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The Turner Prize

19th November 2011.  A beautiful bright day; OCA students, Heather, Nigel, Lucille, Michael, Christine, Sarah and I met up at the Baltic to socialise and view the Turner Prize Exhibition.  It was great that there was an instant rapport in the group with everyone clearly eager to exchange experiences to date with the OCA.  There was a good cross section of disciplines represented: drawing, painting, photography, printing and textiles.  Refreshed after coffee, we eagerly set off to the exhibition, guided by the security guards (the Baltic had quickly learned that a queuing / control system was needed after the initial unexpected crowds).  We toured around the exhibition, fortunately as we had an early start the exhibition was not too crowded and we had time and space to see the exhibits and opportunity to discuss with others.  On leaving the exhibition after a quick browse in the shop, we headed over the millennium bridge for a very enjoyable lunch at Gustos.  There was never a lull in the conversation; one of the most interesting and revealing things about the day was the differences of opinions amongst the group.  After lunch the group split, some visiting the Side Gallery and others attending the talk by one of the shortlisted artists Karla Black.  We regrouped for tea and further conversation and then headed home.  Everyone agreed that the day was very enjoyable and stimulating.

The Turner Prize is awarded each year to a British Artist under 50 for an outstanding exhibition in the preceding year.  I will present here my personal view of the exhibition together with quotes from the exhibition catalogue (in italics). I realise that the artists have spent years developing their work whereas, apart from George Shaw, this is the first time I have seen their work and then I am only seeing a limited selection for a limited time.  It is interesting to hear what the artists have to say about their work and I would recommend looking at the short videos (podcasts) and longer films of the artists talks by following this link.
Martin Boyce
“Martin Boyce creates sculptural installations that recall and reference familiar objects and public spaces to form immersive and fragmented landscapes.  Using the iconography of modern design and its making process, his work will often take shape as a stylised hybrid of furniture, lighting and architecture.”
This room consisted of various sculptures (not sure if that is the right word), including a rubbish bin of the type found in parks, a tree (?) and a table with letters scratched into it.  There was a label on the wall: “Beyond the repetition of high winds intersecting flight paths and opinion (a silent storm painted in the air) 2011” – no idea what that means!  Some of the group really liked this; it just left me cold.  I spent some time in the room, trying to let the work speak to me in some way, but nothing happened, I just couldn’t get interested emotionally or intellectually.
My X factor verdict:
X factor?
(max xxxxx)
Comments
Originality xx I feel I have seen this kind of sculpture / installation before ?
Technical skill xxx Care in making and interesting use of materials was apparent
Emotional appeal x Sorry Martin …
Intellectual appeal x Sorry Martin again, maybe I am unfair as I haven’t spent time studying this
OCA group votes 2/7 2 student thought Martin should win
Hilary Lloyd
“Hilary Lloyd has been working with the moving image since the early 1990s.  Using slides and carousels, films and digital video projection, Lloyd investigates perception and asks us to consider how the very act of looking is shaped and constructed”
This room consisted of various video monitors and projectors displaying moving images.  Gradually I became more interested in the work and saw that there was lots to look at and think about.  “The Moon 2011” consisted of 2 JVC LCD 47 inch monitors, 2 western digital HD media players and a unicol twin stand (Lloyd enjoys the technology and wants us to know about it).  Both screen were divided into a 3×7 grid, within each grid square was a low quality looping movie showing either the moon, a clock tower or both.  Some were moving slowly, some were “dancing” – as if taken on a mobile phone with a shaky hand.  I felt this was like a painting where time was being used as an additional ingredient.  A little bit more time here, a bit less there, analogous to say the use of tone.  In this way time was being used differently to the conventional linear use in film.
What was also of interest was the way the technology is displayed.  the monitors and projectors were not in any way hidden; they were deliberately in your way.  You could walk around the back of the monitors, get in the way of the projected light and clearly seen all the cabling neatly laid out.  It was fun to watch kids making shadow puppets on the wall, while adults appeared very unsure whether they should cast any shadow or disturb any ones view.   Or to put it another way: “Foregrounding the apparatus of viewing and choreographing our physical relationship with the work, she proposes a rethinking of the ways in which we engage with the moving image” . i.e. the projectors were in the way and you had to walk round them!
My X factor verdict:
X factor?
(max xxxxx)
Comments
Originality xxx A new way of using time in moving image
Technical skill xxxx Joy of technology evident
Emotional appeal xx Not quite
Intellectual appeal xxxx Yes, quite a lot to think about…
OCA group votes 0/7 No votes to win, but I think a second choice for many
Karla Black
“Karla Black’s abstract, large scale sculptures explore the nature and limitations of the medium.  Her works have an energy, a powerful presence and an aesthetic and sensual appeal that prompt us to consider our relationship to the material world”
Well nice words and nice work, but this quote seems an overstatement to me.  Yes I enjoyed the work, but if I am really honest I can’t say that it prompted any deep thoughts or emotions.  The room was filled with a large sculpture made of  giant piles of crumpled paper coloured in pale pastel shades. The colouring material – some kind of powder was also scattered around the edge of the works.  Other works in the room were made with cellophane, bath bombs, flaking paint and eye makeup.
