GAVIN TURK: The Years

Ben Brown Fine Arts presents a major solo exhibition of Gavin Turk's highly influential works to coincide with the long-awaited publication of the first monograph of the artist. Entitled The Years, to signify over two decades of remarkable output with deeper resonances throughout art history, the exhibition features a number of works that have never been shown before in the UK,  as well as new pieces inspired by the distinct methods and styles of two 20th Century Italian masters: Lucio Fontana and Michelangelo Pistoletto.

Turk's artworks frequently bear his own name or image but also refer to the works of artists before him. He paradoxically began his career with a blue heritage plaque announcing his own demise and posthumous recognition, but his subsequent work has drawn on art-historical icons to play with the idea of various reincarnations. Among the most recognisable on display is Triple Pop Black and White (2011), a variant on Turk's famous waxwork Pop (1993), in which the artist portrays himself as Sid Vicious in the gunslinging pose of Warhol's 'Elvis'. In this latest work, Turk's appropriation of Warhol comes full circle with the use of the same silkscreen process. By contrast, Oscar II (2000), a curious bust of Turk with a shotgun nose and bulging eggs for eyes, draws on the figure in Magritte's L'ellipse.