2009 Turner prize nominees
Updated on 28 April 2009
Who are the four artists who have been shortlisted for the Turner Prize 2009?
Now in its 25th year, the Turner Prize is awarded to a British artist under 50 for an outstanding exhibition or other presentation of their work in the last twelve months.
The four nominees will now prepare to present works at an exhibition at the Tate Britain in October before the winner is announced in December.
The annual prize has earned a reputation as a provocative contest, with previous winners including Damien Hirst for Mother and Child Divided and Tracey Emin's entry with My Bed made headline news.
This year, the judges are aiming to make the competition more accessible, with the focus on painting and sculpture.
Roger Hiorns
Roger Hiorns is best known for his 2008 exhibition Seizure in which he filled a derelict apartment in an abandoned 1960s London housing block with liquid copper sulphate which gradually encrusted every surface with bright blue crystals (watch Nick Glass' report on Seizure).
34-year-old Hiorns creates arresting sculpture and installation combining unusual materials.
"He is in a way a modern alchemist," said jury member and curator Andrea Schlieker. "He uses ordinary materials from liquid detergent to perfume to fire and turns them into something magic and wondrous."
Lucy Skaer
The only woman on the shortlist gained her nomination for her solo exhibition at the Fruitmarket Gallery, Edinburgh and A Boat Used as a Vessel at the Kunsthalle Basel.
Skaer makes drawings, sculptures and films which often take found photographic sources as their starting point.
The Siege 2008, Lucy Skaer
Courtesy of the artist and doggerfisher, Edinburgh
Richard Wright
Richard Wright, who aged 49 just qualifies for the Turner Prize.
Wright earned his nomination for the work he exhibited in the 55th Carnegie International, Pittsburgh and his exhibition at the Ingleby Gallery, Edinburgh. He specialises in large wall paintings made specifically for the space in which they appear.
No Title 2007, gold leaf on window, Richard Wright, Museum of Contemporary Art, San Diego.
Courtesy of Gagosian Gallery, London/New York and The Modern Institute/Toby Webster Ltd, Glasgow
Enrico David
Italian-born Enrico David is nominated for his solo exhibitions How Do You Love Dzzzzt By Mammy? at the Museum für Gegenwartskunst, Basel, and Bulbous Marauder at the Seattle Art Museum. According to jury member and art critic Jonathan Jones, "obsessed with the human figure and obsessed with the human body".
"He's a kind of contemporary surrealist," Jones said. "David does achieve some of the kinds of shocks and dislocations of surrealist art ... in the 1920s."
How Do You Love Dzzzzt by Mammy? Enrico David, Installation view Museum für Gegenwartskunst Basel, 2009
Courtesy of Gagosian Gallery, London/New York and The Modern Institute/Toby Webster Ltd, Glasgow
