Turner Prize 2010: Eyes on the Prize

Published on Tuesday 4 May 2010 20:35

SHE has exhibited her work in locations as diverse as supermarkets, cemeteries, and stairwells. But now, a Scottish artist is preparing for the grandest stage of them all after being nominated for this year's Turner Prize. Susan Philipsz, 44, originally from Glasgow, is one of four nominees for the esteemed contemporary arts award.

• Lowlands, 2010 by Suzan Philipsz. Picture: PA

While she has won notoriety for playing a recording of her singing voice under bridges in Glasgow, she is not alone among the competitors in pursuing an unorthodox artistic approach, a trend that has seen the Turner Prize attract controversy in recent years.

Other artists on the shortlist include Dexter Dalwood, a painter whose subjects have included the death of Dr David Kelly and the Charles Manson murders; Angela de la Cruz, a Spanish artist who breaks, rips and folds her paintings; and The Otolith Group, a collective who make science-fiction themed video installations.

Unusually, all the shortlisted artists are in their 40s – the age limit for the prize is 50. Dalwood is 49, the same age as last year's winner, Richard Wright.

The judges said they noticed "an overt political commentary" in some of the shortlisted artists. Penelope Curtis, the new director of Tate Britain and chairwoman of the jury, said the shortlist was not supposed to be a commentary on the overall state of British art, but should reflect the voices of the four judges, who include writer and critic Phillip Hensher, Isabel Carlos, the director of the CAMJAP modern art centre, and Andrew Nairne from Arts Council England. The shortlist, she added, "is not about emerging talent," but rather "people who've proved themselves".

The winner receives 25,000, with 5,000 each for the other shortlisted artists. Bookmakers William Hill have installed Dalwood as 2/1 favouriten. Philipsz is considered the 16/5 outsider.

Established in 1984, the Turner Prize is awarded to a British artist for an outstanding exhibition or other presentation of their work. Previous winners include Damien Hirst and Grayson Perry. This year's winner will be announced on 6 December. Pieces by the shortlisted artists will be at Tate Britain from 4 October.

DEXTER DALWOOD

THE 49-year-old, who lives and works in London, has been shortlisted for his solo exhibition at Tate St Ives. Originally from Bristol, Delwood is a graduate of Central St Martins College of Art and the Royal College of Art, both in London. He paints imagined locations as portraits of famous individuals and to mark recent, seminal political events. The approach has been dubbed "history painting" by critics.

In The Death of David Kelly (2008), Dalwood painted the lonely image of a tree on a hill under the moon – the body of the weapons expert was found in a wood. "The absence of the figure evoked in the depicted scene yet directly cited in the title of each work gives the work a striking psychological charge," the Tate says of Delwood's work, adding that they create a "unique pictorial language".

Early in his career, Mr Dalwood painted interiors – such as that of Sharon Tate's House (1998) – associated with a traumatic event that achieved cult status. The former member of punk rock band The Cortinas has also envisaged locations such as the greenhouse of Kurt Cobain, the late singer with the rock group, Nirvana who committed suicide, as well as the interior of Jackie Onasis's yacht.

Almost all of Mr Dalwood's works start off as small collages that are rarely exhibited, and are constructed from pictures found in magazines and art history books. The images are then transferred in paint onto large canvases, with details such as the torn edges of fragmented motifs included.

Speaking about his own work, he says: "History is a construction, a fiction, and I am constructing histories from a subjective view, which is no more or less real than any of the other attempts to describe that time or that event."

SUSAN PHILIPSZ

THE 44-year-old, originally from Glasgow, lives and works in Berlin and is shortlisted for work presented at the Glasgow International Festival of Visual Art and in Spain. She was rejected from Glasgow School of Art at the age of 23, and instead studied at Dundee's Duncan of Jordanstone College of Art and the University of Ulster.

Philipsz is best known for her sound installations, recording herself singing unaccompanied versions of pop songs and folk songs which she replays in public spaces or in galleries. She usually records her voice but did sing live down the PA system of a Tesco supermarket in Bethnal Green, east London.

Themes of nostalgia, longing and escapism are recurring subjects in her work, which stimulate a heightened sense of spatial awareness, emotion and memory.

In Lowlands (2010) – one of the works for which she has been shortlisted – the artist recorded herself singing three versions of the 16th century Scottish lament Lowlands Away, which played simultaneously every 20 minutes under the Caledonian, George V and Glasgow bridges over the River Clyde in Glasgow.

Moira Jeffery, art critic for our sister paper, Scotland on Sunday, said Philipsz's "haunting voice" left her "pole-axed with emotion within seconds." She added: "The Clyde at Bridge Street is at its murky best and this beautiful ballad seems to be emanating from the swell itself."

The Tate described the work as "a poignant expression of tradition and grief experienced in the gloomy urban underbelly". Philipsz herself said recently: "It's not a trained voice, but I can hold a tune," adding that she sings "not as a performance, but as if I am singing to myself".

THE OTOLITH GROUP

NAMED after the part of the inner ear that senses gravity and orientation, this collective was founded in 2002 by Kodwo Eshun, 44, and Anjalika Sagar, 42. Both were born and live in London, and also work as writers and curators. They have been shortlisted for their project, A Long Time Between Suns, in London. Their work aims to tackle broad themes such as science fiction, feminism, post-colonial discourse, and the space race.

The first film of their Otolith Trilogy, Otolith I (2003) is set in the 22nd century, and portrays a world in which a significant section of the human species has evolved in microgravity and is now unable to live in terrestrial conditions.

Polly Staple, the director of the Chisenhale Gallery and one of the judges, said that they were "leading figures in a very vibrant artists' film and video world in London".

Describing the group's ethos, Eshun – who is the elder brother of Ekow Eshun, artistic director of London's Institute of Contemporary Arts – said: "We are setting out to ask questions about the future, and how we can try to imagine it."

Eshun read English literature at University College, Oxford, and is also author of the 1998 book, More Brilliant than the Sun: Adventures in Sonic Fiction. Sagar studied anthropology and Hindi at the School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London.

ANGELA DE LA CRUZ

THE 45-year-old, who was born in La Coruna, northern Spain, and lives in London, has been shortlisted for a solo show at Camden Arts Centre, north London. Her work is regarded as a fusion of painting, sculpture and installation. At first glance, it appears her paintings have been vandalised, the works are often crudely broken, ripped or folded in on themselves, wedged into corners and doorways, or presented as masses on the gallery floor.

After breaking the stretchers of her canvases as a student at art school – she completed an MA in sculpture and critical theory at Slade School of Art – De la Cruz became preoccupied with "freeing painting from the boundaries of its support." She considers the stretcher an extension of the human body and her works often allude to or stand in for the human form.

Describing her take on art, she said: "The moment I cut through the canvas I get rid of the grandiosity of painting." Her notable works include Deflated IV (2010), a canvas hanging from a screw in the wall, as if it were a coat on a hook. In Flat (2009), she dispenses with paint and displays a collapsed plastic chair with outstretched legs as if unable to support the weight of the body.

Susan Mansfield, The Scotsman's art critic, described De la Cruz's as a form of "post-painting." She explained: "She rips up canvases, breaking the frames and wrapping the whole thing up in itself until the bundle becomes a kind of sculpture."