Ever wanted to dress up like Elvis, Andy Warhol or Sid Vicious?
Gavin Turk’s done all three.
Turk began bursted onto the art radar by exhibiting a blue heritage plaque in his studio at the Royal College of Art, which said “Gavin Turk worked here, 1989-1991″.
Cheeky perhaps?
Turk’s work is full of wit and referential humour, cunningly done through paraphrasing already well-known works of art from the recent past.
He also examines what the paraphernalia of ‘genius’ consists of – a signature; an identifiable style; a marketable identity.
The Japanese photographer takes photos like you and I take breaths of air – he’s published over 350 books already and can be considered one of the prolific artists alive today.
Here is a small selection of his photos. I will add more in a later post!
Think you don’t know Takashi Murakami, think again.
His collaboration with fashion house Louis Vuitton for a range of handbags and wallets became some of the most counterfeited fashion products in the world – the best gauge of the public’s hunger for a product. If you’re a fan of Kanye West have another look at his album covers.
With Murakami’s marriage of high and low art, commercialism and a Warhol ethos of factory production, he is often the target of critics that point to a cynical manipulation of low culture in his work.
Takashi Murakami standing with his work Hiropon
The prices his work features speak for themselves though – in May 2008 “My Lonesome Cowboy” (1998), a sculpture of a masturbating boy, sold for $15.2 million at a Sotheby’s auction. His work is coveted across the globe and his grand exhibition at the MOCA gallery in LA last year reportedly sold $4 million worth of limited edition prints from the galleries boutique shop – situated in the main gallery itself – perhaps Murakami’s tongue in cheek reference to the dialogue on the commercial aspect of his work?
Time magazine has rated him in their power 100 for the last 2 years – he is the only visual artist to feature on the list.
Check out the video from the Japanorama series on Murakami:
