- Venue
- Saint Dogmaels Gallery
- Location
- Wales
Michael Turners first solo exhibition in his home country of Wales presents work spanning a period of 16 years and is aptly entitled “An Oarsman Pulls Ahead While Looking Back”. It is a title, which speaks of a continuing journey – not leaving behind that which has been, but focusing on the old in the fresh light of the new. Underpinning the work of every true artist has to lie a questioning, for without that vital curiosity art could not exist. Throughout his years as an artist, Turner has followed a line of enquiry that has raised, and continues to raise, questions concerning the relationship of humankind with nature. His work causes us to sit up and look at ourselves as a race, where we have come from and where we think we are going. He is, however, not an artist dwelling on doom and gloom, for even his most thought provoking works have about them a gentle simplicity and inherent humour and compassion.
We are currently living in a society where time has time has become money and where, as a result, most of our day-to-day things are mass-produced, at speed and without real care and involvement. Michaels earliest works consisted of tools of rural work created out of slate and wood. Here he presents the form of the object and has returned the care to the creation of the object, but the object itself is not capable of performing its correct function and thus we are asked to question our relationship with it. Without ever pointing a finger of blame, or displaying any overt sentimentality for the loss of a way of life and a way of being, these objects speak of simpler times, a time when people had time, when time wasn’t money, when people valued craftsmanship above cost and cause us to question ourselves in relation to that.
Through the creation of objects of war out of natural materials and using them for a completely different task then the one intended Turners raises another question regarding our relationship with nature. A replica of a hand grenade, made from compressed peat becomes a jardinière with instructions on how to activate i.e. filling it with compost and planting grass seed. Through this action, the artist not only renders the grenade impotent, but also invests it with the true power – that of life itself which can create itself even in the most adverse conditions.
Continuing this theme Turner creates warplanes from feathers, guns from paper, felt, straw and corn and again we have a statement about the power of nature in relation to the power human beings imagine themselves to be in possession of. Over and over humans feel war to be a viable way of dealing with issues that arise between us and as such have misused the power of nature; turning it upon itself – the gift of life somehow distorting itself and giving birth to a desire to destroy life. Made from natural materials, these objects are more than objects rendered useless; they are a direct statement about the misuse of our position on this planet.
The nature theme continues into Turners present work, as does the question of time. Now we have a plant set to grow in an exhibition space. Through the force of its own growth, the plant activates a camera pointing permanently at it, causing it to document its own growth. The plant grows in real time; the force of nature is relentless but not necessarily fast. The camera freezes time in the way that only humans can and an observation of the life of the growing plant could take place in seconds compared to the many days or weeks it took to grow.
Turners project “Releasing Bonsai Trees” also speaks of time. Once again, human beings are not prepared to wait the full course, to give things the real time required and choose to interfere and to restrict in order to assert superiority over natural laws. The released trees are displayed as works of art, now doing there own thing albeit in a gallery. Nature takes over, but the positioning of the tree in a gallery setting means it is not just a tree; it is being presented as a symbol and as a point of discussion. Perhaps the question that arises, beyond the obvious interest in what becomes of the released tree, has to point us towards our own personal understanding and symbols of our own quest for freedom and to what it is we feel we are yearning to be freed from.
Turner’s journey continues, now leading him to the canvas and paint and to ceramics. A transcendence and abandonment enters his work as though nature itself is moving through the artist and having its expression in the natural forms and lines that arise. The resulting paintings and ceramics are predominantly white with splashes of colour and the same qualities of simplicity and dynamic humour, which pervaded his earlier works, are found here once again.
Turner likes to set his spontaneity and search for grace and beauty against a backdrop of the simple beauty of useful objects. His paintings are marked with tailor’s chalk and boxed in with unplaned roof baton, put roughly together in a functional way. These “frames” are not there to set the painting off at its best or bring out the colours, but to make an equal statement. His ceramics have been bolted onto reclaimed metal previously used for shelving and again we are asked to contemplate the relationship between one thing and another. Just as we were presented with the harshness of metal contrasted with the softness of feathers, the violence of war contrasted with the peace of nature, we are now being asked to see the grace and beauty of artistic expression contrasted with the functional things of everyday life
Turners’ work has been described as, contemplative and sometimes introspective. Behind each work lays a wealth of thought and deep consideration, personal philosophy and regard, and respect for the life which he inhabits in rural Wales. The inward journey of any contemplative must lead, inevitably, to a realisation of nature within – to an understanding that the force that grows the plant and shapes the twists and turns of the tree is the very force that grows and shapes the body and beats the heart. It is only when we acknowledge ourselves in this way, that we will begin to live life with a sense of the gravity of the task we have been given, as custodians of this planet. In the light of that one only hopes, that this ‘Oarsman’ continues to pull forwards, for Turner is the kind of artist required in these times, one who, in taking their role seriously, can pull us all forwards if we open ourselves to his work and allow his questions to become our questions.
Julie Turner is an independent writer and co-director of Saint Dogmaels Gallery
A full transcript of this review can be found on our web site:-www.saintdogmalsgallery.co.uk
