Turner Prize 2010

Looking through the Tate Museum's exhibition for the Turner Prize 2010 was interesting to say the least. I know that isn't a great word to use when describing an exhibit or work or art, but I really don't know how I feel about it yet. I do love contemporary and conceptual art, don't get me wrong. However, I feel for such a big honor the work could have been stronger.

Dexter Dalwood.
     Dexter is a British painter. He paints individuals and events that shaped Western culture of the 20th century. The only painting I was really drawn to was the "Death of David Kelly" 2009. I enjoyed the simlpicity and colors in this painting but didn't understand exactly what he was trying to say. Which is fine, but just a point.

The Otolith Group.
     "Inner Time of Television 2007-10" comprised films, photoworks, curatorial projects, and writing and discussions. I absolutely loved the ambiance of this room; the dark walls with quotes on them, the glass ceiling, and all the people listening intently either to individual TV's or the large one. The only thing that really bothered me was the fact that there was so many TV's and my attention span didn't want to stay there to listen to them all.

Angela De La Cruz.
     De La Cruz's work begins as traditional monochrome paintings and then she violently distorts them. Then they are placed in awkward corners or in the middle of the gallery floor. I really enjoy the idea of this, however, I wasn't too keen on the execution of the pieces. The only one I somewhat liked was "Untitled (Hold no.1) 2005" This was a large black piece projecting from the wall. I like that it was more three-dimensional then the rest of her pieces.

Susan Philipsz
     Philipsz does audio installtions and this one in particular titled "Lowland" 08-10. Taken from the commentary on the wall, this pieces "examining how it modifies and enhances our perceptions of space." I think this is a wonderful description of her piece and it's exactly how I felt about it. I enjoyed many things about this. First, I loved watching people and how they interacted with the piece or just reacted to the piece; kids falling asleep on mom's knee, couples listening intently together, or students wandering about listening and watching others. I also liked that standing in different areas made the piece sound different, either lower or higher or you heard triple playback. The idea of a performance piece without the visual performance really entices me as well. My one criticism was that the room was really noisy. Maybe that's part of the piece but I didn't really like that.

If I had to choose one of these artists for the Turner Prize 2010, I would have chosen Susan Philipsz because I enjoyed her piece the most and I believe it to be a step forward in the art world we are currently in. I believe I heard one of her pieces in July at the Guggenheim and I absolutely adored it. It went through the entire museum as all the visitors were looking at other art. Very haunting and chilling but beautiful none-the-less.