as ‘an exercise in self-portraiture’. The artwork titles list the products depicted in each composition, Turk offers a glimpse into his consumption habits, prompting reflection on the significance of these mundane artifacts as traces of human presence over time. As Turk aptly states, "We are what we throw away." Each work is set within a bespoke frame, suggesting a distinctive historical journey for each piece, culminating in their convergence for this exhibition.&nbsp;Through this exploration, the viewers are challenged to reconsider the implications of their daily consumer choices and draw awareness to the nostalgia and branding of consumer products. Turk is renowned for transforming banal, overlooked objects – refuse bags, apple cores, matchboxes, Styrofoam cups, shipping containers, candle – into intricately constructed works of fine art, whether through his hand-painted bronzes or masterful canvas paintings, overthrowing art historical conventions, disrupting the canon, questioning authorship, and imploring critique of human behaviour and our relationship to relics of our time. This ingenious new body of work is at once tongue-in-cheek, visually, and technically compelling, familiarly nostalgic, and provokes imperative reflection.&nbsp;

Art History

The exhibition will reveal a recent series of still-life paintings that pay homage to early 20th century Italian artist Giorgio Morandi. In typical Turk style he has subverted Morandi’s serene arrangements of vases and handmade vessels, by replacing the models with quotidian product packaging. Looking at the precious and overlooked nature of product packaging, I have become a domestic anthropologist, attempting to uncover the conspiracy of blindness imposed by ideological perspectives. - Gavin Turk 

The Conspiracy of Blindness

MARUANI MERCIER is pleased to present&nbsp;Still Life, an exhibition of a new series of paintings by Gavin Turk, on view at the Knokke Zeedijk gallery. In&nbsp;Still Life, Turk carefully paints images of product packaging arranged in a way that recalls the work of the artist Giorgio Morandi. Each work is uniquely framed, creating an impression that each work has had its own journey and has been brought back together for this exhibition. Conflating the slow and layered painterly process of classical still life with images of disposable objects, the works highlight the ever-accelerating pace of consumption in the present-day economy. 
 
“It’s a kind of proto-realistic method that includes images of not only what we throw away but a genre of painting.” -&nbsp;GT

The paintings are executed in a restricted tonal palette against a monochrome ground, some of the objects are highlighted in accents of colour, inviting a close study of rhythmically arranged lines and forms. Empty bottles in glass and plastic, reflect the hues of nearby objects, simultaneously alluding to the shortness of their shelf-life. Foregrounding empty containers as classical still-life models, Turk addresses the awkward invisibility of these items, designed to be discarded and ultimately devoid of tangible value to the consumer in a culture driven by convenience.&nbsp;Stripped of labels or branding, the quotidian nature of the shapes is nevertheless obvious in artwork titles which list all products employed in the composition in a kind of diaristic fashion. Indeed, all the products featured in the series were used by the artist or his friends and family, suggesting an unexpected role of food containers as traces of one’s presence over time. 
 
Presenting a considerable variance in shapes, the objects in the paintings emerge as relics of our material culture. Designed to evoke a specific psychic response, such as desire or trust in the product, images of packaging here summon a reflection on the nature and repercussions of our day-to-day consumer choices. This exploration of pathos and nostalgia serves as a reminder that in the detritus of our disposable culture, there exists an elusive meaning that can unlock the clues to what we might wish to take forward into our future.

&nbsp;

MARUANI MERCIER is pleased to present Still Life, an exhibition of a new series of paintings by Gavin Turk, on view at the Knokke Zeedijk gallery. In Still Life, Turk carefully paints images of product packaging arranged in a way that recalls the work of the artist Giorgio Morandi. Each work is uniquely framed, creating an impression that each work has had its own journey and has been brought back together for this exhibition.

Still Life 

‘An Apple Gathering’ at Croft Castle an exhibition celebrating the importance of Herefordshire’s apple-growing history and exploring the many complex meanings of this humble fruit through the seasons. Throughout the year, the castle, grounds, church, and walled garden orchards will be gradually transformed by stories of the apple, told through art, music, sculptures, and literature, inviting visitors to discover the remarkable influence of apples within art and culture that can often be overlooked.

