Simon Starling Wins U.K. Turner Prize, Share of 40,000 Pounds Dec. 5 (Bloomberg) -- David Lammy, U.K. minister for culture, announced that Simon Starling was the winner of this year's Turner Prize, which is supported by the makers of Gordon's gin, Tanqueray Gordon & Co.
The minister was speaking at a dinner in the Tate Britain museum in London. In total, the prize is worth 40,000 pounds ($69,570) of which 25,000 pounds goes to the winner and 5,000 pounds each to the other three artists on the shortlist.
The competition was close, although the painter Gillian Carnegie, aged 34, was the bookies' favorite. The two other contenders, both of whom work in diverse media, were Jim Lambie, 41, and Darren Almond, 34.
The 38-year-old Starling is a conceptual artist. One of the works he exhibited in the Turner Prize show involved a German shed, which the artist dismantled and used the wood to construct a boat that was sailed a short distance on the Rhine to Basel. Once there it was formed into a shed again. His work could be described as environmental absurdism.
This year's jury included the arts journalist Louisa Buck; Kate Bush, the director of the Barbican art galleries; Caoimhin Mac Giolla Leith, an art critic and lecturer based in Dublin; and Eckhard Schneider, director of the Kunsthaus in Bregenz, Austria. The chairman was Sir Nicholas Serota, director of the Tate museums.
Purchase Protested
The prize was first awarded in 1984, and past winners include Damien Hirst and Gilbert & George. Only artists under 50 are eligible; they are nominated for an outstanding exhibition in the previous year.
Guests arriving at this year's dinner were greeted by protesters decrying the Tate's purchase of a work by Chris Ofili while he was serving as a trustee of the museum. Ofili won the Turner Prize in 1998. Serota firmly defended the purchase.
The minister was speaking at a dinner in the Tate Britain museum in London. In total, the prize is worth 40,000 pounds ($69,570) of which 25,000 pounds goes to the winner and 5,000 pounds each to the other three artists on the shortlist.
The competition was close, although the painter Gillian Carnegie, aged 34, was the bookies' favorite. The two other contenders, both of whom work in diverse media, were Jim Lambie, 41, and Darren Almond, 34.
The 38-year-old Starling is a conceptual artist. One of the works he exhibited in the Turner Prize show involved a German shed, which the artist dismantled and used the wood to construct a boat that was sailed a short distance on the Rhine to Basel. Once there it was formed into a shed again. His work could be described as environmental absurdism.
This year's jury included the arts journalist Louisa Buck; Kate Bush, the director of the Barbican art galleries; Caoimhin Mac Giolla Leith, an art critic and lecturer based in Dublin; and Eckhard Schneider, director of the Kunsthaus in Bregenz, Austria. The chairman was Sir Nicholas Serota, director of the Tate museums.
Purchase Protested
The prize was first awarded in 1984, and past winners include Damien Hirst and Gilbert & George. Only artists under 50 are eligible; they are nominated for an outstanding exhibition in the previous year.
Guests arriving at this year's dinner were greeted by protesters decrying the Tate's purchase of a work by Chris Ofili while he was serving as a trustee of the museum. Ofili won the Turner Prize in 1998. Serota firmly defended the purchase.
