Balancing Act

Using conflicting forces and materials jotta artist Theo Turpin’s sculptural equilibrium redefines an average office environment, transforming it into a battle zone between objects and space.

Responding to the secure and formal settings of the Central St Martins Innovation Centre, jotta artist Theo Turpin’s exhibition of new work, Equilibrium is a direct reaction to the spatial environments in which it is exhibited.

The audience is invited into a dialogue between object and space, where the viewer’s relationship to these aspects becomes part of the suspended narrative. 

Through the re-arrangement of furniture typically found in most offices or galleries, Turpin sculptural assemblages not only acknowledges but also subverts the standardised aesthetics of these institutions. 



In ‘Balanced on a Prayer’ (2009) a plinth balances precariously on the leg of an upturned chair creating an uneasy harmony between the pairing of objects, a tension arises between the objects function and what they come to represent and symbolise. 


Again playing with the relationship between chair and plinth in ‘When There’s Nothing Left to do, But’ (2009), the chair seems to attack the plinth. Is this an act of construction or destruction? Chair vs. plinth, office vs. gallery, Turpin’ s work becomes a perpetual balancing act between tension and harmony and succeeds in occupying the space between. 

In the accompanying collage series, opposing powers manifest themselves in subtle arrangements of found imagery resulting in a chemical like reaction between objects. Regardless of medium, the visual language Turpin communicates in and the tensions he exploits are inherently sculptural.


Equilibrium opens Friday 19th June and continues until the 25th June at the Central St Martins Innovation Centre, Procter Street.

See more of Theo's work here

By Stephanie Grace