Gavin Turk @ Newport Street Gallery

Turk puts a focus on the theme of identity throughout the exhibition. Turk is doing what many artists have tried to do before – taking iconic works and transforming them into his own. He consciously takes the works of Pollock, Warhol, Jeff Koons, and turns them into his own. This concept is almost identical to Robert Rauschenberg’s ‘Erased De Kooning Drawing’; destroying an iconic or famous work by an artist and making it one’s own. In my opinion I don’t think his attempt is entirely successful – his choice of works are too complex on their own to transform or complicate further.

At a first glace one assumes he has created a pastiche of Pollock, but if you closely read the curators note then you will realise that in fact he doing the opposite; he has created a painting that resembles the iconic action style of Pollock, yet reflects Turks’ own identity. He has layered his own signature hundreds, perhaps thousands of times onto a canvas; the apparent disorganisation is highly organised. This precise layering technique is similar aesthetically to Pollock’s murals, yet differs in concept. Pollock’s paintings express his outward freedom of expression, whereas Turk creates a controlled structure and complex meaning.

Gavin Turk has taken Jeff Koons inflatables concept of creating objects that realistically resemble polystyrene but are made of bronze. Although the idea isn’t original, the exhibition was still thoroughly enjoyable; you have to admire the genius of creating a rubbish dump in the gallery so realistic that you could mistake it for the invigilators lack of cleanliness or hygiene.