Gavin Turk
(b. 1967)
Gavin was born in Guildford and lives and works in London. From an English Heritage plaque memorializing his presence at art school to wry paintings of his own signature, Gavin Turk has made a career from exploring the idea of originality in art. Paradoxically, this questioning has made him one of the most original of young British artists, which has lead to his work being shown in such major public spaces as London’s Tate Modern and the Victoria and Albert Museum.
Turk’s installations and sculptures deal with issues of authorship, authenticity and identity. Concerned with the ‘myth’ of the artist and the ‘authorship’ of a work, Turk’s engagement with this modernist, avant-garde debate stretches back to the ready-mades of Marcel Duchamp.
EDUCATION
1989 -1991
Royal College of Art
1986 -1989
Chelsea School of Art
AWARDS
2010
Honorary Doctorate in Arts, University of East London
2007
Charles Wollaston Award, Royal Academy of Arts
2001
Jack Goldhill Sculpture Prize, Royal Academy of Arts
Selected Solo Exhibitions
2017
Give In, Ben Brown Fine Arts London, London
Turkish Tulips - Museum Van Loon
Cracks in Reality - Marta Herford Museum
2016
Gavin Turk: The Box - Pippy Houldsworth Gallery
Petroleum - Baldwin Gallery
GT - Jablonka Maruani Mercier Gallery
Who What When Where How and Why - Newport Street Gallery
2015
Golden Delicious - Louisa Guinness Gallery
The Mechanical Turk - Metropole Hotel
Gav (Library Bar) - Bruchium - Al Forno
Yard - CCA Andratx
A Vision - Galerie Krinzinger
Wittgenstein’s Dream - Freud Museum
2014
Seven Billion Two Hundred and One Million Nine Hundred and Sixty Four Thousand and Two Hundred and Thirty-Eight - The Bowes Museum
Vestige - Fondation Frances
Pense Bête - LARMgalleri
Liqueur D'Expédition - Christian Larsen
A - Ben Brown Gallery Limited
We Are One - New Art Centre Sculpture Park & Gallery Roche Court
2013
L’Amour Fou - David Nolan Gallery
The Years - Ben Brown Fine Arts
Museums at Night - Bristol Museum and Art Gallery
Vanacular - The Gervasuti Foundation
The Monaco Project for the Arts presents Gavin Turk – GT (The Project 2013) - Ecole Supérieure d’Arts Plastiques de la Ville de Monaco
2012
Gavin & Turk - Ben Brown Fine Arts
Gavin Turk - Patricia Low Contemporary Geneva
TÜRK - Galerist
Transit Disaster - Paul Stolper Gallery
Door Print Edition Launch - Galerie Simpson
2011
Me As He - Patricia Low Contemporary
Before the World Was Round - Galerie Krinzinger
Jack Shit! - Aeroplastics
2010
En Face - CAC - Centro de Arte Contemporanea
Les Bikes de Bois Rond - Artconnexion - Artconnexion
En Face - Almine Rech (Paris)
Something Like This - Park Ryu Sook Gallery
2009
Jazzz - Sean Kelly Gallery
Gavin Turk Ltd at Paul Stolper - Paul Stolper Gallery
Turkey Foil - Aurel Scheibler Gallery
Mirror Stage, Goodman Gallery (Cape Town) - Goodman Gallery
2008
Piss Off - Galerie Krinzinger
Burnt Out - Kunsthaus Baselland
Gavin Turk - Aeroplastics
2007
The Negotiation of Purpose - GEM
Negotiation of Purpose, Grenoble - Magasin
Me as Him - Riflemaker
2006
Last Year in Eggenberg (The Paradise Show) - Schloss Eggenberg
Waste Not Want Not - Galleri Veggerby
2000
Gavin Turk, fig-1, London
More Stuff, Centre d’Art Contemporain, Geneva, Switzerland
2001
The Che Gavara Story, Residence in the East End of London
2002
Copper Jubilee, The New Art Gallery, Walsall, UK
Gavin Turk Ouevre, Tate Britain Sculpture Court Display, London
2003
Gavin Turk in the House, Sherborne House, Dorset
Gavin Turk: et in arcadio eggo, NewArt Centre Sculpture Park & Gallery, Salisbury, UK
Gavin Turk, Galleri Veggerby, Copenhagen, Denmark
Spare Change, Contemporary Fine Arts, Berlin, Germany
Gavin Turk, Oki-ni, Savile Row, London
2004
The Golden Thread, White Cube Gallery, London
Sculpture at Goodwood
Faces: A Print Portfolio by Gavin Turk, Paul Stolper, London
Gavin Turk: Faces Portfolio, Edinburgh Printmakers, Edinburgh, UK
2005
Gavin Turk: White Elephant, Sean Kelly Gallery, New York
Gavin Turk: Melange, Galerie Krinzinger, Vienna, Austria
Ha ha ha!, Galerie Almine Rech, Paris, France
Selected Exhibitions
2003
Bag Lady, Cell Project Space, London
2004
Art 4 All, Tea Building, London
The Christmas Exhibition 2004, Edinburgh Printmakers, Edinburgh, UK
Chaim Soutine, Happy Sailor, London
Jewellery by Contemporary Artists, Louisa Guinness Gallery, London
Mike Kelley: The Uncanny, Tate Liverpool, Liverpool, UK
Domestic (f)utility, New Art Centre Sculpture Park and Gallery, Salisbury, UK
Summer Exhibition, Royal Academy, London
Emotion Eins, Ursula Blickle Foundation, Kraichtal / Kunstverein Frankfurt,
Frankfurt, Germany
Printers Inc.: Recent British Prints, Manchester Art Gallery, Manchester /Brewhouse Theatre and Arts Centre, Taunton / Park Gallery, Falkirk, UK
Paper Democracy. Contemporary Art in Editions on Paper, Edifício Cultura
Inglesa, São Paulo, Brazil
The (de) Construction of Living, Odapark Foundation, The Netherlands
2005
London Calling: Y[oung] B[ritish] A[rtists] Criss-Crossed, Galleri Kaare Berntsen, Oslo, Norway
The Stuff of Life, Bristol’s City Museum & Art Gallery, Bristol / Laing Gallery, Newcastle / National Gallery, London
25th Annual Series of the ICI New York Studio Events, New York
Summer Exhibition 2005, Royal Academy, London
Art Out of Place, Norwich Castle Museum & Art Gallery, Norwich, UK
Appearance, Whitehall Waterfront, Leeds, UK
M-City, Kunsthaus Graz, Austria
My Beauty Picture Show, 21 Tudor Grove E9, London
Superstars! The Celebrity Factor, from Warhol to Madonna, Kunsthalle, Wien, Vienna, Austria
The Drawing Show, Shangri-La Tattoo Parlour, London
Et Maintenant – What Now, Crac Alsace, Altkirch, France
2006
Culture Bound, The Courtauld Institute, London
Youth of Today, Schirn Kunsthalle, Frankfurt, Germany
Theatre of Life-Rhetorics of Emotions, Lenbachhaus, Munich