Viewing Gavin Turk: Kerze

Best known for his mischievous multimedia investigations of authorship, authenticity and identity, Gavin Turk draws inspiration from diverse art historical references, ranging from Neoclassical painting to Warhol’s silkscreens. For his fourth solo exhibition at Ben Brown Fine Arts, he has looked to Gerhard Richter’s photorealist paintings of lit candles from the early 1980s.

‘I first came to notice this painting [Kerze, 1983] in 1988 when it was used on the album cover of Daydream Nation by Sonic Youth,’ he says. ‘It seemed to extend the mood of the music and got lodged in my subconscious; now more than 30 years later, this feeling of pathos has started to reappear in my work.’

There are 11 new paintings on display, each featuring extinguished candles in groupings up to three. The candles and their delicate whisps of trailing smoke are framed by the horizontal and vertical lines of tabletops, curtains or windows in the background.

For Turk, the candle is a charged motif that has been interpreted in imaginative and creative ways throughout art history. ‘It is a clock, it is a guide, the lit flame is a burning energetic sprite,’ he muses. ‘Extinguishing it creates smoke, an afterlife, a holy ghost, a veil, a messenger.’

Which leaves us wondering: why have Turk’s candles gone out?