Turner Prize

After realising the short list earlier in the year, the 28^th annual Turner Prize is now on display. This year it is moving away from its usual London Base and up north to the Baltic gallery in Gateshead. This is certainly an interesting change, but maybe an attempt to move away from the controversies of its past and thus allow people to merely focus on the artwork itself. Then I here you say it’s the Turner Prize, a prize focused mainly on the conceptual artist, a style which many find hard to engage with. However this year’s short list certainly offers a more conservative range, although there is a contrast in materiality, there is nothing shocking like in previous years.  The candidate that personally stands out is George Shaw. His paintings which may to some seem mundane, focus on the suburban landscape of Tile Hill in Coventry, where he grew up.  His unpopulated landscapes seem to perfectly capture the dull reality, of suburban life. His material of choice is Humbrol model paints, an interesting feature, as in not only allows him to create precision painting, but helps highlight the uniformity of such a landscape. But whether an artist such as George Shaw has the ability to win the Turner Prize, seems somewhat hard to believe; considering the past winners, but it would certainly be a nice change that these unassuming displays of the sombre reality of everyday life could win such a showy and prestigious prize.

The other candadites include Hilary Lloyd, Karla Black and Martin Boyce.