The exhibition is part of the Apples &amp; People programme, a partnership between the Brightspace Foundation, The Museum of Cider Hereford, and the National Trust in Herefordshire. The first part of the exhibition begins at Croft Castle on 22 April 2023 and will run until 5 November, with different stages of activity scheduled throughout the year. 
&nbsp;

Given, 2013

‘An Apple Gathering’ at Croft Castle an exhibition celebrating the importance of Herefordshire’s apple-growing history and exploring the many complex meanings of this humble fruit through the seasons. Throughout the year, the castle, grounds, church, and walled garden orchards will be gradually transformed by stories of the apple, told through art, music, sculptures, and literature, inviting visitors to discover the remarkable influence of apples within art and culture that can often be overlooked.

An Apple Gathering 

The exhibition’s title refers both to performative magic and to the “magical thinking” in today’s culture rife with disinformation, conspiracy theories, and “alternative facts.” In essence, the theme of the show is lying, whether it’s stage magic where the audience is in on the deception or hoaxes perpetrated for financial or political gain. The show includes artists who are inspired by stage magic or creators of deep fakes that, when exposed, reveal a greater truth.

The inspiration for the exhibition is the life and career of the late Amazing Randi, a Florida resident and legendary stage magician who was a relentless debunker of charlatans. &nbsp;Jose Alvarez (D.O.P.A.), an artist who has exhibited at the Boca Raton Museum of Art, was Randi’s lifelong partner. He began his career as a performance artist in the 1980s when the two collaborated on an international project exposing spirit channelers.

This exhibition is especially timely. There are parallels between our day and the early 20th century with its deadly flu and world war that spawned an epidemic of fake mediums as well as the golden age of stage magic. The trauma of our own pandemic, climate disasters, and rampant violence have seen an explosive increase in supernatural characters in popular culture as well as dangerous hoaxes that have proved difficult to discredit.

Curated by Senior Curator Kathleen Goncharov

Further info <a href="https://bocamuseum.org/art/smoke-mirrors-magical-thinking-contemporary-art">here</a>.&nbsp;

Mechanical Turk, 2008

The exhibition’s title refers both to performative magic and to the “magical thinking” in today’s culture rife with disinformation, conspiracy theories, and “alternative facts.” In essence, the theme of the show is lying, whether it’s stage magic where the audience is in on the deception or hoaxes perpetrated for financial or political gain. The show includes artists who are inspired by stage magic or creators of deep fakes that, when exposed, reveal a greater truth.

Smoke & Mirrors: Magical Thinking in Contemporary Art 

Kerze is a series of&nbsp;meticulously rendered still lifes of candles based on Gerhard Richter’s renowned photorealist paintings, though in typical Turk fashion the recognisable imagery is subverted by presenting the candles as recently extinguished, their curls of smoke trailing up the canvas.

Over the last three decades, Turk has relentlessly challenged notions of value, authorship, and identity in his work, often by boldly referencing the work of modern masters and infusing it with his own identity and hand as an artist. His work is at once provocative, disruptive, humorous, mischievous, and erudite, earning him the distinction as one of the most interesting and notorious British artists of his time.

‘I first came to notice this painting (Kerze, 1983) in 1988 when it was used on the album cover of Daydream Nation by Sonic Youth. It seemed to extend the mood of the music and got lodged in my subconscious; now more than 30 years later, this feeling of pathos has started to reappear in my work.’ - Gavin Turk

The exhibition brought together 13 paintings based on Richter’s iconic series from the early 1980s of sublimely elegant and disquietingly haunting photorealist paintings of lit candles. Singular and in groupings up to three, arranged in hazily lit interior spaces, the still lifes are framed by the horizontal lines of tabletops and verticality of obscured curtains or windows in the background. In Turk’s faithful iterations, the candles have recently been snuffed out, their delicate threads of waxy smoke illuminating the canvas, altering the narrative, and shifting the symbolism inherent to the subject matter.

Turk is fascinated by objects and imagery connected to the psyche and the surreal: candles, pipes, eggs, doors, windows, clouds, and smoke appear throughout his body of work. He consciously incorporates art historical references into his work, layering them mischievously like clues. Turk muses, ‘The candle is a metaphysical symbol, it is a clock, it is a guide, the lit flame is a burning energetic sprite; extinguishing it creates smoke, an afterlife, a holy ghost, a veil, a messenger.’

This body of work oscillates between a romantic or tragic dialogue with history and a puckish rhetoric questioning authenticity and identity. These memento mori works can be approached through a labyrinthine set of interpretations, nodding to the ‘tubism’ of Fernand Léger and graphic juxtapositions of Surrealist René Magritte, to the powerful symbolism evoked by Richter in depicting his candles, a charged motif that has been referenced throughout art history for centuries.

