An artistic first for Yorkshire’s City of Culture
Turner Prize exhibits expected to attract large crowds to gallery, as director praises ‘visionary’ works
IN A first ever for Yorkshire, the doors open in Hull today for arguably the world’s most famous contemporary arts prize.
Leaving the capital for the fifth time, the Turner Prize, is expected to attract huge crowds to the Ferens Art Gallery.
The prize, best known for its most sensational exhibits, a naked bottom, lights turning on and off, and an unmade bed, this year asks serious questions about everything from the representation of ethnic minorities in art to poverty and surveillance.
Having lifted the upper age limit, the shortlist includes two artists over the age of 50 for the first time in more than 25 years.
The oldest, Lubaina Himid, is 62, while the youngest is 43. Two are painters, one a filmmaker and the other a printmaker.
“Yes, it is a serious show for serious times,” said 2017 director Martin Green. “But the work is extraordinary and really accessible, and as a show it hangs together really well.
“We don’t have any unmade beds, but if you look at the work it is absolutely visionary.”
There is lots of humour, too, in Himid’s show, including an exhibit from the 1980s. A satirical collection of woodcut figures on the lines of Hogarth’s Marriage
A La Mode, the principal characters are Maggie Thatcher flirting with Ronald Reagan.
Judging panel chairman Alex Farquharson said Hamid, who is professor of Contemporary Art at the University of Central Lancashire, and other black artists were “relatively marginalised in her own day and struggling against mainstream art”, but they were now getting more publicity now than they were 40 years ago.
Mr Farquharson said: “Lubaina has had tremendous visibility over the last year... People are being given their due.”
Hamid, who was born in Zanzibar, is also exhibiting a dinner service, telling the story of slavery in Britain, which she has painted with funny and provocative messages, and images of fat squires on horseback and la-de-da women in ridiculous frocks.
In contrast, German artist Andrea Buttner explores themes of poverty and shame, in large woodcuts, showing a beggar stooping over, hands outstretched for alms. Spectators are deliberately made to crouch down to look at images on low-lying tables depicting paintings of beggars that have sold at auction. Painter Hurvin Anderson, 52, who was born in Birmingham to Jamaican parents, presents new works and a number from exhibitions, including huge trees combining memories of his childhood, a tree near his studio in London and a recent trip to Jamaica.
Palestinian-English filmmaker Rosalin Nashashibi is presenting two films, including one made in Gaza in 2014, showing an intimate picture of life in the Palestinian territory. Her film was cut short when the Israelis launched a military operation which left more than 2,000 dead.
Mr Farquharson, who is director of Tate Britain, said the show was “very reflective of where contemporary art is now.”
“I think we’re probably out of an era where the most innovative art takes the most unexpected – and for a lot of people quite provocative – forms, like lights going on and off and animals in formaldehyde, all those examples people know of. I think it’s actually no less innovative for taking a more traditional form.”
He added: “It’s a really strong year. If I wasn’t chair and was a betting man, I would find it really hard to know which way to go.”
IfIwasa betting man, I would find it hard to know which way to go. Alex Farquharson, chairman of this year’s Turner Prize judging panel