Tate Britain

     On Monday, January 3rd we went to the Tate Britain to see the last day of the Turner Prize 2010 show and nominees.  Before we even entered the exhibit, there were two huge fighter planes on display by Fiona Banner.  Harrier and Jaguar have shiny polished surfaces where the viewer can see herself in the piece itself which allows the art and audience to interact in the space.  The massive suspended fighter plane created a great amount of tension where it hung positioned about two feet above the floor.  It was difficult to capture the whole piece in a single camera shot.  When you are standing there in front of it it is quite breathtaking and activates the space through the tension.  
     The next exhibit was the Turner Prize 2010, which featured four artists/groups who competed for the prize, including Susan Philipz who was the winner.  Dexter Dalwood's paintings occupied the first room.  His collage pieces make a statement about individuals and events of the twentieth century regarding historical and contemporary ideas.  I found one of his paintings, Burroughs in Tangiers (2005), visually compelling because of the collage element of the paint swatches and drawings along with the paint.  I did not find them outstanding otherwise, though I did enjoy looking at them solely for the visual appeal.  The Otolith Group had a video art piece that was very overwhelming and boring to me personally.  Especially after a long day of jet-lag I did not have the patience to sit and wait for the opportunity to listen to the individual headphones attached to the room of televisions playing a loop of the same video.  This was an unfortunate decision on my part.  Angela de la Cruz's piece was a combination of painting and sculpture.  The once originally painted canvases had been crudely ripped from their strictures and arranged in different sculptural ways that dealt with the volume, mass and weight of the piece.  I believe this body of work would have been of greater value to me had I known her conceptual idea behind the work before I saw it.  Work that does not grasp me visually at first must have a compelling conceptual idea behind it to interest me.  The last exhibit and winner of the group was Susan Philipz with her audio installation of her own voice singing  the "Lowlands Away" ballad.  She engages the listener and space through the audio sounds in a unique way.  I thought it was interesting to read on the gallery wall about the Turner Prize.  It stated that the artists are nominated by their work created in the last year, and what they choose to be displayed in the show was not necessarily what they won or were nominated for.  I would like to know or research about their previous works to see what actually got them nominated.