metal › Nick Turvey

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.
Dear Leader – Shanghai
2014. Solid cast bronze, gold plated and enamel paint. Unique. 28 x 14 x 5 cm.

In granting the State a monopoly on violence, we become dependent on it. This totem of benign/malign authority melds Artemis of Ephesus with that latter-day avenging angel, the Tomahawk missile. Shanghai is one in an ongoing series of regional interpretations of the idea.
Dear Leader – Original Version
2014. Solid cast bronze and acrylic paint. Edition of 5. 28 x 14 x 5 cm.

In granting the State a monopoly on violence, we become dependent on it. This totem of benign/malign authority melds Artemis of Ephesus with that latter-day avenging angel, the Tomahawk missile.
Dear Leader – Kongo
2014. Solid cast bronze, cotton fabric, copper wire and coins. Unique. 28 x 14 x 5 cm.

In granting the State a monopoly on violence, we become dependent on it. This totem of benign/malign authority melds Artemis of Ephesus with that latter-day avenging angel, the Tomahawk missile. Kongo is one in an ongoing series of regional interpretations of the idea.
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.
Dear Leader – Original Version (detail)
2014. Solid cast bronze and acrylic paint. Edition of 5. 28 x 14 x 5 cm.

In granting the State a monopoly on violence, we become dependent on it. This totem of benign/malign authority melds Artemis of Ephesus with that latter-day avenging angel, the Tomahawk missile.
All Alone Together
Solo exhibition

Gibberd Gallery

19 June-23 August 2013

The Watergardens, Harlow, Essex

Three sculptural installations – claustrophobic, defensive spaces reminiscent of military bunkers – have been built in the gallery, and individuals and groups in Harlow are invited to make use of them. Here is an opportunity to examine the meaning of selfhood and togetherness, developing the idea of a community art gallery as a place of meeting and action.

Image: Bunkers 1,2 & 3
Methuselah
2010. Corten steel. 320 x 320 x 400 cm.

Interesting properties emerge at the interface where one kind of order meets another. You could call it algorithmic form, a cognitive hack of the eye and brain to exploit our figurative bias, akin to the mathematical simulation involved in image compression.

Acquired by Newhall Projects for the Harlow Art Trust collection, and permanently installed in the new park at the centre of Newhall. To visit, drive to the end of The Chase, CM17 9JA. A map of Harlow’s extensive sculpture collection can be downloaded from here or here.
Methuselah
2010. Corten steel. 320 x 320 x 400 cm.

Interesting properties emerge at the interface where one kind of order meets another. You could call it algorithmic form, a cognitive hack of the eye and brain to exploit our figurative bias, akin to the mathematical simulation involved in image compression.

Acquired by Newhall Projects for the Harlow Art Trust collection, and permanently installed in the new park at the centre of Newhall. To visit, drive to the end of The Chase, CM17 9JA. A map of Harlow’s extensive sculpture collection can be downloaded from here or here.
Methuselah
2010. Corten steel. 320 x 320 x 400 cm.

Interesting properties emerge at the interface where one kind of order meets another. You could call it algorithmic form, a cognitive hack of the eye and brain to exploit our figurative bias, akin to the mathematical simulation involved in image compression.

Acquired by Newhall Projects for the Harlow Art Trust collection, and permanently installed in the new park at the centre of Newhall. To visit, drive to the end of The Chase, CM17 9JA. A map of Harlow’s extensive sculpture collection can be downloaded from here or here.
Aeolus
2010. Corten steel. 200 x 200 x 200 cm.

Project for Marseillan.
Chief
2010. Corten Steel & enamel paint. 400 (l) x 135 (w) x 170 cm (h)

The timeless word ‘Chief’ aims to provoke reflections on our need for heroes, and this toppled giant, slumped in defeat, alludes to propagandist embodiments of power laid low, the pathos of the heroic body. There is something clearly skeletal about the form, which, just like historical or political reputations, appears and dissolves, depending on one’s point of view.
Chief
2010. Corten Steel & enamel paint. 400 (l) x 135 (w) x 170 cm (h)

The timeless word ‘Chief’ aims to provoke reflections on our need for heroes, and this toppled giant, slumped in defeat, alludes to propagandist embodiments of power laid low, the pathos of the heroic body. There is something clearly skeletal about the form, which, just like historical or political reputations, appears and dissolves, depending on one’s point of view.
Chief
2010. Corten Steel & enamel paint. 400 (l) x 135 (w) x 170 cm (h)

The timeless word ‘Chief’ aims to provoke reflections on our need for heroes, and this toppled giant, slumped in defeat, alludes to propagandist embodiments of power laid low, the pathos of the heroic body. There is something clearly skeletal about the form, which, just like historical or political reputations, appears and dissolves, depending on one’s point of view.
Posy
2009. Stainless steel & lacquer. 320 (w) x 320 (d) x 320 cm (h)

Project for Spitalfields. Flowers are not only a reminder of the mathematics that lurks beneath appearances, but have also always been potent symbols. The title invites the viewer to use that language of flowers to unpick the history of this place.
Ovoid
2008. Steel & bitumen. 14 m (dia.) x 6 m (h).
At high tide, water will slowly begin to spill over the edge, building in volume until it becomes a thunderous cascade. The void is filled and, for a brief time, the sculpture disappears completely. But, as the tide falls, the vessel drains and emerges again, in an endless cycle of renewal, a reminder of change as the only reality.
Ovoid
2008. Steel & bitumen. 14 m (dia.) x 6 m (h).
Project for Belfast. Developed in association with Dewhurst Macfarlane. Shortlisted for lead artwork commission in the Titanic Quarter development.
A giant steel vessel, an ambiguous hybrid of rusty spaceship, lotus bud and industrial relic, seems to hover on the water. As the tide rises, it is slowly submerged and, as this happens, object is transformed into void. Eventually, with waves rippling around its rim, the sculpture becomes a massive, paradoxical hole in the water – a dark, resonant absence, a space of memory, of loss and forgetting, histories both personal and collective.