Meet the Artists Shortlisted for the 2016 Turner Prize.

artists shortlisted for the 2016 turner prize

Aiming to promote public debate around new developments in contemporary British art, the annual Turner Prize is awarded to an artist for an outstanding exhibition or other presentation of their work in the preceding year. The shortlist of four artists for the 2016 Turner Prize have just been announced and here’s a look at them and some of their work.

The 2016 Turner Prize

Over the recent decades the Turner Prize has played a significant role in provoking debate about visual art and the growing public interest in contemporary British art in particular. It has become widely recognized as one of the most important and prestigious awards for the visual arts in Europe.

Each year, an independent jury is selected to judge the prize. They draw up the shortlist after a process of public nominations. The four shortlisted artists then present works in an exhibition that will run from September to January with the winner announced in December.

Artists are not judged on their Turner Prize show, the decision is based on the work for which they were nominated. The Turner Prize award is £40,000, with £25,000 going to the winner and £5,000 each to the other shortlisted artists.

The judging panel this year consists of Michelle Cotton, director of Bonner Kunstverein, Bonn; Tamsin Dillon, curator; Beatrix Ruf, director, Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam; and Simon Wallis, director, the Hepworth Wakefield and is chaired by Farquharson.

Artists Shortlisted for the 2016 Turner Prize

The four shortlisted artists for the Turner Prize 2016 have just been announced and are as follows:

Michael Dean
michaeldeanturnerprizeClockwise from top left: Installation view of Sic Glyphs 2016, South London Gallery, Image courtesy of the artist, Herald St, London, Mendes Wood DM, Sao Paulo, Supportico Lopez, Berlin, Photo: Andy Keate; Photo of Michael Dean, taken by the artist; Installation view of Sic Glyphs 2016, South London Gallery, Image courtesy of the artist, Herald St, London, Mendes Wood DM, Sao Paulo, Supportico Lopez, Berlin, Photo: Andy Keate

Working primarily in sculpture, Dean creates work that is concerned with the physical presentation of language. His sculptures and installations reference the everyday urban environment and familiar but aesthetically overlooked materials – from a rebar on a building site to the corrugated metal of a shop shutter. He is nominated for his exhibitions Sic Glyphs at South London Gallery and Qualities of Violence at de Appel arts centre, Amsterdam.

Anthea Hamilton
andreahamiltonturnerprizeClockwise from top left: Portrait of Anthea Hamilton, Photo by Lewis Ronald; Project for Door (After Gaetano Pesce), 2015 installation view, Anthea Hamilton: Lichen! Libido! Chastity!, SculptureCenter, 2015, Courtesy the artist, Photo: Kyle Knodell; Brick Suit, 2010, installation view, Anthea Hamilton: Lichen! Libido! Chastity! SculptureCenter, 2015, Wool, lining, 22 x 5 x 46 inches (55.9 x 12.7 x 116.8 cm), Courtesy the artist. Photo: Kyle Knodell

Hamilton works across sculpture, installation, performance and video, bringing a surrealist sensibility to popular culture and the mind-bending volume of stylised and sexualised imagery in the digital world. While rooted in the history of sculpture her work seduces the viewer with comic and unexpected combinations of images, materials and words, as well as dramatic shifts in scale. She is nominated for her solo exhibition Anthea Hamilton: Lichen! Libido! Chastity! at SculptureCenter, New York.

Helen Marten
helenmartenturnerprizeClockwise from top left: Photo of Helen Marten, Photo by Juergen Teller; Night-blooming genera, 2015 (detail), Spun aluminium, airbrushed steel, welded steel, lacquered hardwoods, stitched fabric, handthrown glazed ceramic, leather, glass, feathers, acid etched concrete © The Artist, courtesy Sadie Coles HQ, London, Photography: Annik Wetter, Geneva;
Limpet Apology (traffic tenses), 2015 Screen printing and painting on leather, suede, cotton, velvet; stained and sprayed Ash; folded steel; enamel paint on Balsa wood; airbrushed steel; magnets; inlaid Formica; Cherry © The Artist, courtesy Sadie Coles HQ, London, Photography: Annik Wetter, Geneva

Marten brings together a wide range of found objects and immaculately crafted elements in her sculptures. While suggestive of contemporary visual culture, as well as various kinds of art since the 60s, the work defies both form and meaning: it attracts and intrigues while also resisting interpretation and categorisation. She is nominated for projects including Lunar Nibs at the 56th Venice Biennale and the solo exhibition Eucalyptus Let Us In at Green Naftali, New York.

Josephine Pryde
josephineprydeturnerprizeClockwise from top left: Photo of Josephine Pryde, Photo: Dan Mitchell, Für Mich 2, 2014, C-print Unframed: 60 x 45 cm (23 5/8 x 17 3/4 in.) Edition of 3 + 2 AP (SLG-JOP-08391) Courtesy of the artist and Simon Lee Gallery, London; Reena Spaulings Fine Art, New York; and Galerie Neu, Berlin; Installation view lapses in Thinking By the person i Am 2015 Wattis Institute for Contemporary Arts, San Francisco, Image courtesy of Josephine Pryde, Photo: Johnna Arnold

Through photography and installation Pryde explores the very nature of image making and display. She is fascinated by the relationship between art and photography, of art as commodity and of the seductive qualities of the wider art world. Her work often calls into question the conventions of the gallery and the complex networks of the art world. She is nominated for her solo exhibition Lapses in Thinking by the Person I am at CCA Wattis, San Francisco.

Turner Prize 2016
Tate Britain: Exhibition
27 September 2016 – 8 January 2017

About the Turner Prize:
The prize was founded by a group called the Patrons of New Art. They were formed in 1982 to help buy new art for Tate’s collection, and to encourage wider interest in contemporary art.

The Patrons wanted a name associated with great British art. They chose J.M.W. Turner (1775–1851) partly because he had wanted to establish a prize for young artists.

He also seemed appropriate because his work was controversial in his own day.

See past Turner Prize Winners here

Thanks to the Tate for all the images and information