Lesson 2. 2009. Whittled desk. 18 x 23 in / 46 x 58 cm

Lesson 1. 2009. Whittled desk. 24 x 47 in / 60 x 120 cm

Lesson 4. 2009. Whittled desk. 24 x 47 in / 60 x 120 cm

Lesson 5. 2009. Whittled desk. 24 x 47 in / 60 x 120 cm

British artist BEN TURNBULL currently presents his first solo show entitled I Don’t Like Mondays at London Gallery Eleven where he perverts objects associated with childhood to both reveal a darker side of youth and critique the way it’s often pictured in the media.

With reclaimed wooden school desks as his choice of canvas, TURNBULL has delicately carved into seven of the pockmarked, pen-scratched surfaces, leaving the negative imprint of a deadly weapon upon each. This new series is a direct comment on contemporary school life, alluding to the horrific crimes repeatedly splashed out in headlines, from knife murders in South London to the Virginia Tech and Columbine massacres.

+ I Don’t Like Mondays: exhibition runs 21 October to 7 November 2009 at Eleven, 11 Eccleston Street, London