Out of Place
Spalding Nix Fine Art, Atlanta, Georgia
January 15 – March 13, 2021
“Out of Place” features sculptural maps made of clay or rubber by Gregor Turk. His main body of work for this exhibition is Choke II, a series of carved black and white glazed ceramic tablets depicting geographic constrictions- namely straits and isthmuses— where seas channel and converge, and land masses narrow. Presented as typologies their diverse configurations serve as studies on separation and connectedness. Created during 2020, the work also represents, in part, surrogate foreign destinations not visited due to Covid travel restrictions.
RECLAIM/PROCLAIM BLANDTOWN
Gallery 72, Downtown Atlanta, Georgia
October 10 – November 27, 2019
In 2003, Turk purchased a house in the neighborhood and repurposed the cinderblock building as his studio. Today, that structure remains as one of the last four original houses still standing in Blandtown. The exhibition focuses on the demise and resettlement of the residential core of the neighborhood, exploring the shapes of both the original and newly-constructed building footprints. Turk produced several series of artwork in response. Much of this work was fabricated with reclaimed building materials from the new residential development surrounding his studio.
EDGE OF THE CONTINENT
Glynn Visual Arts Center, St. Simons, Georgia
October 30 – November 23, 2019
In this exhibition, Turk examines the costal region of Georgia, including St. Simons, from two distinct perspectives: 1) a recreational focus— in his Con/Text series he transfers text from local historical markers and plaques by making wax-oil rubbings onto either topographic maps or screenprints from vintage postcards of the area; and 2) a transit focus of Brunswick as a port— Choke II is a series of ceramic tablets featuring choke points (straits and isthmuses where geography and shipping lanes constrict). Exhibition media include clay, rubber, and works on paper.
Power Projection
Mason- Scharfenstein Museum of Art, Piedmont College, Demorst, Georgia
March 1 – March 31, 2017
In Power Projection, Turk responds to the current political landscape through new, reconfigured, and older works. Turk has long incorporated cartographic imagery and cultural markings into his public art, sculpture, photography, and mixed media constructions. For this exhibition, he continues the use of maps, signage, and symbols within the context of the current political discord. Lifted from military terminology, Power Projection refers to a nation’s ability to use its political, economic, and military prowess to impact events on a global scale such as crisis response or bolster unstable relations between nations.
CONFLUX
Spalding Nix Fine Art, Atlanta, Georgia
September 8 – October 28, 2016
Conflux features wall-mounted box-like maps of global choke points, strategic locations where passage by land or sea is constricted. Coastlines are depicted as alternating positive and negative cut-outs, framed in a grid and wrapped with repurposed rubber (bicycle inner tubes). Shadows and negative space come into play with the stark structures.
To see more images of the choke series visit rubber
Torque
Ponce City Market Pop-Up Exhibition, Atlanta, Georgia
February 5 – March 13, 2016
An exhibition that featured discarded objects that were wrapped with thousands of repurposed bicycle inner tubes. The resulting sculpture, furniture and other bound objects took on new meaning as emphasis shifted from their original function toward form and surface.
Terminal Velocity
Museum of Contemporary Art Georgia (MOCA GA), Atlanta, Georgia
May 4 – July 14, 2012
An exhibition of new work exploring monuments, mobility, and marking place created for the Museum of Contemporary Art Georgia’s 2011/2012 Working Artist Project Grant.
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.
Shift
Astolfi Art at White Provision, Atlanta, GA
May – July 2011
The Shift Series diverges from more direct mapping imagery but maintains cartographic references with its pallet of blues and greens referencing the color of water and land on maps. The paired trapezoidal shapes collectively construct dueling forced perspectives with the negative space between the panels.
49th PARALLEL
For 1,270 miles (2,043 km.) a section of the U.S./Canadian border is formed by the 49th parallel. A 20-foot (6 meter) wide clear-cut (or “vista”) demarcates the line along with 912 survey markers. As the world’s longest straight international boundary, this section of the border runs from the Lake of the Woods (Minnesota/Manitoba) to the waters of the Pacific (Washington/British Columbia). In 1992, I traveled by foot and bicycle along and nearby the course of this line. As a result of my travels, a substantial body of artwork and a documentary video were produced.
To see the documentary visit YouTube.
