s Camouflage (Self-Portrait) - Hull Museums Collections

Camouflage (Self-Portrait)


Camouflage (Self-Portrait), 1998   
Gavin Turk  (b.1967)

Turk’s work is intended to provoke questions about the identity of a work of art and its authorship.  
In the early 1990’s he explored these ideas by making a number of works based on his own signature that comment on the value that the artist’s name confers onto a work.
 
He has also made a number of photographic and sculptural self-portraits, which involve some degree of disguise.
 
For this self-portrait he covered his face with patches of cosmetic mudpack to mimic army camouflage. Set against a black background, his eyes stare intently into the camera lens. Like much of Turk’s work, this one contains deliberate references to other cultural forms. In particular it borrows from Marlon Brando’s sinister portrayal of Mr. Kurtz in the cult film, Apocalypse Now (1979).


R-type colour print on paper
Purchased through the Contemporary Art Society Special Collection Scheme with Lottery funding from the Arts Council England, 2000