Dafydd Jones continues his series of photographs of artists in their studios with a visit to Gavin Turk's studio as the artist (pictured on his motorbike) is finishing work to be included in a retrospective exhibition in the Hague.
This is the first major museum retrospective for Gavin Turk, whose work of the last 15 years has dealt with issues of authorship, authenticity and originality. Organised by the GEM museum of contemporary art in The Hague, 'The Negotiation of Purpose' will present a wide selection of Turk's work, starting in 1991 when the Royal College of Art refused to award him his MA degree. For his degree show Turk' presented jsut one work - an English Heritage plaque bearing the inscription "Borough of Kensington Gavin Turk Sculptor Worked Here 1989-1991". The rest of the studio space was empty.
Since then Turk has gone on to make a range of work including waxwork self-portraits, objects, photographs and screen prints, which collectively offer a tour of art history, with references to the work of Marcel Duchamp, René Magritte, Yves Klein, Piero Manzoni, Robert Morris, Marcel Broodthaers, Joseph Beuys and Andy Warhol (to name but a few). The exhibition will provide a broad overview of Turk's artistic career, from waxworks of himself as Che Guevara through to recent self-portraits screenprinted on canvas.
To accompany the exhibition, an exhibition catalogue has been published which contains an interview with Gavin Turk by the curator of the exhibition, Roel Arkesteijn. For more information about Gavin Turk
please visit the website of his London gallery, White Cube.
Gavin Turk: The Negotiation of Purpose
3 February - 20 May
GEM: museum for contemporary art
Stadhouderslaan 43
2517 HV The Hague
T: 31 (0)70 33 811 33
)
)
)