The Turner Prize is always a great deal of fun to watch, as nominated artists lobby and the entire UK weighs in on the matter. This year's nominees are Enrico David, a surrealist who creates paintings, drawings and sculptures; Roger Hiorns, a site-specific artist (work pictured above); Lucy Skaer, who creates drawings, sculptures and films from found photographs; and Richard Wright, who creates wall paintings in unexpected locations. BBC News has a nice slideshow of some of their previous works. The prize is given to an artist under 50 and has attracted its fair share of controversy in previous years, with past nominees including Damien Hirst and Tracy Emin. All nominees participate in an exhibition at the Tate Britain late in the year, but the prize is given for work executed in the previous year. Say what you will about the prize often being given to controversial and/or conceptual art, the media attention it attracts is greater than anything comparable.
On a more inspirational note, the New York Times ran this story about Ross Bleckner, the painter named to serve as a goodwill ambassador for the United Nations who will pursue art therapy with child abductees and child soldiers in the Gulu district of northern Uganda.
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