The narrative formed within the paintings poses the question: Why have the candles gone out?

KERZE 

Kerze

Appropriation

Artist

Kerze is a series of meticulously rendered still lifes of candles based on Gerhard Richter’s renowned photorealist paintings, though in typical Turk fashion the recognisable imagery is subverted by presenting the candles as recently extinguished, their curls of smoke trailing up the canvas.

KERZE

To celebrate the launch of his new book&nbsp;Cave&nbsp;Drawings&nbsp;&amp; an exhibition of the&nbsp;Cave&nbsp;Drawings&nbsp;series. In the words of Gavin ‘Cave&nbsp;Drawings are a lawless series of abstract subject-less pencil line work, where an ‘automatic’ surreal zone appears’.&nbsp;

Cave Drawings installation

An exhibition and book launch 

To celebrate the launch of his new book Cave Drawings & an exhibition of the Cave Drawings series. In the words of Gavin ‘Cave Drawings are a lawless series of abstract subject-less pencil line work, where an ‘automatic’ surreal zone appears’. 

Cave Drawings

The major exhibition, featuring some of Britain's most provocative artists, explored how ideas rooted in horror have informed the last 50 years of creative rebellion. Looking beyond horror as a genre, the show took it as a reaction and provocation to troubling times, the last five decades of British history recast in a story of cultural shapeshifting. The exhibition told a story of turbulence, unease and creative revolution that lives at the heart of the British cultural psyche in three acts –&nbsp;Monster, Ghost&nbsp;and&nbsp;Witch.&nbsp;

Turk's contribution to the show was&nbsp;Ghost Pop, a&nbsp;life size screen-print&nbsp; showing the artist as Sid Vicious in the pose of Andy Warhol's Elvis, which iconised the bequiffed star as the gunslinging cowboy, the original king of Pop. A homage to both, Turk adopts the same rebel sneer with curled upper lip, now a faded self-portrait as Sid Vicious in the pose of Elvis. The piece unsettles with its paradoxical clash of ghostly presence and absence, familiarity and otherness.&nbsp;

The exhibition featured over 200 artworks and&nbsp;culturally significant objects, telling a story of the turbulence, unease and creative revolution at the heart of the British cultural psyche in three acts –&nbsp;Monster, Ghost&nbsp;and&nbsp;Witch.&nbsp;

Turk's work featured alongside more than 200&nbsp;artworks and&nbsp;culturally significant objects by artists including:&nbsp;A Guy Called Gerald, Barry Adamson, Hamad Butt, Adam Chodzko, Kevin Cummins, Graham Dolphin, Tim Etchells, Angus Fairhurst, Paul Finnegan, Laura Grace Ford, Ghostwatch, Lucy Gunning, Paul Heartfield, Susan Hiller, Matthew Holness &amp; Richard Ayoade, Stewart Home, Derek Jarman, Michael Landy, Richard Littler (Scarfolk), Jeremy Millar, Haroon Mirza, Drew Mulholland, Pat Naldi &amp; Wendy Kirkup, Cornelia Parker, Steve Pemberton, Nic Roeg, Nick Ryan, Scanner (Robin Rimbaud), Adam Scovell, Sensory Leakage, Reece Shearsmith, David Shrigley, Iain Sinclair, Kerry Stewart, Tricky, Gavin Turk, Richard Wells, Rachel Whiteread&nbsp;and&nbsp;Words &amp; Pictures.

The Horror Show! poster 

Ghost Pop

The major exhibition, featuring some of Britain's most provocative artists, explored how ideas rooted in horror have informed the last 50 years of creative rebellion. Looking beyond horror as a genre, the show took it as a reaction and provocation to troubling times, the last five decades of British history recast in a story of cultural shapeshifting. The exhibition told a story of turbulence, unease and creative revolution that lives at the heart of the British cultural psyche in three acts – Monster, Ghost and Witch. 

The Horror Show! A Twisted Tale of Modern Britain

In Search of Ariadne&nbsp;coincided with the permanent installation of Turk's&nbsp;Ariadne Wrapped&nbsp;outside Cambridge Rail Station.&nbsp;The exhibition, at the Heong Gallery, unravels the cultural meme of the reclining figure in art.

The form of the sculpture is familiar from centuries of depictions of reclining forms from Michelangelo to Henry Moore. Turk uses this familiarity to subvert the viewers expectations. His Ariadne is under cover, forever hidden. Wrapped and secured with ropes, she seems to be in transit; between places; on her way. 

