Wow. I didn't expect Richard Wright to bag the top prize. We went on a year 12 trip last week and included the Turner Prize 2009 in our itinerary. I loved Lucy Skaer's whale drawing and chair drawing/painting/prints and thought these or Roger Hiorns would win for 'Seizure'. I even preferred Enrico David's wacky rocking egghead over Wright's gold leaf wall piece. Seeing Wright was a fellow Glaswegian (okay - one who was born in London but moved to Glasgow at a young age) and who had graduated from Glasgow School of Art made me want to get it or like all the more. But I really tried and I didn't. What does this say about how I, or we view art today? Do we expect too much the unexpected and the spectacular? Overlooking the quiet and subversive or conservative yet brilliant?
Skaer's whale drawing engaged me as it is installed in an interesting way - from the floor and following a curve created in the same dimensions as the paper. Close up it looks like an abstract pattern of swirls but from a few feet away the skeleton of a whale emerges.
The chair piece is a mixture of installation, drawing, painting and printing with the objects displayed alongside the 2-D images. This always appeals to me. The objects and the paintings or drawings installed together. I think its appeal stems from when I first consciously 'got' concept art with Joseph Kosuths 'One and three chairs', 1965. Her exhibition at Tate Britain also included some black stalagmite like structures installed in a space with a whale bone behind a wall with gaps. I found this less appealing than her other work. It didn't feel particularly new or adventurous.
Hiorns pieces for the exhibition were less visually stimulating and all encompassing than 'Seizure'. It would have been great if even just a small space could have been sealed of to create a miniature "Seizure"
Apparently the art world was betting on Hiorns winning so Wright is a surprise to many. Now that Wright has one I can appreciate why he has and will try not to be so dismissive next time I see his work.
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