Accession Code: wu0966 Title: Metamorphosis Date completed: 2000 Classification: Prints Medium: Offset Litho Height (mm): 260 Width (mm): 400 Depth (mm): Inscription: Location Name: Picture Store Location Description: Location Floor:

© courtesy of the artist.
 
From ‘Bugs – the Print Portfolio’ 2000

Gavin Turk’s choice of a subject on the theme of ‘bugs’ uses a literary source: Franz Kafka’s grim novella ‘Metamorphosis’ in which an unfulfilled travelling salesman wakes one morning to find himself changed into a repulsive insect-like creature. Without explaining the reasons for the transformation, the story recounts how the man and his family struggle to adjust to the awful mutation. The anthropomorphic image in Turk’s lithograph shows a defiant and menacing creature, more unsettling than any of the others in the Bugs portfolio.

The ten works which comprise Bugs – the Print Portfolio were generously donated by the artists for publication by the Byam Shaw School of Art in London to use as a means of raising funds for post-graduate scholarships. The series was produced in 2000 in an edition of 90.