Contemporary magazine article: Gavin Turk

Its about him. It is you know.

Its also about cliches, and the way Turk uses them within his work. The article is taken from a very recent issue, number 90, and was bought due to the cover image being 'Pink Beuys (cracked Pain)', Turk's 2005 work, one of my personal favourites.

First, let us look at the idea of what a cliche is, and for this task I will turn to my trusty friend, Dictionary.com:

1. a trite, stereotyped expression; a sentence or phrase, usually expressing a popular or common thought or idea, that has lost originality, ingenuity, and impact by long overuse, as sadder but wiser, or strong as an ox.
2. (in art, literature, drama, etc.) a trite or hackneyed plot, character development, use of color, musical expression, etc.
3. anything that has become trite or commonplace through overuse.
4. British Printing.
a. a stereotype or electrotype plate.
b. a reproduction made in a like manner.
–adjective
5. trite; hackneyed; stereotyped; clichéd.


The piece, simply entitled Gavin Turk (Contemporary seem to adopt this style for their featured artists), begins and ends with two phrases which juxtaposd together, I feel become very interesting. Together they read:

'It can be hard to think about cliches, it's so obvious, it's genius.'

Not sure where I am going with this writing at the moment, will come back to reveiw it again at a later date.