Tulip Mine

Location

Country: Turkey
City: Ankara
Place: British Embassy

In 2017 Gavin Turk chose one of the most iconic symbols of the Netherlands to focus on for an exhibition at the Museum van Loon, following a visit to his friend the artist Philippa van Loon. Originating in central Asia, tulips were admired in Islamic gardens in Persia (Iran), blooming across the ancient Silk Route and in Anatolia. They are viewed as a symbol of exploration, trade and migration. In the 16th century the Netherlands had a great trade history with the Ottoman Empire (now Turkey) and it was the Van Loon family who were heavily involved in this trade route. Taking this story as a source of inspiration for his exhibition, Turk chose  24 contemporary artists to contribute to the exhibition — each focusing on depictions of tulips. Nineteen of the artists created prints showing tulips in different iterations, from hyperrealistic portraits to ‘exploded flowers’, from frozen blocks of flowers to tulip emojis.

Liliane Lijn was born in New York. In 1958 she moved to Paris and studied art history at the École du Louvre and archaeology at the Sorbonne. In the early 1960s, she made sculptures and installations that were inspired by a range of sources, from Ancient Greek mythology, space travel to emerging manufactured materials such as Plexiglas and Perspex. During the mid 1960s, Lijn lived near Athens and became interested in Tibetan Buddhism. In 1966 she moved to London where she still lives and works. Her many public commissions include White Koan (1972) at the University of Warwick and Cool Light (2003) at St Thomas' Hospital, London. Her work has been exhibited in the UK and abroad, including a mid-career retrospective at the Mead Gallery, Warwick in 2005. She collaborated with an astrophysicist on Solar Hills (2006–2007), a major landscape installation in California. In 2011 her solo exhibition Light Years was held at the Sir John Soane Museum and Riflemaker Gallery, London. In 2012 Caution Matter (with Jamie Allen), took place at Anglia Ruskin Gallery, Cambridge; and Cosmic Dramas at mima, Middlesbrough Institute of Modern Art, Middlesbrough.

Places

Subjects

Materials & Techniques

digital print, inkjet print

Artist

Liliane Lijn (1939 - )

Title

Tulip Mine

Portfolio Title

Turkish Tulips

Edition

7/25

Date

2017

Medium

Archival inkjet print

Dimensions

height: 29.7 cm, width: 29.7 cm

Acquisition

Purchased from The House of Fairy Tales, January 2018

Inscription

br: Liliane Lijn 11/08/17 7/25

Provenance

The House of Fairy Tales; purchased by the GAC 2018

GAC number

18749/14