Arguably Britain’s most important (but no doubt the most debated) art accolade, the Turner Prize 2024, has once again swung open its doors in spectacular style, showcasing the bold and provocative works of this year’s shortlisted contenders: Pio Abad, Claudette Johnson, Jasleen Kaur and Delaine Le Bas.
The exhibition at Tate Britain – where the show is being held for the first time in six years – kicks off on September 25 and runs through February 2024, is the perfect playground for those eager to dive into contemporary art’s most audacious minds and start some kind of debate. With the grand prize winner being crowned on December 3, all eyes are now on these four visionaries – each vying for a place in British art history.
Established in 1984 and named after the radical painter JMW Turner, the Turner Prize was conceived to provoke conversation, stir debate and shake up the often insular world of contemporary art. Now celebrating its 40th anniversary, it’s clear the prize has exceeded all expectations, earning a reputation for its electrifying blend of genius and controversy.
To win the Turner Prize 2024 is to join the ranks of icons like Steve McQueen, Damien Hirst, Grayson Perry, and Tracey Emin – household names whose works have challenged, mesmerized and shocked. But it’s not all prestige and high society soirées: there’s also a cool £25,000 (approx. $34,500) for the winner and £10,000 ($13,400) for each of the shortlisted artists – a generous pat on the back for stirring the pot of British culture.
This year’s contenders are no strangers to pushing boundaries. Their work explores everything from the personal to the political, revealing unexpected layers of emotion and meaning. Whether it’s the quietly subversive wit of Abad’s drawings, Johnson’s quietly powerful portraits, Kaur’s visceral take on identity or the raw personal narratives spun by Le Bas, one thing is clear: the Turner Prize 2024 is set to leave an indelible mark on the art world.
[See also: Highlights from London Design Festival 2024]
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Pio Abad
Opening the Turner Prize 2024 exhibition is Pio Abad. Nominated for his solo exhibition ‘To Those Sitting in Darkness’ at the Ashmolean Museum, Oxford, Abad’s work explores cultural loss and colonial history, often drawing on his upbringing in the Philippines.
For the Turner Prize 2024, Abad brings together new additions such as Kiss the Hand You Cannot Bite (2019), an almost 10 ft concrete sculpture modeled on a bracelet worn by Filipino politician Imelda Marcos, showcased alongside the work that got him nominated in the first place. To Those Sitting in Darkness presents a series of detailed and intricate drawings of Benin bronze sculptures from the British Museum positioned alongside everyday objects found around Abad’s flat with similar overseas origins – a box of Tate & Lyle sugar, a stack books like Madaline Millers Circe, a paper Ikea lamp shade.
Jasleen Kaur
You can hear the hum of Kaur’s work before you see it. Layers of Sufi music are overlaid with 90s trance music, creating an almost haunting and hypnotic introduction to her work, Alter Altar. Similarly to Abad, grapples with her own cultural context, being of Indian heritage and growing up in Glasgow.
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Rethinking tradition, Kaur creates large-scale sculptures from gathered and remade everyday objects. Above an oversized, fake Axminster carpet is a suspended, perspex sky, littered with lottery tickets, empty bottles of Irn Bru, CDs and funeral flowers.
[See also: Homo Faber 2024 Opens in Venice]
Delaine Le Bas
Taking this opportunity and truly turning it into her own, Delaine Le Bas’ exhibition is an unapologetic and deeply personal exploration of, well, herself. Spanning over three rooms, Le Bas has transformed the space of Tate Britain into a nightmarish, immersive installation, piling this world with painted fabrics, costumes and sculptures, where every available surface has been splattered, scribbled or projected on.
Le Bas’ art draws on the rich cultural history of the British Roma community, bringing in mythologies, and themes of death, loss, and renewal. It’s a lot to try and communicate in such a small space, and Le Bas uses a lot of medians and materials to do so. The exhibition is certainly the loudest, and the most brash on display at the Turner Prize 2024 – whether that is enough for the top placing is for the judges to decide.
Claudette Johnson
Critics’ favorite Claudette Johnson is saved until last and certainly makes for a jolt after leaving the world of Le Bas. Johnson may be the most traditional of the four shortlisted artists but she remains the frontrunner to beat for her eloquent, intimate exploration of black identity, presence and power. Displayed around the final room are large-scale portraits of herself, friends, family and strangers, captured with such likeness and care that instantly draw you in.
What Johnson lacks in shock factor reveals an intimate and sensitive display of portraiture, vividly capturing and conveying a specifically black presence. Alongside paintings taken from her nominated exhibitions shown at London’s Courtauld Gallery and at Ortuzar Projects in New York, her Turner Prize 2024 presentation features existing and new works, including a double portrait of her sons, titled Friends in Green + Red on Yellow.
The Turner Prize 2024 runs at Tate Britain from September 25, 2024, to February 16, 2025
tate-britain/turner-prize-2024
[See also: Photo London 2024 Showcases Female Artists and Global Voices]
