Gavin Turk

The immaculate rendering of everyday, often very low-status objects, such as the rubbish bag or a sleeping bag, is crucial to the success of the witty and challenging aims of Turk’s work. The surface of these objects resembles that of things which are instantly recognisable, and which have a commonly understood function and physical property, such as the comparative light weight of the rubbish bag, or the softness of a sleeping bag, which is denied by the weight of the bronze. This act of deception is achieved because of the viewers implicit trust in what they can see, not what they know, and Turk’s work acknowledges this in the same manner as Magritte’s work The Treachery of Images (which includes the text Ceci n’est pas une pipe). Also highlights the way art operates on the premise that the viewer’s own mind will complete the illusion of reality when confronted by something which looks like an object they are already familiar with.

By taking these quotidian objects and immortalising them in bronze, Turk is making a wry, yet accurate judgement on our consumerist nature. The disposable and the down-at-heel are overlooked or even ignored on a day to day basis, but given an unexpected context such as Flora’s Temple at Chatsworth, it enables the viewer to ponder the possible narrative suggested by the empty sleeping bag, or the simple necessity of a rubbish-bag in today’s society.