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The Acid Test

by | 7th, December 2004

‘GIVEN the marketing potential of being billed as a Turner Prize winner, this year’s victor, Jeremy Deller, should think about changing his name to Jem Dollar.

”You are here”

Hang his Turner entry – “a selection of words to demonstrate how acid house can improbably be linked to the brass band” – and look to the Guardian’s guide to how winners fare in the auction room.

Anish Kapoor (the winner in 1991) has seen the price for his works rise by a whopping 61% over the past six years. Works by Gilbert & George (1986) have risen in value by 52% and Damien Hirst’s collection (1995) by 27%.

The only artists to have seen the value of the works fall over the same period are Rachel Whiteread, who in a buoyant housing market has surprisingly found it hard to shift a lumpen mass of concrete in the shape of a “House” (-21%), and Chris Ofili (1998), who has seen his fortunes turn to dust (-24%) like so much desiccated elephant poo.

But who is Deller, Dollar or whatever his name is? The artist is pretty much always more interesting than their works, which

in the cultured opinion of Charles Saatchi are often “pseudo-intellectual rehashed crap”.

Well, the Telegraph can tell us that Deller is 38, can’t paint, can’t draw (these non-qualities he freely admits to) and never went to art school.

He was barred by his teachers at Dulwich College from taking his art A–level because they didn’t think he was capable.

Which just goes to show what teachers know, eh? They know nothing. But the Turner judges know a winner when they see one in a red jacket, lime green T-shirt and cravat.

The judging panel praised Deller for his “generosity of spirit across a succession of projects which engage with social and cultural contacts and celebrate the creativity of individuals”.

And who, looking at his wonderful use of colour (black ink on white paper), would argue with that? Why, only a fool…’



Posted: 7th, December 2004 | In: Uncategorized Comment | TrackBack | Permalink