The turner Prize has been announced along with the usual outrage. Its the same every Year, I don't know why they act so surprised at the winner. This year is no different with two painters, a sound artist and an installation team. The award ceremony was incredibly boring to watch with the only interesting thing being the students demonstrating in the background. Nicholas Serota sounded like old man Dorrit , professing his belief that "art should be for everyone where ever one lives and from what ever social background....." " I am a gentleman you know and you can leave a token of you appreciation , a small testimonial, that would be most gracious as I present the award again in London, one doesn't want to travel to the provinces...."
The sound artist (Singer) won, I forget her name and I'm sure most of you will if you give it a few weeks, I think her work would sound great on the Scottish bridges but probably loses its impact in a gallery setting. The turner prize achieves its aim by causing controversy but also fulfilling its quota of pushing Art forward in new directions. Sound art though is nothing new with John Cage work coming to mind as well as many others like Robert Wilsons "The Sundance Kid Was Beautiful".
The Turner prize again gives out a prize to let the public know what it already knows, on a day when 33 recording artists release a version of John Cage's 4min 33 secs to reach the Xmas number one.
I think that art should be moving forward especially with the wealth of technology available at the moment. To me we are stuck in the post modernism movement of art plagiarising the past and regurgitating it as something new. Where is the avante garde? where is the "shock of the new" who is really out there being creative and challenging audiences. Artists are so concerned with originality in a market that demands novelty, it is not possible if you are too afraid to break out of the norm.
A few years ago you could put anything in a gallery and call it art, with the right statement and process behind it. Sometimes there was no process at all, today audiences see through this, they have literally seen it all before and have lost respect for it. Art needs to re-address this through integrity of artist vision and complete honesty about the way the artist works, and why he/she works.
Art today has many different layers, more people than ever are in a position to call them selves artist, 100 years ago most would be working in mills, or down pits, or be shopkeepers or merchants sons/ daughters. With the improvements in lifestyle and readiness of materials it doesn't take much for an artist to be borne. In this new society though art has many roles, it is decoration, talking point, investment, status symbol, the old manifestos of aesthetics, beauty, truth have been washed aside.
For me personally an Artist should use their vision for the greater good, to highlight how we are living, to enrich our lives, to offer contemplation of existence, to de-mystify false gods, to shape the future, to leave a legacy.
Hemingway always started to write with a truth, there is something noble about this approach, it is a difficult path to follow and might not be what you want to hear but ultimately will lead to a greater understanding of your self and the world around you.
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