MJ Turpin was born in Johannesburg, South Africa(1982). He received his BA Fine Art (Honours) from the University of the Witwatersrand and has since participated in numerous local exhibitions at spaces such as the Goodman Gallery, Everard Read & Circa, Nirox Gallery, Artspace, Bell Roberts, Johannesburg Art Gallery, and Gus Gallery. He also participated in several international exhibitions in Belgium, France, Australia, Morroco and Taiwan. He currently directs his own project space and gallery in Johannesburg called the Kalashnikovv Gallery. His most recent solos include “The Escape From Self”(2014) at Kalashnikovv Gallery and Flits Gallery, Berlin(2015). “Channelling the Material” 2017, was his first solo with Hazard Gallery followed by “take me apart” at No End Contemporary (2019). Turpin concluded his first residency in Marrakech with Queens Collective in 2019.
In his body of work, MJ Turpin explores contemporary forms of escapism and meta materiality – such as the Internet – citing notions of work created in a black hole. The relationship between space, cyberspace and invisible space is used as a metaphor for the purposeful avoidance of societal reflections, and theoretical as well as aesthetic norms within current artistic practice in South Africa.
MJ chooses to rather focus on materiality in all its forms – metaphysical to physical.
