About this Book

Gavin Turk - one of the group of artists known in the British media as YBAs - might seem a familiar figure to us, but how many of us really know or understand what we are looking at when we see a piece of his work? A diverse mix of contributors were invited to discuss his recurring motifs - from eggs to trash, via tramps and punk. Each short essay is accompanied by illustrations; signposting shows how they interconnect and overlap along the way. The book's title is a playful spoof on René Magritte's famous work 'Ceci n'est pas une pipe' because it is not biographical or even really about Turk's work. Instead it unpacks the imagery and references within it with the help of a myriad of writers, artists and thinkers, from Damien Hirst to Hari Kunzru, taking the reader on a tragi-comic jamboree through the contemporary world, seen through the eyes of the artist Gavin Turk. The book will have a special presence at The Art Car Boot Fair on Sunday 8th June, with an official launch on Thursday 12th June at Trolley's gallery TJ Boulting when an exhibition of new work by the book's illustrator Jim Hollingworth aka JIMP, presented by Gavin Turk, will be previewed.'--Publisher.