The Tate Gallery today announced the four artists who have been shortlisted for the 1998 Turner Prize, sponsored by Channel 4 since 1991. The artists are:
Tacita Dean for her solo exhibitition at the Frith Street Gallery and other presentations of her work in the UK and Europe, in which she demonstrated her versatility in the use of a wide range of media, including drawing and film, to create imaginative narratives on her chosen themes.
Cathy de Monchaux for the growing complexity and richness of her sculpture and for her sensuous use of materials, as displayed in her solo exhibition at the Whitechapel Art Gallery and her striking contribution to Wounds at the Moderna Museet, Stockholm.
Chri Ofili for the inventiveness, exuberance, humour and technical richness of his painting, with its breadth of cultural reference, as revealed in his solo exhibition at Southampton City Art Gallery and in Sensation at the Royal Academy, London.
Sam Taylor-Wood for her prize-winning presentation at the Venice Biennale and her solo exhibitions at the Kunsthalle, Zurich and Louisiana Museum of Modern Art, Denmark, in which were seen her acutely perceptive explorations of human relationships through photography and video.
The Turner Prize is awarded to a British artist under 50 for an outstanding exhibition or other presentation of their work in the twelve months preceding 31 May 1998. The Prize was established in 1984 by the Tate Gallery’s Patrons of New Art and is intended to promote public discussion of new developments in contemporary British art. It is widely recognised as one of the most important and prestigious awards for the visual arts in Europe.
The winner of the £20,000 prize will be announced at the Tate Gallery on 1 December 1998 during a live broadcast by Channel 4. Work by the shortlisted artists will be shown in an exhibition at the Tate Gallery 28 October 1998 - 10 January 1999.
The members of the 1998 Turner Prize Jury are: Ann Gallagher, the Exhibition Officer, British Council; Fumio Nanjo, curator and critic; Neil Tennant, representative of the Patrons of New Art; Marina Warner, author and critic; Nicholas Serota, Director of the Tate Gallery and Chairman of the Jury.
In collaboration with the Tate Gallery and Channel 4, Waterstone’s Booksellers is running a competition, Writing on Art, for the second time. Last year there were over 1,500 entries and five winners went on to be featured in a series of Channel 4 short programmes.
This autumn there will be an extensive events programme of discussions and talks throughout the UK including Belfast, Glasgow, Manchester, Southampton, St Ives and Sunderland.
Information on the Turner Prize can also be found on Channel 4’s internet site: www.channel4.com