Turner Prize at Ferens Art Gallery!!

Hey guys!! A couple of weeks ago, I visited the Ferens Art Gallery with my family to see an exhibition there called the Turner Prize. The Turner Prize is awarded yearly to an artist born, living or working in the U.K for a standout exhibition or public presentation of their work anywhere in the world in the past year. The four shortlisted artists for this award in 2017 are Hurvin Anderson, Andrea Büttner, Lubaina Himid and Rosalind Nashashibi. The Turner Prize was first established in 1984 and over time it has become one of the most significant and prestigious visual art awards internationally and since 2011 it has been staged outside of London every other year. Hull’s title of 2017 city of culture has helped it to be granted the honour of hosting the Turner Prize this year and it has definitely brought lots more people to the Ferens Art Gallery. So in today’s post, I’m going to be giving you my opinion of the art work the Turner Prize has this year and describing it in greater detail.

TURNER PRIZE NOMINEE #1: HURVIN ANDERSON

Hurvin Anderson was born in 1965 in Birmingham. He lives and works in London and he has had various different pieces of his work displayed in places such as New York’s Michael Werner Gallery, Art Gallery of Ontario in Toronto and Tate Britain in London.

His paintings are diverse in the fact that some of them beautifully illustrate still life and landscape scenes whereas others delve into his Jamaican roots and show themes of identity, memory and nationhood. What unites them all though is that they are alive with colour and are truly stunning to behold.

TURNER PRIZE NOMINEE #2: ANDREA BÜTTNER

Andrea Büttner was born in 1972 in Stuttgart, Germany and she lives and works in London and Berlin. She has had a number of different pieces of art work displayed in places such as Kunsthalle Wien in Austria, David Kordansky Gallery in Los Angeles and Van Abbe Museum, Netherlands.

Her art work covers a wide range of subjects which include Catholicism, art history and philosophy through media like printmaking, sculpture, painting, film and collaborative projects. She stands out from the crowd by using what can be seen as unfashionable media, mainly woodcut and glass painting and her references to other artists and thinkers.

TURNER PRIZE NOMINEE #3: LUBAINA HIMID

Lubaina Himid was born in 1954 in Zanzibar, Tanzania and she lives and works in Preston. She has had lots of art work exhibited in places such as Van Abbe Museum in Netherlands, Gwanju Biennale in South Korea and Tate Liverpool in the U.K.

She produces a mixture of paintings, prints, installations and drawings that all celebrate Black creativity and that reference the slave industry and the legacies it left behind in order to drive the important issue of forgotten cultural contribution by real people. As well as being an amazingly passionate artist, Himid also curates exhibitions to represent neglected Black artists.

TURNER PRIZE NOMINEE #4: ROSALIND NASHASHIBI

Rosalind Nashashibi was born 1973 in Croydon, London and she still lives and works there. Her art work has been exhibited in places that include Murray Guy in New York, Objectif Exhibitions in the Netherlands and Baltic Triennial in Poland.

Whilst she does make some paintings and prints, Rosalind mainly in the media of film to merge what would appear to be normal events with a sprinkling of fantastical elements. There were two pieces of her work shown in the Ferens Art Gallery and the one I watched is a half an hour long film called ‘Vivian’s Garden’  which showcases the relationship two artists who are also mother and daughter share in their connected housing in the Panajachel jungle garden of Guetemala whilst they also experience the company of two or more Mayan villagers who act as guardians and maids. The emotive film clearly demonstrates the motherly care they both show each other and how their home can be a place of both fear and refuge.

Personally, I enjoyed looking at Hurvin Anderson’s exhibition however I feel that since they all have incredibly unique art work, its an open playing field and any of them could win the Turner Prize. They all use their art work as a way of expression of subjects they are passionate about and I really respect that about them all.

Which piece of art work was your favourite? Let me know in the comments!! There’ll be another post out soon but until then bye for now!!

Amelia Grace a.k.a Amelia in Hull