2009 Turner Prize Shortlist

Nominees for British Contemporary Art Award

Apr 28, 2009 Shona Black

The 2009 Turner Prize shortlist nominees have been named.

Enrico David, Roger Hiorns, Lucy Skaer and Richard Wright were selected from a longlist of 19 British artists under the age of 50 eligible for the prestigious contemporary art prize, awarded annually for outstanding exhibitions or presentations of work in the preceding year.

Enrico David

Italian-born Enrico David is nominated for two 2008 solo exhibitions: How Do You Love Dzzzzt By Mammy? at the Museum für Gegenwartskunst, Basel, and Bulbous Marauder at the Seattle Art Museum.

With a surreal bent and allusions to the Commedia dell’ Arte (and by extension, Pablo Picasso’s own Commedia references), David was hailed in London’s Evening Standard as “one of the most intriguing artists working in Britain” (“Glimpses into Enrico’s Weird Fantasy World,” October 11, 2007).

Roger Hiorns

A fascinating material innovator, Roger Hiorns has been nominated for his installation piece Seizure (2008), a commission from the influential Artangel organisation. Seizure transforms a condemned apartment in South London into a mesmerising, otherworldly space with 90,000 litres of crystallising copper sulphate.

Previous works by this magician-like artist have included flames leaping from a sewer grate at the Tate Britain’s sculpture courtyard (Vauxhall, 2003).

Lucy Skaer

Glasgow-based Lucy Skaer is nominated for her solo exhibition at the Fruitmarket Gallery, Edinburgh and A Boat Used as a Vessel at the Kunsthalle Basel. Typically rooted in photographic or iconic art images, Skaer’s work incorporates sculpture, drawing and installation, reworking and recontextualising images in a process designed to confound interpretation.

Richard Wright

Another Glasgow artist, Richard Wright is renowned for a form of ephemeral mural: he creates painstaking large-scale drawings and paintings typically on gallery surfaces for temporary exhibit.

Wright is nominated for the work he exhibited in the 55th Carnegie International, Pittsburgh, and his exhibition at the Ingleby Gallery, Edinburgh.

The oldest of the four Turner 2009 shortlist nominees, Wright has been exhibiting since 1994 and has works on permanent display at New York’s Museum of Modern Art, Glasgow’s Gallery of Modern Art and the Tate.

Turner Prize 2009 Exhibition

The four artists will be featured in the Turner Prize 2009 exhibition at the Tate Britain museum in London from October 6, 2009 through January 16, 2010. The 2009 Turner Prize winner, who will be awarded £25,000, will be announced at the Tate Britain December 7, 2009.

The Turner Prize, now in its 25th year, is a perennial source of interest – and often outrage and controversy – to the wider British public beyond the established art circles. Previous winners of the prestigious award have included Damien Hirst, Gilbert & George, Anish Kapoor, and last year’s winner Mark Leckey.

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