Could Irn-Bru help a Glasgow artist lift the Turner Prize?

Glasgow's Jasleen Kaur is on the shortlist for the 40th anniversary.

Author: Rob WallerPublished 24th Apr 2024

A Scottish artist who uses Irn-Bru and worship bells in her creations has made the shortlist for the prestigious Turner Prize for 2024.

Glasgow's Jasleen Kaur is nominated along with Pio Abad, Claudette Johnson and Delaine Le Bas have been nominated in the prize's 40th anniversary.

The even is returning to London's Tate Britain for the first time in six years.

The artists are competing for £25,000, while those shortlisted will be awarded £10,000.

Full of life

Alex Farquharson, director of Tate Britain and chairman of the Turner Prize jury, said: "It is an honour to announce such a fantastic shortlist of artists and I cannot wait to see their exhibition at Tate Britain this autumn.

"All four of them make work that is full of life. They show how contemporary art can fascinate, surprise and move us, and how it can speak powerfully of complex identities and memories, often through the subtlest of details.

"In the Turner Prize's 40th year, this shortlist proves that British artistic talent is as rich and vibrant as ever."

Tramway show

Kaur is on the list for Alter Altar at Tramway, Glasgow, which was aimed at showcasing her growing up in Glasgow's Sikh community.

The exhibition used family photos, an Axminster carpet, a vintage Ford Escort covered in a giant doily, Irn-Bru and kinetic hand bells.

The 37-year-old, who lives in London, had previously showcased her work at the Victoria and Albert Museum by looking at popular Indian cinema through Yoorup.

Other contenders

Johnson has been given the nod for her solo exhibition Presence at The Courtauld Gallery in London, and Drawn Out at Ortuzar Projects, New York.

She uses portraits of black women and men in a combination of pastels, gouache and watercolour and was praised by the judges for her "sensitive and dramatic use of line, colour, space and scale to express empathy and intimacy with her subjects".

Le Bas's Incipit Vita Nova. Here Begins The New Life/A New Life Is Beginning at Secession art institute in Vienna saw painted fabrics hung, with theatrical costumes and sculptures also part of the exhibit.

The 58-year-old artist, who lives in Worthing, was inspired by the death of her grandmother and the history of the Roma people.

Abad's solo exhibition To Those Sitting in Darkness at the Ashmolean Museum in Oxford includes drawing, etchings and sculptures which have been combined to "ask questions of museums", according to the jury.

The 40-year-old, who works in London, reflects on colonial history and growing up in the Philippines where his parents struggled against authoritarianism.

An exhibition of the shortlisted work will be held at Tate Britain from September 25 to February 16.

The winner will be announced at an award ceremony at Tate Britain on December 3.

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