Art Calendar: 2009 Turner Prize Winner Announced Tomorrow
December 6, 2009 | Laura Carroll
Lucy Skaer's The Seige 2008 and other works nominated for the Turner are on display in the Tate Modern until January 3. Photo: Channel 4
The winner of the 2009 Turner Prize will be announced tomorrow, upon which one of four contemporary artists will take home a pleasing amount of pounds for a work he or she has created in the past 12 months.
Since 1984, the Turner Prize has recognized a British contemporary artist under the age of 50. Not intended to recognize the so called up-and-comings, previous awards have gone to Damien Hirst, Chris Ofili, Anish Kapoor and Steve McQueen, while famed figures like Tracy Emin and the Chapman brothers have graced the shortlists. It’s a group of full-fledged, controversial contemporaries indeed, and the competition is close.
Enrico David is shorlisted this year for his papier-mâché How Do You Love Dzzzzt By Mammy?, while Richard Wright is in for his delicate, gilded fresco – applied straight to gallery walls. Lucy Skaer’s The Siege 2008 reminds me of a Louise Bourgeois (a veritable inspiration to many of the Turner nominees), though it’s actually a Brancusi reproduction multiplied by 26. Roger Hiorns, though, just might take the prize for Seizure, a flat-cum-crystal cave that he created last year in south London through the use of liquid copper sulfate.
Like any contemporary art happening, the Turner Prize is no stranger to criticism. Banksy has defamed it, Prince Charles has cursed it, Madonna has cursed during it (using colorful vocabulary to express her salutations to the 2001 winner – on live TV, no less) and famed journalist Janet Street-Porter has defended it, stating that the Turner Prize “entice(s) thousands of young people into art galleries for the first time every year,” therefore fulfilling “a valuable role.”
Whether interested in the art or simply the audacity, you can be your own judge – the works are on display in London’s Tate Modern until January 3.
