As part of Bradford City of Culture 2025, Cartwright Hall has the honour of hosting the prestigious Turner Art Prize. Awarded annually by the Tate Gallery, The Turner Prize showcases and celebrates 'the most exciting new developments in British art'. The prize is awarded to a British artist for an outstanding exhibition or other presentation in the preceding year. The four shortlisted artists this year are: Nnena Kalu, Rene Matić, Mohammed Sami, and Zadie Xa. (The prize winner will be announced in December.)
Of course I went along, not sure what I'd find as it has a reputation for being fairly avant garde. (Past recipients have included Damien Hirst, Rachel Whiteread, Gilbert and George, Jeremy Deller, Grayson Perry, Anthony Gormley, Chris Ofili and Anish Kapoor.) In fact I was quite impressed by most of the work.
The one that seemed to me to have the most actual artistic merit was the exhibition by Mohammed Sami, who was born in Iraq and now lives and works in London. 'After the Storm' was originally exhibited at Blenheim Palace and I could quite imagine it in those opulent rooms. Built in the 18th century to reward the military triumphs of the 1st Duke of Marlborough, and later owned by the Churchill family, Blenheim is full of art related to wars and power. Sami's work seeks to challenge the triumphalism, creating paintings about memory and conflict that are metaphorical and ambiguous, fragmented and evocative. Spread across huge canvasses, I found they rewarded my attention; I found them lyrical and in many cases beautiful. The huge one above left, had sunflowers in it, ripped out and trampled, apparently, by horses' hooves, which I took (rightly or wrongly) to be a reference to Ukraine, whose national flower is a sunflower.
The Guardian reviewer was a bit snooty about them (HERE) but my response was positive. It was perhaps a bit too 'safe' for the judges?
Nnena Kalu's work is raw and chaotic, brightly coloured and visceral. She's learning-disabled, with limited verbal communication and works with Action Space to facilitate her work. She takes basic forms like tubes and wraps them up in scraps, tape, fabric, even discarded VHS tape. The hanging forms suggest bodies, animals, or pinatas, reminding me (perhaps bizarrely) of the fools and hobby horses that are traditionally associated with Morris dancing. Her wall paintings are huge scribbles and vortices of colour. You get the impression that she puts her whole body and being into her art.
Most of the reviews I've read seem to rate these the highest but I had to wonder if they'd have thought that if they didn't know the artist was neurodivergent. Art and 'culture' these days seems to be very intent on examining (and championing) identity and diversity and I guess in today's society these are urgent issues to grapple with.
Have to say I have difficulties appreciating the "pinatas", but I quite like that pair of paintings looking rather like a pair of eyes to me. (Not that I'd want them on my own wall, though... They clearly demand a larger room!)
ReplyDeleteNeurodivergence in an artist is not new at all, as many haven't been diagnosed until that was recognized by the medical profession. But as World Mental Health Awareness day was this week, I am glad for inclusion in that competition. However, I do not support that as being part of the decision process for admirable art awards. I also liked the watery scene, and the Ukraine allusion with sunflowers.
ReplyDeleteI have seen a Turner exposition in London, I love this painter. The other creation are not my cup of tea, although I like modern painting and do "pouring" myself, but what you show here, I wouldn't vote for !
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