2009 Turner Prize
Encyclopedia
The four nominees for the Tate gallery's 2009 Turner Prize were Enrico David
, Roger Hiorns
, Lucy Skaer
and Richard Wright
. The award went to Richard Wright on the 7th of December 2009 winning him the £25,000 prize ($41,000, 28,000 EUR). The Turner jury said in a statement that they "admired the profound originality and beauty of Wright's work." The other shortlisted nominees each won £5,000.
The chairman of the jury was Tate Britain
director, Stephen Deuchar. The judges were Jonathan Jones
(art critic for The Guardian), Charles Esche (director of the Van Abbemuseum in Eindhoven, Doctor Andrea Schlieker (Curator Folkestone Triennial) and Mariella Frostrup
(broadcaster).
from October 6, 2009 to January 3, 2010.
The Turner Prize is awarded for a show by the artist in the previous year. When nominees are told of their nomination they then prepare exhibits for the Turner Prize exhibition, often at short notice. As such, the Turner Prize exhibition may not feature the works for which the artist was initially nominated by the judges. However the Turner Prize exhibition tends to be the basis on which public and press judge the artist's worthiness for nomination.
The artist says:
The critics said:
The artist says:
The critics said:
The artist says:
The critics said:
The critics said:
Enrico David
Enrico David is an artist based in London. He works in drawing, sculpture and installation, usually involving adaptions of traditional craft techniques. He makes large scale embroidered portraits using sewn canvases, which begin as drawings and collages from fashion magazines. He often uses...
, Roger Hiorns
Roger Hiorns
Roger Hiorns is a British artist. He was nominated for the Turner Prize in 2009.Hiorns was born in Birmingham. He attended the Bournville College of Art from 1991 to 1993, and Goldsmiths College in London from 1993 to 1996. He lives in London....
, Lucy Skaer
Lucy Skaer
Lucy Skaer is a British artist.Skaer was born in Cambridge and studied at the Glasgow School of Art from 1993 to 1997, graduating with a BA Hons in Fine Art. She currently lives and works in Glasgow and London....
and Richard Wright
Richard Wright (artist)
Richard Wright is a British artist and musician.Wright was born in London. His family moved to Scotland when he was young. He attended Edinburgh College of Art from 1978 to 1982 and studied at Glasgow School of Art between 1993 and 1995 studying for a Master of Fine Art...
. The award went to Richard Wright on the 7th of December 2009 winning him the £25,000 prize ($41,000, 28,000 EUR). The Turner jury said in a statement that they "admired the profound originality and beauty of Wright's work." The other shortlisted nominees each won £5,000.
The chairman of the jury was Tate Britain
Tate Britain
Tate Britain is an art gallery situated on Millbank in London, and part of the Tate gallery network in Britain, with Tate Modern, Tate Liverpool and Tate St Ives. It is the oldest gallery in the network, opening in 1897. It houses a substantial collection of the works of J. M. W. Turner.-History:It...
director, Stephen Deuchar. The judges were Jonathan Jones
Jonathan Jones (journalist)
Jonathan Jones is an English journalist and art critic who has been writing for The Guardian since 1999.He was on the jury for the 2009 Turner Prize.-External links:*...
(art critic for The Guardian), Charles Esche (director of the Van Abbemuseum in Eindhoven, Doctor Andrea Schlieker (Curator Folkestone Triennial) and Mariella Frostrup
Mariella Frostrup
Mariella Frostrup is a Norwegian-born journalist and television presenter, well known on British TV and radio, mainly for arts programmes. Her 'gravelly' voice was once voted the sexiest female voice on TV, and research to find 'the perfect voice' has indicated that Frostrup's voice is one of the...
(broadcaster).
Exhibition
An exhibition of work by the nominees was shown at Tate BritainTate Britain
Tate Britain is an art gallery situated on Millbank in London, and part of the Tate gallery network in Britain, with Tate Modern, Tate Liverpool and Tate St Ives. It is the oldest gallery in the network, opening in 1897. It houses a substantial collection of the works of J. M. W. Turner.-History:It...
from October 6, 2009 to January 3, 2010.
