D'oh! Homer Simpson wins the Turner Prize in a decidedly uncontroversial year
By
Daily Mail Reporter
Last updated at 1:14 AM on 02nd December 2008
Cultural landmark: Mark Leckey's video art featuring Homer Simpson won the prize
A naked shop dummy sitting on a lavatory, a woman smashing china, and a collection of unwashed cereal bowls - it could only be the Turner Prize exhibition.
And the winner was a video artist who used famous icons such as Homer Simpson and Felix the Cat in a 40-minute video.
But there was one controversial element to this year's entrants - none were particularly controversial.
Mark Leckey walked off with a £25,000 cheque with his meditation on the nature of film in popular culture taking in Felix the Cat, Homer Simpson, Titanic the movie and Philip Guston.
Leckey received huge cheers as the announcement was made.
He joked: 'I really haven't prepared anything ... I'm chuffed to bits.
'I'm reverting to my roots and getting Scouser as I talk.
'It's a big thrill. It's great to do something that has some kind of effect on British culture and it's part of British culture.
'This is good, it's good.'
The 44-year-old Briton is best known for his film work, and according to a video presentation accompanying his Turner Prize installation he draws inspiration from popular sources like sci-fi movie Blade Runner and cartoon character Felix the Cat.
He also explored contemporary visual culture with a film of Jeff Koons's polished steel Rabbit, and his art lecture Cinema-in-the-Round is screened in a reconstructed movie theatre at London's Tate Britain museum.
£25,000 prize: Mark Leckey wins the Turner Prize 2008 at the Tate Gallery in central London
Only three women have won the annual prize since it began in 1984, and expectations were high that a fourth would be crowned at an awards ceremony on Monday evening, since Leckey was the only man on the shortlist.
The jury commended the 'intelligent, energetic and seductive nature' of his work.
They said in a statement: 'With wit and originality, Leckey has found a variety of forms to communicate his fascination with visual culture.'
This year's competition was marked by a lack of controversy, which has been a staple ingredient in previous years.
There were even whispers in the art world that this year's show was a little dull.
Previous recipients include Gilbert and George, Damien Hirst and transvestite potter Grayson Perry.
Some panned the shortlist of nominees for the £25,000 prize as 'a dud' and 'low-key'.
'Cinema in the Round 2007' by Mark Leckey, who won the prize
When they were announced David Lee, editor of satirical art magazine The Jackdaw, was scathing about the offerings unveiled at the Tate in London.
'These are the scrapings of the scrapings of the barrel,' he said.
'This is nondescript work.'
Mark Leckey, 44, who was the bookmakers' favourite, submitted two video exhibits, featuring Felix the Cat, Homer Simpson and a Honda car commercial.
Three more video 'installations' were submitted by Runa Islam, 37, including First Day Of Spring, in which she paid rickshaw drivers in Bangladesh not to work and then filmed them.
Another showed a woman smashing china in an art gallery.
Glasgow-based artist Cathy Wilkes, 43, created two supermarket checkouts manned by naked shop dummies, one sitting on a lavatory.
The piece, entitled I Give You All My Money, also featured several unwashed cereal bowls.
A mannequin is posed on the loo while another has her head trapped in a cage in Cathy Wilkes' creation: I Give You All My Money
The final nominee, Polish-born artist Goshka Macuga, 41, presented three sculptures of glass and steel, said to have been inspired by romances between other artists and designers.
Curator Carolyn Kerr insisted the exhibition had plenty to offer art lovers.
'It is perhaps the kind of work you get more from than something more sensationalist,' she said.
'For me, I thank goodness it's not the usual suspects.'
The winner:
Mark Leckey - Resident Poster:
Film Studies professor Mark Leckey presents Resident Poster, one of a mix of old and new cinematic works
Mark Leckey is a Newcastle Polytechnic graduate born in Birkenhead in 1964. He is now a film studies professor in Germany. He presented a mix of old and new work including a final version of Cinema-in-the-Round, a 40-minute film of an art lecture he has given in different venues.
And the runners-up:
Cathy Wilkes - Selective Memory:
Selective Memory by Cathy Wilkes, who hoped to scoop the controversial Turner Prize worth £25,000
Cathy Wilkes is a Belfast-born artist who studied in Glasgow and Belfast before settling in Glasgow where she has been active in organisations such as the Glasgow Women's Library. Her work has been seen at the 2000 Beck's Futures at the ICA, the Whitechapel Gallery and in the Scottish Pavilion at the 2005 Venice Biennale.
She exhibited a new sculpture with elements used before, such as mannequins. I Give You All My Money also uses ephemera from her home.
Goshka Macuga - Deutsches Volk:
Goshka Macuga inspects her own work, Deutsches Volk, at the Tate Britain, London
Goshka Macuga was born in Poland in 1967. Her Turner show includes sculptures seen at the Berlin Biennial and new collages made from ephemera from the archives of Paul Nash and Eileen Agar owned by the Tate. They will now be taken apart.
Runa Islam - Be First to See What You See As You See it
Runa Islam explores the possibilities of film in her china-smashing work Be First To See What You See As You See It
Runa Islam was born in Bangladesh in 1970 and studied in Amsterdam and then the Royal College of Art, London. Her work - which is mainly in film - has been seen at White Cube, the Camden Arts Centre, Tate Modern and the ICA.
She exhibited three films, including Cinematography, which has not been seen in Europe before.
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No one would have been surprised if the £25,000 had been awarded to the dummy ..?
They might be imaginative, but none of these modern artists seem to have any actual technical SKILL. Most of them just dump a random assortment of items around a room, attach a pretentious title and call it art, or (like Damien Hirst) get their staff to do the work and take the credit.
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I haven't washed up my lunch time crockery yet.....think that would be worth £25,000????
- Amber, West Country, 02/12/2008 14:48