Black humour artist finally taken seriously by Turner Prize judges

 
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25 April 2013

An artist famous for a stuffed dog proclaiming “I’m Dead” is one of this year’s contenders for the £25,000 Turner Prize.

David Shrigley, 44, is shortlisted for the prestigious award for his solo exhibition at the Hayward Gallery which was the first major retrospective of a career ranging from drawings to film, and characterised by black humour and mischief.

Penelope Curtis, director of Tate Britain and chairwoman of judges, said he had been overlooked until now because he was funny.

“It’s hard to be humorous and be taken seriously. But this show had been more substantial and more revealing than the judges expected,” she said.

The Glasgow-based artist is one of four contenders who have all been shortlisted for work in London — although the Turner Prize exhibition of their work will not be held in the capital this year but in Derry-Londonderry, the UK City of Culture.

Tino Sehgal, an Anglo-German artist of Indian descent living in Berlin, is the best-known of Shrigley’s rivals for the prize — previously won by such figures as Damien Hirst.

Sehgal, 36, used a group of specially trained performers to run, dance and sing through the Tate Modern Turbine Hall for the Unilever commission last year.

He was also shortlisted for an art/dance/music work at the influential documenta festival in Germany and is set to produce a “live encounter” with visitors to the prize show.

Judge Declan Long, an art lecturer in Dublin, said what the Turner Prize was about was testing limits and the Sehgal work was set to be a “very exciting moment”.

The prize will also be a major publicity boost for two less-established artists both based in London.

Laure Prouvost, 35, is a French film-maker chosen for a Whitechapel Gallery installation inspired by the sensuous pleasures of Italy and for another at Tate Britain as part of its current exhibition on the cult artist Kurt Schwitters.

Lynette Yiadom-Boakye, 35, who is of Ghanaian descent, is shortlisted for an exhibition in the Chisenhale gallery, in the East End, of paintings that appear to be traditional portraits but are inventions.

She has said her aim is to challenge how viewers interpret paintings, especially of black subjects.

Asked about a possible conflict of interest as judge Ralph Rugoff runs the Hayward where the Shrigley show took place, Ms Curtis insisted all the judges had agreed on the artist’s inclusion.

The Turner Prize exhibition will be shown in Ebrington in Derry-Londonderry from October 23 to January 5, 2014. The winner will be announced at a ceremony on December 2.

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