The Turner Prize is awarded for a show by the artist in the previous year. When nominees are told of their nomination they then prepare exhibits for the Turner Prize exhibition, often at short notice. As such, the Turner Prize exhibition may not feature the works for which the artist was initially nominated by the judges. However the Turner Prize exhibition tends to be the basis on which public and press judge the artist's worthiness for nomination.
Nominees
There were four nominees for the prize (chosen from a long-list of 19 artists), announced on Tuesday 28 April 2009:- Enrico DavidEnrico DavidEnrico David is an artist based in London. He works in drawing, sculpture and installation, usually involving adaptions of traditional craft techniques. He makes large scale embroidered portraits using sewn canvases, which begin as drawings and collages from fashion magazines. He often uses...
, nominated for his solo exhibition Dzzzzt By Mammy? at the Museum fur Gegenwartskunst, BaselBaselBasel or Basle In the national languages of Switzerland the city is also known as Bâle , Basilea and Basilea is Switzerland's third most populous city with about 166,000 inhabitants. Located where the Swiss, French and German borders meet, Basel also has suburbs in France and Germany...
and Bulbous Marauder at the Seattle Arts Museum. - Roger HiornsRoger HiornsRoger Hiorns is a British artist. He was nominated for the Turner Prize in 2009.Hiorns was born in Birmingham. He attended the Bournville College of Art from 1991 to 1993, and Goldsmiths College in London from 1993 to 1996. He lives in London....
, nominated for his 2008 exhibition Seizure; an abandoned flat left to bathe in liquid copper sulphate until all surfaces were covered in blue crystals.- An alumnus of Goldsmiths CollegeGoldsmiths CollegeGoldsmiths, University of London is a public research university located in London, United Kingdom which specialises in the arts, humanities and social sciences, and a constituent college of the federal University of London. It was founded in 1891 as Goldsmiths' Technical and Recreative Institute...
, London.
- An alumnus of Goldsmiths College
- Lucy SkaerLucy SkaerLucy Skaer is a British artist.Skaer was born in Cambridge and studied at the Glasgow School of Art from 1993 to 1997, graduating with a BA Hons in Fine Art. She currently lives and works in Glasgow and London....
, nominated for her solo exhibition at the Fruitmarket GalleryFruitmarket GalleryThe Fruitmarket Gallery is an art gallery in Edinburgh, Scotland. It is located in the centre of the city on Market Street, beside Edinburgh Waverley train station....
, EdinburghEdinburghEdinburgh is the capital city of Scotland, the second largest city in Scotland, and the eighth most populous in the United Kingdom. The City of Edinburgh Council governs one of Scotland's 32 local government council areas. The council area includes urban Edinburgh and a rural area...
and A Boat Used as a Vessel at the KunsthalleKunsthalleKunsthalle is, generally, in German speaking regions a term for a facility mounting temporary art exhibitions. Some are run or supported by a local Kunstverein, an art association of local collectors and artists...
, Basel.- Born CambridgeCambridgeThe city of Cambridge is a university town and the administrative centre of the county of Cambridgeshire, England. It lies in East Anglia about north of London. Cambridge is at the heart of the high-technology centre known as Silicon Fen – a play on Silicon Valley and the fens surrounding the...
, 1975. Lives and works in LondonLondonLondon is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
and GlasgowGlasgowGlasgow is the largest city in Scotland and third most populous in the United Kingdom. The city is situated on the River Clyde in the country's west central lowlands...
.
- Born Cambridge
- Richard WrightRichard Wright (artist)Richard Wright is a British artist and musician.Wright was born in London. His family moved to Scotland when he was young. He attended Edinburgh College of Art from 1978 to 1982 and studied at Glasgow School of Art between 1993 and 1995 studying for a Master of Fine Art...
