b. 1967, UK; lives and works in London
2010 University of East London, Honorary Doctorate
1989-91 Royal College of Art, London, MA
1986-89 Chelsea School of Art, London, BA
Gavin Turk has been for the last thirty years one of the prominentYoung British Artists. Dealing primarily with issues of authorship and authenticity, his work is often seen as quite controversial. An example of this was a series of three-dimensional Trompe-l’œil works which included objects cast into bronze and painted to give the appearance of the original object — these include bronze sculptures of plastic rubbish bags, one of which when displayed in a prominent auction house, almost got thrown away with the rubbish!
In 2013 Prestel published Turk’s first major monograph, showcasing more than two decades of his work and in 2014 Trolley Books published This Is Not A Book About Gavin Turk that playfully explores themes associated with the artist’s work via thirty notable contributors.
Commissioned public sculptures include L'Âge d'Or (2016), positioned outside Here East, incorporating 22 artist studios in Queen Elizabeth Park, London and Nail, a 12 metre sculpture at One New Change, St Pauls, London. His work is widely collected internationally by institutions such as: Tate, MoMA, New York and the Victoria and Albert museum.
Major solo exhibitions in the UK include: Who What When Where How and Why at Newport Street Gallery (2016-17); Give In at Ben Brown Fine Arts, London, (2017) and Wittgenstein’s Dream, Freud Museum, London (2015). Internationally, he has been included in group shows: ICON, Galerie Krinzinger, Vienna; Cracks in Reality, Marta Herford, Germany and Doublethink: Double Vision, Pera Museum, Istanbul.