Gavin Turk: From troublemaker to major talent

One of the YBAs who rose to fame during the era of New Labour and Britpop, the contemporary of Damien Hirst and Tracey Emin believes Britain would be better off if we all had some time out.

“If everybody did take a bit more time to think more laterally, we could actually be in a better political situation.

“I absolutely love the idea of inviting everybody to get a little bit existential, everyone should get a chance in their life to spend a bit of time just being able to muse and think about what they value.”

He’s spent his career challenging what we see as art – producing works in the style of other well-known artists and creating bin bags and cigarette butts out of bronze.

“I think I’m asking questions of what people expect to find in a gallery, what they accept and what they don’t accept.

“I like the idea of camouflaged artwork, artworks that make you think that you need to look again at the quite normal things that are around you.”

By rights, his constant questioning should make him an outsider in the art world, but this year he’s cemented his place as a major British artist with three exhibitions currently on in London.

He is a copycat, innovator, provocateur and chameleon. Understanding the joke isn’t always easy, but the art world’s troublemaker is now widely considered one of Britain’s finest.

“I really think about this idea of being an artist, it being a cultural job, therefore the stuff you make – whether you consciously do it or not – is all part of a kind of cultural exercise.”

:: I Lost My Heart to a Starship Trooper – a group exhibition examining “the importance of appropriation” – is at The Griffin Gallery until 24 February.

:: Gavin Turk: Give In is at Ben Brown Fine Arts London until 12 April.

:: Gavin Turk: Who What When Where How & Why is at Newport Street Gallery until 19 March.