Also posted a mock-up of Ian Sclater's CD to him with comments on what I'd done in the mixdown stage...
Found myself watching "Des and Mel" at lunch time. Dreadful...
In the evening caught episodes of "Third Rock From the Sun" and "Spin City" on freeview then a bit of kultcher with the 2005 Turner Prize (http://www.tate.org.uk/britain/turnerprize/2005/)....
The Turner Prize, which was first presented in 1984, is awarded to a British artist under 50, for an outstanding exhibition or other presentation of their work in the 12 months to May each year....
Here are works by the winners from 1984 to 2005 (no prize in 1990 for some reason). Whilst gong through the Turner website to pilfer these images, I noticed that many of the previous nominees and indeed some of the winners were either over 50 or not British, so perhaps the rules have changed in recent times...
It's currently sponsored by Gordon's Gin, which neatly answered Anne's question of "where does the money come from?"...
It's easy to see why this competition attracts so much derision. The winner is a shed which was deconstructed, transformed into a boat, sailed down the Rhine for a bit, broken up and re-constructed into a shed...
Other nominations were:-
A guy from Glasgow who lays out tape stripes on the floor and places large versions of found kitsch ornaments on it with occcasional dribbles of paint here and there...
A guy from Wigan who makes films of his mum and dad - split screen - his dad reeling off every injury he's ever had while his mum cries at the memories...
A woman who paints....
Sorry, surely some mistake, a woman who paints??
Yeah, she didn't win though and the stripey floor guy was the favourite...
Having delved more deeply into the Turner website and looked through previously nominated and winning artists' work to create the first collage above, I've realised what riles me so....
It's not the art itself - it's the so-called explanations of the art....
If you allow the work to stand or fall on its own intrinsic merits then all well and good, but if it has to be justified by a load of tosh then, to my mind it's failed. I prefer to look at art and say "yes I like that" or "No that's not good". Hey, call me a reactionary why don't you...in which case, my choice for a winner this year would have been the painter, Gillian Carnegie...
Anyway, the nominations are supposed to be thee most contemporary art and no doubt will eventually be assimilated into the mainstream, much like previous winners - e.g. a concrete cast of the inside of a house and art made from elephant dung...
Great!
Also taped the German film "Downfall" for future viewing and., maintaining the German theme, first CD of December popped through the door - Deutsch Amerikanische Freundschaft's "Funfzehn Neue DAF Lieder" ("15 New DAF Songs"). Excellent - just like the old days....
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