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Gregor Turk: Terminal Velocity
11am - 5pm
2011/2012 Working Artist Project
Gregor Turk is a 2011/2012 Working Artist Project Fellow selected by Michael Rooks, curator from the High Museum of Art.
About this Exhibition:
Gregor Turk: Terminal Velocity
“Terminal Velocity is comprised of four primary installations. Each serves not as a definitive statement, but as point of departure—a means of exploring ideas about place and the complex overlay of meaning associated with place that often includes conventionalities, contradictions and absurdities.
The three pieces on the left wall (upon entering the gallery) utilize different materials to represent the same subject with each medium bringing significantly different readings. The series references Micronesian stick charts which are handheld wood and seashell constructions that depict nautical routes by indicating wave swells and water currents rather than standard distance. The Metronesian Stick Chart, (the center of the three) is constructed of mimosa wood and inner-tubes with each valve representing an exit along Atlanta’s interstate system. Meanwhile, Interchange 1-9, located on the back center wall, condenses the city to 9 major interstate intersections. The panels are overlaid with road-worn ribbons of flayed inner-tubes.
Influenced by animist objects I encountered while living in West Africa in my twenties, the Fetish Series is an attempt to understand the burden of place—to reconcile the conflicted sentiments of revered sites. The wood for each piece was collected from a specific location that holds personal meaning (some examples include: my ancestral home-place, a schizophrenic’s feared power center, and the forest where a friend died). After formed into an X, the wood was bound and protected by taunt rubber (with one exception) with many further impaled with nails.
The Monument Series serves as an exploration of monuments and their ability to mark place. In this case, perhaps “placeiness” is a better term (as in Colbert’s “truthiness”). By making them portable, their authoritativeness and effectiveness has been significantly diminished while increasing their ability to mark numerous places quickly (although only temporarily).”
-Gregor Turk
About the Artist:
Gregor Turk (b. 1960 in New Haven, Connecticut) received his BA from Rhodes College in Memphis, TN and his MFA from Boston University. Between degrees, Turk served as a Peace Corps Volunteer in Liberia, West Africa. Fascinated by maps since childhood, he is interested in what they tell us about ourselves as individuals and collectively as a culture. Consequently, Turk’s work typically incorporates mapping imagery. His 49th Parallel Project focused on the 1,270-mile section of the U.S./Canadian border which he traveled by foot and bike in 1992. The project was part of the 1996 Cultural Olympiad and included a documentary broadcast on public television and a large body of artwork (produced over a three-year period) that was exhibited internationally. Also in 1996, Turk was the recipient of the “Alternate Visions Grant” funded by the National Endowment for the Arts, The Rockefeller Foundation, and the Warhol Foundation.
In addition to numerous exhibitions, he has completed several public art commissions including permanent installations at the Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta and Jacksonville International Airports and a series of outdoor sculptures at a fire station. Turk’s work is included in collections of the JPMorgan Chase Art Collection, the High Museum of Art, and MOCA GA. He has also taught workshops at the High Museum of Art, and served as an instructor at the Atlanta College of Art, Georgia State University, and SCAD Atlanta.
More info on Gregor Turk can be found here.