, nominated for work exhibited at the 55th Carnegie International, Pittsburgh and his exhibition at the Ingleby Gallery, Edinburgh.- GlasgowGlasgowGlasgow is the largest city in Scotland and third most populous in the United Kingdom. The city is situated on the River Clyde in the country's west central lowlands...
-based, born 1960.
- Glasgow
Enrico David
-
- Absuction Cardigan or How Do You Love Dzzzzt By Mammy?
- A papier mache egg shaped man on rocking chair legs with a photo of the artist's face stuck on.(External image), (External image)
- Bulbous Marauder
- An image of two harlequins wielding clubs. (External image)
- Bulbous Marauder 2
- A face looks down as seen between the parted legs of someone in harlequin costume. (External image)
- Wayne Shire
- A stuffed dummy, collapsed on the ground. (External image).
- ?
- "A glimpse at a gay man's bottom".
- ?
- "the face of Kenneth Williams thrown into a boot".
- Absuction Cardigan or How Do You Love Dzzzzt By Mammy?
The artist says:
- "I see the potential of the creative process as a representation of a new language to be simultaneously constructed and discovered, on the basis of pre-existing aesthetic and cultural templates."
The critics said:
- "[his work] has never touched, moved or done more than mildly irritate me." - Adrian SearleAdrian SearleAdrian Searle is the chief art critic of The Guardian newspaper in Britain, and has been writing for the paper since 1996. Previously he was a painter. He curates art shows and also writes fiction.-Career:...
, The GuardianThe GuardianThe Guardian, formerly known as The Manchester Guardian , is a British national daily newspaper in the Berliner format... - "a brilliant painter, strange and disturbing, definitely not safe or conventional, one of the most exciting, troubling artists of our time." - Jonathan Jones, The GuardianThe GuardianThe Guardian, formerly known as The Manchester Guardian , is a British national daily newspaper in the Berliner format...
- "his work is a bit silly. It’s a sort of punch-and-judy psychodrama, a romp in a perverse shop window." - Tom Lubbock - The IndependentThe IndependentThe Independent is a British national morning newspaper published in London by Independent Print Limited, owned by Alexander Lebedev since 2010. It is nicknamed the Indy, while the Sunday edition, The Independent on Sunday, is the Sindy. Launched in 1986, it is one of the youngest UK national daily...
- "the only one of this year's contestants whose work brought back that toe-tapping annoyance of a decade ago." - Charles Darwent, The IndependentThe IndependentThe Independent is a British national morning newspaper published in London by Independent Print Limited, owned by Alexander Lebedev since 2010. It is nicknamed the Indy, while the Sunday edition, The Independent on Sunday, is the Sindy. Launched in 1986, it is one of the youngest UK national daily...
- "a pantomime of impotent half-jokes." - Laura Cumming, The ObserverThe ObserverThe Observer is a British newspaper, published on Sundays. In the same place on the political spectrum as its daily sister paper The Guardian, which acquired it in 1993, it takes a liberal or social democratic line on most issues. It is the world's oldest Sunday newspaper.-Origins:The first issue,...
.
Roger Hiorns
-
- Seizure
- A flat was filled with copper sulphate which, once it had evaporated, left all surfaces covered in blue crystal.(External image) (External image).
- ?
- Cubes of processed cows' brains in metal racks.
- ?
- a scattered pile of dust made from disintegrating a jet engine.(External image).
- IBM (15 x 10)
- a white tubular shape with a black contraption at one end. (External image).
- Discipline
- Steel thistles covered in copper sulphate crystals leaning against a wall.(External image)
- Vauxhall
- Flames coming from a floor drain.(External image)
- Seizure
The artist says:
- "I prefer to distance myself from ideas of posterity, of the longevity of a piece of art. None of that seems healthy. I don't like explaining and being explicit."
The critics said:
- "Hiorns's art has nowhere much to go. It has already crystallised. I like Hiorns, but have always found him extremely repetitive." - Adrian Searle, The GuardianThe GuardianThe Guardian, formerly known as The Manchester Guardian , is a British national daily newspaper in the Berliner format...
