Gavin Turk

Biography

Gavin Turk notoriously failed to graduate from the Royal College of Art in 1991, when he exhibited nothing but a blue heritage plaque commemorating his career as a sculptor. This catapulted him to the forefront of the YBA scene, and set the tone for the body of work to follow. Turk typically explores notions of fame, status and ambiguity of appearance – as seen in his life-size waxworks of himself in the roles of renegade icons such as Sid Vicious and Che Guevara, and his bronze sculptures of plastic bags and cardboard boxes.