Gavin Turk

Gavin Turk studied at Royal College of Art, Chelsea College of Art and Design and City of London Freemen's School. The recorded working language is English. Places of work recorded in the authority are London. Employment is recorded with Bath Spa University. Work by Gavin Turk is recorded in the collections of Tate, Museum of Modern Art and Print Collection.

• Name — Gavin Turk • Born — 1967 • Birthplace — Guildford, England • Website — http: www.gavinturk.com

• Illustration — Gavin Turk, 'Cave' installation, Royal College of Art, 1991 Turk studied at Chelsea School of Art from 1986 to 1989, and at the Royal College of Art from 1989 to 1991. In 1991, tutors at the Royal College of Art refused to present Gavin Turk with his postgraduate degree, a decision based on his graduation exhibition, which was titled Cave, and consisted of a whitewashed studio space, containing a blue heritage plaque of the kind normally found on historic buildings, commemorating his own presence as a sculptor, stating "Gavin Turk worked here, 1989–1991". This bestowed some instant notoriety on Turk, whose work was collected by numerous collectors including Charles Saatchi, who later exhibited Turk's work in the exhibition Sensation, which toured London (Royal Academy of Arts), Berlin (Hamburger Bahnhof) and New York (Brooklyn Museum). Turk attended the private view of the Sensation exhibition at the Royal Academy, dressed as a down-and-out. The blue plaque from the Cave installation was later exhibited in a museum style case as Relic (Cave), he also had a version of it made by one of the companies who make blue plaques for English Heritage and this is in the Tate collection. He has subsequently produced an extensive body of work, which purports to question the value and integrity of a hermetic artistic identity. Turk was considered to be one of the group of artists known as the Young British Artists.

• Illustration — Gavin Turk, Diamond Pink Elvis, 2005 From 2005 Turk began producing a small number of silkscreen works on canvas, depicting himself as Elvis Presley, in a pose taken from the paintings by Andy Warhol of the same subject from the 1960s, such as Warhol's Triple Elvis. Turk applied diamond dust to some of the Elvis works made from diamanté applied to silkscreened canvas in vibrant pop colours, which sparkles in direct light. Examples of Turk's Elvis series are Diamond Yellow Elvis, 2005 and Diamond Pink Elvis, 2005. A set of what appeared to be classic posters of Che Guevara in a beret, again revealed themselves on further scrutiny to be photos of Turk himself.

Turk's work often challenge notions of authenticity, authorship and identity. Several of his works have received critical attention. • Cave (1991) - a blue heritage plaque commemorating Gavin Turk himself, installed in his graduation show at the Royal College of Art. The piece was the reason the RCA refused to aware him a degree and has since become one of his most discussed works. • Pop (1993) - a life-sized waxwork of the artist as Sid Vicious in the style of Andy Warhol's Elvis Presley paintings • Death of Marat (1998) - a waxwork of the artist as Jean Paul Marat on his death bed, based on the painting of the same name by Jacques-Louis David. • Nomad (2002) - a bronze sculpture of a sleeping bag cast in patina bronze, referencing homelessness, presence and absence, and the romanticised image of the artist. • Bum (2000) - a life sized waxwork of the artist imitating a homeless person • Bin Bag series (2000-2006) - a series of bronze cast bin bags painted to look real. • Dumb Candle (2007) - a carving of a candle made from the top of an old broom handle, in 2007 Turk won the Charle Wollaston Award for the sculpture.

• Illustration — Gavin Turk, Bag, 2000 • Illustration — Gavin Turk, Bum, 1998 Turk has exhibited widely internationally. His solo exhibitions include 'L'Amour Fou', David Nolan Gallery, New York City (2013), 'Türk', Galerist, Istanbul, Turkey (2012), 'Gavin & Turk', Ben Brown Gallery, London (2013), 'Jack Shit!', Aeroplastics, Brussels, Belgium (2011), 'Before The World Was Round', Galerie Krinzinger, Vienna, Austria (2011) and 'En Face', Galerie Almine Rech, Paris, France (2010), 'The Mirror Stage', Goodman Gallery, Cape Town, South Africa (2009), 'Burnt Out', Kunsthaus Baselland, Basel, Switzerland (2008), 'Piss Off', Galerie Krinzinger, Vienna, Austria (2008) and 'Negotiation of Purpose', GEM Museum for Contemporary Art, The Hague, Netherlands (2007). Additionally, Turk has had solo exhibitions at Sean Kelly Gallery, New York (2005), the New Art Centre Sculpture Park and Gallery, Salisbury, England (2003), the New Art Gallery in Walsall, England (2002), and "The Stuff Show" at South London Gallery (1998). Recent group exhibitions include 'Street', New Art gallery Walsall (2012), 'Made in Britain: Contemporary Art from the British Council Collection', Sichuan (2012), 'Deja-vu? The Art of Copying from Dürer to You Tube', Staatliche Kunsthalle Karlsruhe, Germany (2012), 'Twenty', Aurel Scheibler, Berlin, Germany (2012), 'The Art of Chess', Bendigo Gallery; University of Queensland Art Museum, Australia (2012), 'Identity Theft', Mimmo scognamiglio Arte Contemporanea, Milan, Italy (2010), 'Pop Life: Art in a Material World', Tate Modern, London (2009), 'The Third Dimension, Whitechapel Art Gallery', London (2009), 'DLA Piper Series: This is Sculpture', Tate Liverpool, Liverpool (2009), Turk has also been involved in "teach-in" events such as "The Che Gavara [sic] Story" (2001).

In August 2014, Turk was one of 200 public figures who were signatories to a letter to The Guardian expressing their hope that Scotland would vote to remain part of the United Kingdom in September's referendum on that issue. In November 2018, Turk was one of 82 people arrested during a coordinated occupation of five bridges in Central London. The demonstration which was co-ordinated by Extinction Rebellion, was to raise the awareness of climate change. Turk said, "It seems like everyone is in an odd sense of denial about climate change."

In 2007 Turk established, with his partner Deborah Curtis, The House of Fairy Tales, a children's arts charity based in London, that brings together hundreds of artists, performers, actors, writers and philosophers to deliver theatrical events, guides and exhibitions. The project continues to further community education projects based around, supported by, and advocating art. The House of Fairy Tales tour the country in a mobile gallery horse box which made its festival debut at the 2008 Crunch Festival in Hay-on-Wye. In 2009, they appeared at the Glastonbury Festival. In the summer of 2009, The House of Fairy Tales also staged The Long Weekend, a pop-up festival for all ages, hosted by Tate Modern.