This is the winner of this year's Turner Prize; Nnena Kalu, a neurodiverse artist from Glasgow.
In case you didn't know, The Turner Prize is an annual award given to a British Visual Artist.
Her work not only includes scrubbing-brush swirls, but also suspended bundles of old coloured rags.
Was she a worthy winner? I'm not sure; I wouldn't like to judge. What I do know, is that sometimes I feel that my nearly five years spent at Art College, plus my 1st Class Hons degree, were all a bit of a waste of time.
I've had my moments, of course, but a little more recognition would always have been nice.
I don't wish to denigrate Ms Kalu's work, but it all seems a bit 'old hat' to me. A bit like a 1st year Art Student from the 1970's, who was looking to do something 'different'.
The 'runners-up' included Rene Matic, Mohammed Sami, and Zadie Xa.
29 comments:
I quite like the swirly "eyes". But the other material hanging things would be more at home in a crafts competition. In fact some of Ilona's pictures would look better in there. I bought a picture from her when she had an exhibitition in Burton. (near me.) A lot of work went into the collage I bought. Still I suppose this is better than a pile of bricks. lol. and its what we've come to expect from the Turner.
The eyes are OK but those piles of rags are terrible. How can they call that art!
I'm more Degas or Monet.
Being in the business myself, I'm very open minded about trends, styles, etc. But one thing I always look for is 'quality' and to an extent 'expertise'.
I'm old. I gave up with the Turner Prize many years ago, when really talented artists were sidelined by trendy rubbish.
I don't understand much about art, but I always wonder about how works of art are judged, because beauty is in the eye of the beholder and it's such a personal thing.
Quite right. I also wonder about their competence, qualifications, etc. I have been a judge myself in the past, and it wasn't easy!
I think you already know what I think about 'art', as Yael says, it's an entirely personal thing and doesn't need judging at all by some poncy crititc...everyone's an artist in their own way.
Hmmm...yes well... not sure what to say...
I think it's probably best to ignore The Turner Prize and its Judges. They live in a different world; although I did break down walls myself for a while.
You are not alone. Best ignored.
I love visual art and have visited many art galleries. The chair of the Turner Prize jury said, “Her win begins to erase that border between the neurotypical and neurodiverse artist. You suddenly become aware that actually it’s been a boundary around our history, and around contemporary art. But that boundary is dissolving.”
Now I like to think of myself as open-minded and accepting of a wide range of styles and approaches but in my estimation, as a neurotypical Yorkshire bloke, Nnena Kalu's work is shit.
I may not go as far as that, but I've seen so many Art Students doing similar things, just to shock, that I find it all rather boring.
Yorkshire Dictionary definition of "rather boring" = crap, rubbish, shit.
OK, you win!
Puddings comment made me laugh out loud. Have to admit, and to the larger degree, I agree. I'm afraid the Turner seems more interested in "dissolving" boundaries vs choosing truly talented artists. How insulting for so many others to lose out on being recognized and were ultimately overridden by what appears to be a grade school level effort. But alas, I fear my age is showing.
As a Yorkshire lass I am with Yorkshire Pudding.
The work is colorful and playful.
This is why I said I'd like to see the 'losers' work. The Turner has become a farce!
So you should be; I think we all are really.
My dog would definitely play with it.
The Turner Prize seems no longer meaningful.
I often wonder how great/superior art is determined. What are the criteria used?
Well as someone who has actually been to the art display at the gallery, although I may agree with many of the sentiments here something else should be added. For a start visitors were also asked to vote in a register.
Nnena belongs to an artist group in London for people with disabilities - Action Space. She was nominated for the Turner Trust by this organisation. So maybe the criteria was compassion...
On the TV programme 'Portrait Artist of the Year, 2025', they started with lots of extremely talented painters, then whittled them down to three indifferent finalists. It makes you wonder!
They made a big thing of her neurodiversity, so I suspect you may be right.
What the ....... - flis x
Have you heard of the spoof Turnip Prize, it's almost Pythonesque. It celebrates deliberately low effort contemporary art.
Last month it voted it's winner for minimum effort and maximum absurdity.
It’s in the eye of the beholder Cro. I can vividly remember my first visit to the MoMa. I came across a painting by Yves Klein and listened to a docent talk about it for at least 8 minutes - she was giving a private tour to a well healed couple. If you are not familiar with the painting here is a link.
https://www.moma.org/collection/works/80103
To my, untrained, eye it is, in effect, a huge paint chip!
I know his work well, and the one you talk about isn't typical. We still speak of his 'International Klein Blue'. He had an 'interesting' end.
It might not be typical but it was taking up a lot of wall space.
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