Like Christo and Jeanne-Claude’s wrapped objects and buildings, Turk’s wrapped sculpture brings form and volume into sharp focus by obscuring detail and specifics. In the vein of Man Ray’s surrealist masterpiece, The Enigma of Isidore Ducasse, Turk’s Ariadne also transforms a well-known form to one that is mysterious and unknowable. 

The exhibition at The Heong Gallery explores the metaphysical, art historical, and social underpinnings of Ariadne Wrapped, giving visitors the tools to unwrap and unpack the form, context, and narratives wrapped up in the sculpture. 

‘The reclining figure is now a chrysalis transforming into something else’ -&nbsp;Gavin Turk

In Search of Ariadne 01

Ariadne

In Search of Ariadne coincided with the permanent installation of Turk's Ariadne Wrapped outside Cambridge Rail Station. The exhibition, at the Heong Gallery, unravels the cultural meme of the reclining figure in art.

In Search of Ariadne

<h5>&nbsp;</h5>

An explosion of colour in the galleries, drinks in the courtyard and artist-designed flags flying down London’s iconic Piccadilly – it's summer at the RA.

Summer at the RA is not just a time of year, it’s the world’s most joyful art experience. Run without interruption since 1769, the&nbsp;Summer Exhibition&nbsp;showcases art in all forms, from prints, painting, film and photography, to architectural works and sculpture by invited artists, Royal Academicians and emerging talent.

After two years in winter, it's back where it should be. The theme chosen by the exhibition's coordinator, Alison Wilding RA, is ‘Climate’. Whether as a crisis or opportunity, or simply our everyday experience, it is an all-embracing subject.

Whether you’re an experience seeker, a budding art collector or a culture-craving family, we know you’ll find the art for you: the exhibition features two rooms of prints selected by Grayson Perry RA, a structure made of elephant dung bricks, and new work by the Singh Twins. Outside this year is a large-scale immersive installation bringing nature and water to the courtyard, by Spanish artist Cristina Iglesias.

&nbsp;

Royal Academy of Arts

  An explosion of colour in the galleries, drinks in the courtyard and artist-designed flags flying down London’s iconic Piccadilly – it's summer at the RA. Summer at the RA is not just a time of year, it’s the world’s most joyful art experience. Run without interruption since 1769, the Summer Exhibition showcases art in all forms, from prints, painting, film and photography, to architectural works and sculpture by invited artists, Royal Academicians and emerging talent.

Summer Exhibition 2022

For their 6th Edition in 2022, Contemporary Sculpture Fulmer once again presented a Spring to Autumn survey exhibition highlighting the work of exceptional contemporary sculptors, from emerging talents to more established names. This edition included works of many mediums and disciplines, from the familiar to the surprising, conceptual works and even painting.

Turk presented his Kissing Stone (2012), a used granite curb stone from Hackney, London. Historically, granite paving stones signified investment and longevity, the road was a permanent placing, whereas the newly formed concrete or cement replacements give it a transient quality. The viewer is asked to interact with the stone by kissing it, reversing the usual ‘do not touch the art’ barrier between the viewer and the artwork.

Thus, the viewer becomes part of the performance, one corner of the kissing stone is smoothed through a process that appears to be centuries of kissing. The work draws upon traditions and mythic rituals of interaction with sculptural objects such as the rubbing of Buddhas belly or St. Peter’s foot in the Vatican, and the Blarney Stone, which when kissed endows the kisser with the ‘gift of the gab’. The small standing stone alludes to a mystical marker of something buried underground.

Also featured were works by Matt Ager • Adam Buick • Josephine Chime • Matthew Darbyshire • Jean-Philippe Dordolo • Tim Ellis • James Fuller • Anna Gonzalez Noguchi • Emma Hart • Yeni Mao • Marco Miehling • Paul de Monchaux • David Murphy • Ryan Orme • Milly Peck • Barry Reigate • Jakob Rowlinson • Andrew Sabin • Daniel Solomons • Rosie Grace Ward &amp; Grace Woodcock.

6th Edition, Contemporary Sculpture Fulmer 

For their 6th Edition in 2022, Contemporary Sculpture Fulmer once again presented a Spring to Autumn survey exhibition highlighting the work of exceptional contemporary sculptors, from emerging talents to more established names. This edition included works of many mediums and disciplines, from the familiar to the surprising, conceptual works and even painting.