mixed-media › Nick Turvey

Mummy And Daddy
2014. Vitrine, wallpaper, model V2 rocket, model atom bomb and mixed media. 79 x 41 x 129 cm.

The Cowboys and Indians wallpaper that lines the floor of this vitrine was in my bedroom as a child. In retrospect it seems hardly accidental, living as we were in the shadow of Mutual Assured Destruction, another mythic confrontation.
Leviathan
2014. Mixed media. 104 x 134 x 13 cm.

Is this an autopsy or a life-saving operation? In/Out? Independence? Just like our parents, the nation state is more vulnerable than we like to think. Shout out to Thomas Hobbes.
Dieu et Mon Droit
2014. Bronze resin and mixed media, plywood, paint and flag. 66 x 100 x 84 cm.

Edwin Landseer’s allegorical animal portraits are a great source of inspiration, as are Bernini’s illusionist textures. This snarling armoured car is a piece of contemporary heraldry, reflecting the sense of entitlement that power creates.
Innocent (detail)
2014. Vitrine, wallpaper and mixed media. 79 x 41 x 129 cm.

In a dream I was making an artwork involving a battle tank and a pile of rubble. The solution was revealed to me by a man with a dead rabbit (Joseph Beuys, obviously), resulting in a series of vitrines. The title of this one alludes to Francis Bacon’s version of the painting by Velasquez, another portrait of power.
For Your Safety and Security
New Sculptures: Bugs, Warheads & Vitrines. Solo exhibition

Eleven Spitalfields Gallery

Curated by Peter Fleissig

4th July – 29th August 2014

11 Princelet Street
London E1 6QH

elevenspitalfields.com
020 7247 1816
Open Monday to Friday 12 -6, by appointment.
Life Sentence
2011. Mixed Media. 120 x 110 x 80 cm.
National Sculpture Prize
2011 National Sculpture Prize. Finalists exhibition.

Broomhill Art & Sculpture Foundation

June 1st 2011 – Feb 28th 2012

Muddiford Rd, Barnstaple, North Devon, EX31 4EX.
Open daily.

Image: Conscience
Conscience
2011. Bronze resin & nylon rope – 200 x 64 x 60 cm.

What interests me is the embodied nature of consciousness, the fact that our sense of ourselves is the product of a visceral, muscular materiality. Yet, at the same time, this body can seem like a prison, in which we are shackled by brutish desires and appetites. Identity is not monolithic. The brain and body are a parliament. It is a constant struggle, a dialogue, a story. We believe whatever we must, in order to continue living.
Conscience
2011. Bronze resin & nylon rope – 200 x 64 x 60 cm.

What interests me is the embodied nature of consciousness, the fact that our sense of ourselves is the product of a visceral, muscular materiality. Yet, at the same time, this body can seem like a prison, in which we are shackled by brutish desires and appetites. Identity is not monolithic. The brain and body are a parliament. It is a constant struggle, a dialogue, a story. We believe whatever we must, in order to continue living.
Conscience
2011. Bronze resin & nylon rope – 200 x 64 x 60 cm.

What interests me is the embodied nature of consciousness, the fact that our sense of ourselves is the product of a visceral, muscular materiality. Yet, at the same time, this body can seem like a prison, in which we are shackled by brutish desires and appetites. Identity is not monolithic. The brain and body are a parliament. It is a constant struggle, a dialogue, a story. We believe whatever we must, in order to continue living.
Sculpture Promenade
Group show.

The Fitzwilliam Museum

23rd March 2010 – 30th January 2011.

Ann Christopher, Angela Connor, Nick Hornby, Mike Lyons, Nick Turvey, Rob Ward.

Trumpington Street, Cambridge CB2 1RB

Image: Venus and Chief
Big Blue
2008. Stainless steel, glass, water and dye. 250 x 250 x 50 cm.

Project for Bury Divisional Police Headquarters. A giant, blue lens, intentionally reminiscent of a magnifying glass, calls to mind the exploits of beloved, fictional super-sleuths. However, for visitors arriving on foot, the lens frames and magnifies the headquarters, and it is the police themselves that are presented for scrutiny, in a playful take on the idea of accountability.
RBS Bursary
2008. Two year award from the Royal British Society of Sculptors. Ten sculptors of outstanding talent and potential, selected by competition each year to receive free membership and participate in a curated exhibition at the RBS Gallery.

Image: SpinState (detail)
Once Given Universe
2007. Plywood, emulsion paint, fluorescent light. Dimensions variable.

How frequently do we see what we have learnt to see, rather than what is actually there? In this installation, Light, and our perception of it, is both subject and medium. Is one half of the wall darker, or is the other lighter? A relativistic optical illusion conceals the underlying unity. In the context of Delhi, a city that I experienced as deeply segregated, the work reminds us of the importance of a shared conception of space. Installation created at KHOJ studios in Delhi, during an Arts Council International Fellowship.
Once Given Universe
2007. Plywood, emulsion paint, fluorescent light. Dimensions variable.

How frequently do we see what we have learnt to see, rather than what is actually there? In this installation, Light, and our perception of it, is both subject and medium. Is one half of the wall darker, or is the other lighter? A relativistic optical illusion conceals the underlying unity. In the context of Delhi, a city that I experienced as deeply segregated, the work reminds us of the importance of a shared conception of space. Installation created at KHOJ studios in Delhi, during an Arts Council International Fellowship.