MARUANI MERCIER & HADIDA - Gavin Turk, Works

Martine and Armand Hadida have joined forces with the Brussels gallery Maruani Mercier to open a new space at 12 rue Malher in Paris. Located in the heart of the Marais, this new space dedicated to contemporary art dedicates its inaugural exhibition to the Works series by British artist Gavin Turk.

Known for his work around the notions of identity and authenticity, Gavin Turk appropriates some of the most emblematic works of artists who made the history of art, such as Lucio Fontana's eggs and Andy Warhol's silkscreens. The artist plays with the visual discrepancies that arise between the works he subtly hijacks and the eye of the person who receives them. A way for him to question the work of art which ceases to be it as soon as it makes authority.

In 1991, Gavin Turk presented an important piece, counting for the validation of his degree at the Royal College of Art. Soberly titled Cave, it is an immaculate room whose only object, hanging on a wall, is a blue commemorative plaque bearing the inscription "Gavin Turk, Sculptor, worked here 1989-1991". This work first marks his failure to graduate, before ironically becoming one of the most important works of his career today.

Maruani Mercier is a contemporary art gallery opened in 1995 in Brussels. Since then, Maruani Mercier has exported itself by opening two other spaces in Knokke and now in Paris, partnering with the Hadidas who are opening their first gallery under their own name.