- "does surprising things with surprising materials [...] [the powdered jet engine] is beautiful and spectacular."
- "His main entry in the Turner show, an untitled floor piece, pulls off another material miracle. Made in part of powdered cow brains, the work is both immensely clever and an island of the Romantic imagination – brainy in every way possible." - Charles Darwent, The IndependentThe IndependentThe Independent is a British national morning newspaper published in London by Independent Print Limited, owned by Alexander Lebedev since 2010. It is nicknamed the Indy, while the Sunday edition, The Independent on Sunday, is the Sindy. Launched in 1986, it is one of the youngest UK national daily...
.
Lucy Skaer
-
- ?
- "a pointed stone loop in front of some kind of book and a fairly ordinary wooden chair". (External image)
- ?
- "two paintings that seem to have been created by pressing them between paper". (External image)
- ?
- a curved sheet of paper half-covered in black ink spirals to give the appearance of a whale skeleton hidden behind a false wall in the corner.
- Black Alphabet
- "26 copies of Brancusi's sculpture Bird in Space made from impacted coal dust". (External image), (External image).
- Leviathan Edge
- A sperm whale skull partially hidden behind screens. (External image 1, External image 2).
- The Siege[?]
- Large images of hands, one on the floor the other on a table. (External image)
- The Siege[?]
- A three panel image of a black mass. (image)
- Solid Ground - Liquid to Solid in 85 years
- An arrangement of objects on the ground. (External image).
- ?
- An image produced by inking a chair and pressing it to paper.
- ?
The artist says:
- "I'm interested in a state of between-ness, and that state you find if one thing transforms to another."
The critics said:
- "her work can be delicate, moving and strange, but everything she does needs an awful lot of mental unpacking." - Adrian Searle, The GuardianThe GuardianThe Guardian, formerly known as The Manchester Guardian , is a British national daily newspaper in the Berliner format...
- "her contribution may feel decidedly bitty, but as you puzzle and ponder and try to put it together you find yourself focusing on the act of looking itself." - Rachel Campbell-Johnston - The TimesThe TimesThe Times is a British daily national newspaper, first published in London in 1785 under the title The Daily Universal Register . The Times and its sister paper The Sunday Times are published by Times Newspapers Limited, a subsidiary since 1981 of News International...
- "what’s it about? Do I care enough to do the homework? There’s always some background thinking, tenuously connected to a curious exhibit [...] I feel sure she’s got an interesting mind. I’m not sure it’s the mind of an artist." - Tom Lubbock, The IndependentThe IndependentThe Independent is a British national morning newspaper published in London by Independent Print Limited, owned by Alexander Lebedev since 2010. It is nicknamed the Indy, while the Sunday edition, The Independent on Sunday, is the Sindy. Launched in 1986, it is one of the youngest UK national daily...
- "Skaer was one of the highlights of this art year for me, as she is of the 2009 Turner Prize show." - Charles Darwent, The IndependentThe IndependentThe Independent is a British national morning newspaper published in London by Independent Print Limited, owned by Alexander Lebedev since 2010. It is nicknamed the Indy, while the Sunday edition, The Independent on Sunday, is the Sindy. Launched in 1986, it is one of the youngest UK national daily...
. - "Much of what she makes is about slowing the eye and thus the mind. And almost everything here holds you with an enigmatic clarity and impact I haven't seen in her work before. But against this is her speeding brain, polymorphous, doodling around, sometimes overshooting the mark." - Laura Cumming, The ObserverThe ObserverThe Observer is a British newspaper, published on Sundays. In the same place on the political spectrum as its daily sister paper The Guardian, which acquired it in 1993, it takes a liberal or social democratic line on most issues. It is the world's oldest Sunday newspaper.-Origins:The first issue,...
.
