Stephen Turner, the artist behind the ‘Exbury Egg’, a wooden egg-shaped vessel in which he lived and worked for nearly three years, continues his odyssey across southern England. It is an environmental, historical and cultural investigation into the natural world with a sustainable artistic practice and temporary ‘hermit’ lifestyle.
A six-metre long sculpture, house, studio and observatory is a performance and an artwork with his drawings, prints, photographs, found objects, works on paper, sculptures and video made by the artist over the last few years. ‘Nature is not scenery, but a sequence of events occurring in time,” he says. Stephen wants to understand the potential of nature and of our relationship with it as a society and has spent long periods in abandoned places understanding aspects of time and place, transience and permanence. He encourages us to think about the way we live for more sustainable future.
During solo residencies in the Egg on the River Exbury in the New Forest from 2012-2014 and by the Leeds & Liverpool Canal for Super Slow Way in Burnley in 2015, Stephen catalogued his forays in each location in collections of objects, digital imagery, drawings and personal maps. The artist transformed scientific methodologies to his creative process; from collecting red river water to observe sedimentation to presenting multiple series of glass jars filled with fauna and flora preserved in alcohol. His observational drawings on discarded packaging use ink sourced from oak leaves; and small egg-shaped sculptures are made from dove feathers, shells, crab claws and other natural materials. Video works present visual meditations on living and working in and around the Egg.
His exhibition ‘Everything Comes From The Egg’ opened in January at Trinity Buoy Wharf in East London and the show will tour throughout 2017 to galleries and waterside locations in Milton Keynes, Portsmouth and Hastings. He will also be continuing his explorations of places and communities in Bow Creek and along the River Lea in a new residency programme during the exhibition.
For further information about the tour: Everything Comes From The Egg
