Gavin Turk was born in 1967 in

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Gavin Turk was born in 1967 in Guilford. He made his debut as an artist at his MA show in 19991 in which he was refused his degree certificate. His exhibition consisted on one blue English Heritage style plaque reading “Borough of Kensington, Gavin Turk, Sculptor, Worked here 1989-1991”. He called this piece cave and it was this “memorial

to a career

that hadn’t

even started yet”

that got him

the attention

of people like

Saatchi and

Jopling.

From then on he’s

continued to

explore what

it means to be an artist using

 iconic figures such as Sid Vicious and Che Guevara to put across his ideas about identity, originality and status.

Turk became more widely recognised in the art world in 1993 when he first unveiled his sculpture “Pop”.

This work is a

life-size

waxwork

sculpture of

himself as Sid

Vicious posing

as Warhol's

painting of

Elvis Presley

imitating a

cowboy.

 This deep layering of references and influences is typical of Turk's view of the issue of artistic originality and status. “Pop” is probably Turks most well known piece of work to date.

“Another Bum” unveiled in 1999 was a life-size waxwork model of the artist as a homeless person. Turk had turned up dressed in a similar way to the glamorous opening party of 'Sensation' at the Royal Academy of Arts the year before.

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Just as he draws links between himself and celebrities from the art world, which can be seen in his work “Pop”, Turk is also interested in exploring our perception of, and relationship with, less privileged members of society. With “Another Bum” he does this by putting himself in their shoes.

This piece didn’t have the glamour of “Pop”, this time Turk created himself as someone most people would avoid in the street, which I don’t see as controversial, but different. The waxwork forced people to confront their feelings of discomfort.

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