Richard Wright
-
- Untitled
- A gold leafGold leafright|thumb|250px|[[Burnishing]] gold leaf with an [[agate]] stone tool, during the water gilding processGold leaf is gold that has been hammered into extremely thin sheets and is often used for gilding. Gold leaf is available in a wide variety of karats and shades...
fresco that was painted over once the exhibition finished. (External image), (External image)
- A gold leaf
- No Title
- A painting as if looking through an arched window towards other arched windows.(External image)
- Not Titled
- A painting of a red geometric shape, tapering towards the floor. (External image)
- No Title
- Shelving, as if set in a door frame. (External image).
- Untitled
- A bean-shaped design pattern. (External image).
- Untitled
The critics said:
- "ephemeral but often rather beautiful [...] sometimes, getting up close, you can drown in their fixated patterning." Searle, The GuardianThe GuardianThe Guardian, formerly known as The Manchester Guardian , is a British national daily newspaper in the Berliner format...
- "Wright's painting speaks of the exaltation of the human spirit, of our finer instincts and loftier ambitions, of the ability of the soul to soar and sing. It heralds nothing less than the return of beauty to modern art."
- "feels institutional rather than sweetly and typically subversive."
Critics' reception of exhibition as a whole
- "seductive, intriguing, involving work that appeals to the emotions and the senses" - Charlotte Higgins - The GuardianThe GuardianThe Guardian, formerly known as The Manchester Guardian , is a British national daily newspaper in the Berliner format...
- "if you enjoy huffing and puffing about the deplorable state of contemporary art, this year’s Turner Prize will probably prove disappointing [...] This is a subtle show which marks an optimistic upturn for the Turner." - Rachel Campbell-Johnston, The TimesThe TimesThe Times is a British daily national newspaper, first published in London in 1785 under the title The Daily Universal Register . The Times and its sister paper The Sunday Times are published by Times Newspapers Limited, a subsidiary since 1981 of News International...
- "you might find hard to tell where one part of the exhibition stopped and the next started. There’s plenty of common ground." - Tom Lubbock, The IndependentThe IndependentThe Independent is a British national morning newspaper published in London by Independent Print Limited, owned by Alexander Lebedev since 2010. It is nicknamed the Indy, while the Sunday edition, The Independent on Sunday, is the Sindy. Launched in 1986, it is one of the youngest UK national daily...
- "compared with last year's dismal and bloodless show, 2009 aims considerably higher." - Laura Cumming, The ObserverThe ObserverThe Observer is a British newspaper, published on Sundays. In the same place on the political spectrum as its daily sister paper The Guardian, which acquired it in 1993, it takes a liberal or social democratic line on most issues. It is the world's oldest Sunday newspaper.-Origins:The first issue,...
.
External links
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- Adrian Searle audio giving outline of nominees - The GuardianThe GuardianThe Guardian, formerly known as The Manchester Guardian , is a British national daily newspaper in the Berliner format...
. - Adrian Searle video showing many works of the exhibition with input from the artists - The GuardianThe GuardianThe Guardian, formerly known as The Manchester Guardian , is a British national daily newspaper in the Berliner format...
- Another Adrian Searle video showing works and with Searle speaking to camera giving his opinion of the artists and their work - The GuardianThe GuardianThe Guardian, formerly known as The Manchester Guardian , is a British national daily newspaper in the Berliner format...
- Exhibition slideshow - The GuardianThe GuardianThe Guardian, formerly known as The Manchester Guardian , is a British national daily newspaper in the Berliner format...
. - Slideshow - The GuardianThe GuardianThe Guardian, formerly known as The Manchester Guardian , is a British national daily newspaper in the Berliner format...
- Video coverage - The Daily TelegraphThe Daily TelegraphThe Daily Telegraph is a daily morning broadsheet newspaper distributed throughout the United Kingdom and internationally. The newspaper was founded by Arthur B...
- Video coverage of prize-giving and exhibition, includes Wright talking about his work and comment from Deuchar and Alan YentobAlan YentobAlan Yentob is a British television executive and presenter who has worked throughout his career at the BBC.-Early life:...
. - The GuardianThe GuardianThe Guardian, formerly known as The Manchester Guardian , is a British national daily newspaper in the Berliner format...