Turner Prize : a retrospective

Exhibition at Tate Britain featuring works by all the winning artists since it began in 1984.

This was a good overview of how the prize, named after Turner as he had wished to set up an award for young artists, has developed since its introduction in 1984. Because many of the works were large I was disappointed that more were not included but it was good to see Damien Hurst’s “Mother and child divided” again. It is a work you need to experience rather than just seeing photos. Also Anthony Gormley was represented by “Testing a World View”. I find Gormley to be the Alan Bennett of the art world, he can be quite ground breaking and edgy but somehow we end up saying “How nice!”.

Anyway I thought in a rather pompous fashion I’d look at who I’d have picked in each year!

1985 Terry Atkinson
1986 Derek Jarman
1987 Patrick Caulfield
1988-89 No shortlist
1990 No contest
1991 Rachel Whiteread
1992 Alison Wilbury
1993 Rachel Whiteread
1994 Anthony Gormely
1995 Damien Hurst
1996 Simon Patterson
1997 Gillian Wearing
1998 Chris Ofili
1999 Tracey Ermin
2000 Glen Brown
2001 Isaac Julien
2002 Fiona Banner
2003 Grayson Perry
2004 Yinka Shonibare
2005 Simon Starling
2006 Phil Collins

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