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Artworks

Open a larger version of the following image in a popup: Gavin TURK, Small Nail, 2011
Open a larger version of the following image in a popup: Gavin TURK, Small Nail, 2011
Open a larger version of the following image in a popup: Gavin TURK, Small Nail, 2011
Open a larger version of the following image in a popup: Gavin TURK, Small Nail, 2011
Open a larger version of the following image in a popup: Gavin TURK, Small Nail, 2011 edition inspired by "NAIL" , an 11 meter sculpture behind St Paul's cathedral London
Open a larger version of the following image in a popup: Gavin TURK, Small Nail, 2011

Gavin TURK

Small Nail, 2011
Patinated Bronze
195 x 65 x 65 cm
76 3/4 x 25 5/8 x 25 5/8 in
copyright the artist
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Life scale rusty nail made in bronze appearing to have been hit in the ground at an angle. Both comic and provocative, Nail is a 2 metre bronze sculpture, treated...
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Life scale rusty nail made in bronze appearing to have been hit in the ground at an angle.
Both comic and provocative, Nail is a 2 metre bronze sculpture, treated as the title implies, to appear like a giant rusty nail. Nail is hammered between the ancient and modern. At the intersection of these two worlds, Nail is a nostalgic recollection of tools traditionally used by the construction industry and favoured by Turk’s archetypal white van man, now of less and less necessity in the modern architecture of One New Change. Its rustiness, meanwhile underscores the uselessness of this once useful object, while also suggesting the creep of the natural into the territory of the man-made. Not only a literal object, the nail doubles as a psychological object which suggests “nail in the coffin” and “nailed to the cross.” Rather more humorously, viewed from a certain angle, Nail appears to pin One New Change into the ground, although viewed from other angles, it hints at the empty space where what was nailed has long since been removed. A giant magnification of a miniature object, the closer the viewer stands to Nail, the more comically abstract the object appears, as by contrast, both the viewer and its surroundings appear to shrink.

À la fois comique et provocante, "Small Nail "est une sculpture en bronze de 2 mètres de long, traitée, comme son titre l'indique, pour ressembler à un clou rouillé géant. " Small Nail" est martelé entre l'ancien et le moderne. À l'intersection de ces deux mondes, "Small Nail "est une réminiscence nostalgique des outils traditionnellement utilisés par l'industrie de la construction et privilégiés par l'archétype de l'homme à la camionnette blanche de l'artiste Gavin Turk, aujourd'hui de moins en moins nécessaire dans l'architecture moderne de One New Change. Sa rouille souligne l'inutilité de cet objet autrefois utile, tout en suggérant la pénétration du naturel dans le territoire de l'artificiel. Le clou n'est pas seulement un objet littéral, c'est aussi un objet psychologique qui évoque le « clou dans le cercueil » et le « cloué sur la croix ». De manière plus humoristique, vu sous un certain angle, le clou semble enfoncer One New Change dans le sol, alors que vu sous d'autres angles, il fait allusion à l'espace vide où ce qui a été cloué a depuis longtemps été enlevé. Agrandissement géant d'un objet miniature, plus le spectateur se rapproche de "Small Nail", plus l'objet apparaît comiquement abstrait, alors que par contraste, le spectateur et son environnement semblent rétrécir.
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