It is difficult for me to think of the work now without thinking of the talk that Karla gave.  This, to me was full of irritating contradictions.  Maybe this means the work was having an impact and making me think, because it didn’t fit with my way of thinking of art and the world; umm maybe.  She is keen that her work is sculpture, she wants to stay in that discipline, even thought the work in her words is “nearly performance, nearly painting, nearly installation”. She says that she is influenced by post-modern developments, but want to return to modernist concerns about aesthetics.  Says said that post-modern art was too introspective and too language based.  Maybe I don’t get it, but to me her work seems to be just about these post-modern ideas that she says it isn’t.
My X factor verdict:
X factor?
(max xxxxx)
Comments
Originality xx I feel I have seen this kind of sculpture / installation before ?
Technical skill xxx Care in making and interesting use of materials was apparent
Emotional appeal xx Sorry Karla…
Intellectual appeal xx Sorry Karla again, maybe I am unfair as I haven’t spent time studying this
OCA group votes 2/7 2 student thought Karla should win – and the work prompted a lot of interest discussion and debate
George Shaw
“Tile Hill, a post war housing estate on the edge of Coventry in the West Midland, is where George Shaw lived until he was 18.  Since 1996 Shaw has taken thousands of photographs of this unassuming place, capturing in minute detail the mundane and inconsequential landscape.  From these photographs he makes paintings; lots of them, documenting with deadpan realism, he captures views of this estate, its streets and what lies round the back of them, the new houses, the derelict ones the pub, even the place where the pub once stood”
The gallery space was filled with about 20 identically sized paintings.  All painted in a similar style and using humbrol enamel paint.  Whereas for the other three I had to think consider what I liked and I studiously tried to make notes, this work just struck me in the stomach straight away and I didn’t need to make any notes.  To me the paintings say it all, there is so much that could be written, but I feel because the message comes across in the painting there is so little that needs to be said.  However, not everyone likes this work so I will try to explain why I do.
Somehow the works seem to be a child’s eye view, which I find powerfully nostalgic.  I think because children (well I did) tend to explore and go places adults don’t; off the beaten track and around the back of places.  As I child (always on foot) I would explore in detail a small area around where I lived.  As an adult I move around (often by car) over a much wider area, but I am guided, i.e. I will park in the car park, follow the footpath, go in the front door, keep off where I am told to keep off etc.  As a child often things seem to be incomprehensible in the adult world, but you just accept them.  One day the adults may put some new tarmac down, or paint some new lines, or demolish a building; as a child you observe from a different world.  It is this feeling of intense looking at and knowing a place, not understanding, but not needing to understand either, that comes across in the work.  As an adult we feel we have to explain, understand everything we see in a verbal way and seek solutions to things.  A child can understand in a more visual way and not need verbal explanations and knowledge.
The work seems very English which I also like. It reminds me of the Smiths.  It is reminiscent of photo realism; the paintings are clearly based on photographs, but they are eerily different to photographs.  The works are clearly paintings and one marvels at the technical ability and yet they are definitely not “painterly”.  There are no brush marks visible.  There is no abstract expressionism or expressive mark making and yet the paintings are very expressive.  The works are very accessible and understandable by anyone and yet I think they also have a depth of meaning that is revealed on further study.  They are not chiefly conceptual works, but there is a conceptual aspect in the use of materials that have particular associations with young boys hobbies and not with fine art.  There is also a certain conceptual interest in the feeling that the works are similar to photographs that are instantly obtainable and yet must have been made slowly with painstaking care and great skill.
Yes you have guessed it.  George gets my vote!
My X factor verdict:
X factor?
(max xxxxx)
Comments
Originality xxxx I never seen humbrol paint used in this way.  Like photo-realism, but it isn’t somehow there is more emotion conveyed
Technical skill xxxxx A marvel
Emotional appeal xxxxx Yes – I get it totally
Intellectual appeal xxxx After the initial emotional impact there is lots that can be thought about.
OCA group votes 3/7 3 student thought George should win.

Jim Lloyd is a student on the BA(Hons) Painting degree programme. The OCA welcomes blog posts from students reporting on informal student meet-ups.


Posted by author: Jim Lloyd

3 thoughts on “The Turner Prize

  • This was written before the prize winner – Martin Boyce – was announced. Congratulations Martin – does any one know (and agree with?) the judges reasoning for selecting him?

  • I reflected a lot about this when I got home, and despite really loving the art work by George Shaw felt that this was out of place and did not seem to fit with my idea of the Turner Prize.
    The work of Martin Boyce however spoke volumes to me. Every time I turned around there was something else which I had not noticed before. The extraction of the lettering and shapes from the grate used for inspiration is the sort of thing that we textile artists do all the time and I think I therefore associated myself with the ideas and working methods used. I also liked the contrast of the wood and metal and the arrangement of the pieces in the room. I particularly liked the leaves which were made from folded brown paper. Perhaps my textile background gave me a different outlook, but compared to some of the previous winners, this one will stay with me for a long time.
    I wish there could have been 2 winners, because George Shaw should definitely receive recognition for his work and being shortlisted this year.

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