Jud Turner is a sculptor from Eugene, Oregon, born in 1969. Educated at the University of Oregon, he was trained in drawing and painting, but transitioned to sculptural work in the early 1990's. He has been working with found or re-purposed objects and welded steel for over 25 years. His work has been featured in hundreds of exhibitions, and is in public and private collections around the world, including Ripley's Believe it or Not, D-71 Gallery (Beijing, China), Southern Methodist University (Dallas, TX), Ninkasi Brewery (Eugene, OR), Firefly Aerospace (Austin, TX), XPO Logistics (Boston), and the University of Oregon (where he was educated). His art has also been featured in many books and magazines including Juxtapoz, Surface China, Bloomberg Financial, and The Guardian (UK). Jud has won many awards including recently being named The 2020 Eugene Arts and Letters Award and voted as "Favorite Visual Artist" by readers of The Register Guard. Represented by Woolff Gallery (London, UK) since 2009, he has exhibited in international Art Fairs including Art Basel, Context NYC, and was featured at the first Jackson Hole Fine Art Fair in 2019. He has also completed multiple permanent public art installations throughout the US. Turner's sculptures are visually engaging, using symmetry, repetition and intricate detail to represent forms found in the natural world, or create fantastic assemblages based on modern technologies. His artistic philosophy is "Between seeming contradictions lie greater truths", and much of his subject matter explores the relationship of opposites - static, hard steel forms depict soft and delicate animals captured in lifelike motion. Themes such as the balance between nature and technology, mortality, the passage of time, and transportation are common throughout his extensive body of work. Currently residing in Eugene, Turner and his wife, sculptor Renee Mahni work out of The Oblivion Factory, their metal fabrication studio. When not creating sculpture, they care for their two studio pigs, Boris and Piggert, 4 rabbits, and several cats. They also enjoy exploring the wilds of Oregon, and maintain a regular practice of meditation and sobriety.
