About Entertainment – Magazine – Artists await Turner announcement

About Entertainment – Magazine –

The work of favourite Leckey combines sculpture, film, sound and performance

This year’s Turner Prize winner will be announced later from a shortlist of artists whose works include shop dummies and cartoon characters.

Three women – Goshka Macuga, Runa Islam and Cathy Wilkes – are up for the prize, which has had only three female winners since its 1984 inception.

Mark Leckey is favourite with bookmaker William Hill at a price of evens.

The winner of the £25,000 prize is due to be presented by Australian singer Nick Cave at Tate Britain in London.

The prize, awarded to an outstanding body of work by an artist “under 50, born, living or working in Britain”, will be awarded at 1945 GMT.

Leckey’s solo exhibition, Industrial Light & Magic, features a film showing the 44-year-old lecturing about his love of animation.

Garfield and Homer Simpson both appear in his film, Cinema in the Round.

An installation by Glasgow-based Wilkes, meanwhile, features a female mannequin on the toilet with pieces of wood and horseshoes tied to her face.

She has been nominated for her solo exhibition at Milton Keynes Gallery, described by the Tate as touching “on issues of femininity and sexuality”.

‘Theatrical’ installations

Polish-born Macuga, 41, works as a “cultural archaeologist”.

The Tate says she “merges the roles of collector, curator and artist” to create dynamic – and often theatrical – sculptural installations.

TURNER PRIZE ODDS Mark Leckey – Evens Runa Islam – 5/2 Goshka Macuga – 4/1 Cathy Wilkes – 4/1 Source: William Hill In pictures: Turner Prize nominees

She has recreated textile displays made 80 years ago by modernist designer Lilly Reich, using original drawings and photographs.

Works by Islam, 38, who was born in Bangladesh and lives and works in London, include the film, Be The First To See What You See As You See It (2004).

It has a woman dressed in white wandering around a gallery space of fragile porcelain pieces, before throwing them to the floor.

The Tate describes her as exploiting classic cinematic techniques in her work – such as lighting, colour and cinematography – in order to invite an emotional response from the viewer.

The work of all four shortlisted artists have been on display at Tate Britain since the end of September.

Anti-war protest

The Turner Prize has been traditionally won by controversial works.

It is not about giving good service medals to artists who have been around for a long time; it is about spotting emerging trends that are especially interesting Chairman of judges Dr Stephen Deuchar

Previous winners have included transvestite potter Grayson Perry, Damien Hirst, and Gilbert and George.

Last year’s winner, Mark Wallinger, took the prize for his replica of Brian Haw’s anti-war protest in Parliament Square, London.

Announcing the shortlist earlier this year, Tate Britain director and chairman of the judges, Dr Stephen Deuchar, said the Turner Prize introduced the public to “what is new”.

“It is not about giving good service medals to artists who have been around for a long time; it is about spotting emerging trends that are especially interesting,” he added.