For this series, artist Ben Turnbull whittled symbols of violence into school desks. The series explores childhood fascination with violence. Born in 1974 and and working out of London, he is a passionate critic of the contemporary American political system, and explains why toys are central to his work: “Force fed on violence, abused by a controlling superpower and blackmailed through patriotism, the public are ultimately as disposable as the toys they once played with.”

Turnbull is fascinated by the global dominance of American culture, and his works unsettling effects result from re-presenting the toys of our innocent youth in symbolic forms that reveal the shocking truths about war, death and guns in the world’s most powerful country. Above all they take a satirical look at the lengths that the country’s political elites go to in order to control and manipulate the way we think, from our first days of play to the last time we cast our vote.

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The world renowned Saatchi Gallery in London is preparing to release it’s first retrospective book titled “The Saatchi Opus” in February 2009. Coming in at a scant 850 pages, the book chronicles some of the most important artist of the last to decades Lucien Freud, Damien Hirst, and Zhang Xiaoghang. The text includes essays by leading art critics Richard Cork and Brian Sewell, Sir Norman Rosenthal, former Secretary of Exhibitions at The Royal Academy of Art, and actor Steve Martin.

The Saatchi Opus is limited to 950 copies all signed by Mr. Saatchi himself. We’re guessing there’s some images you won’t ever see any where else (if you’ve ever tried to find a Lucien Freud print you know what I’m talking about). The exclusivity is included in the price tag, pre-publication price is £1,950 ($3,188). But since this is really a piece of art in and of itself, we’re guessing it will be worth double that in 5 years if you can find some one willing to part with it.

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Suspension of Disbelief (2007) – Taxidermied fox, fluorescent tubes, electronic balllasts with wood + perspex housing, wires. 170 x 170 x 160 cm

Steve Bishop was born in Canada but now resides in London. He studied at Kingston University and the Royal College Of Art and now has his work in the collection of Charles Saatchi, among others. You can check out some great gallery work on his site.

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Born in Germany and currently based in London, Holger Pooten has done work for Adidas, Nike, Vogue and other notable clients. The work is beautifully lit and perfectly executed. The images capture with seeming ease a moment of action rather than posed or static subjects. Recently Holger was the named Getty New Photographer ‘07.

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