The Best Of Artists, The Worst of Artists- Library of Mu
- Library of Mu record:
- Title: The Best Of Artists, The Worst of Artists
- Date: 29 November, 1993
- Journal: New York Times
- Author: ?
- Type of resource: News items
- Status: text
- No. views: 2053
- Description:
The Best Of Artists, The Worst of Artists
By ? (29 November, 1993, New York Times)
In a single day last week, 30-year-old Rachel Whiteread won two prizes,
one for being the best British artist, and one for being the worst.
Early Tuesday evening, in a ceremony televised live from the Tate
Gallery, it was announced that Ms. Whiteread had won the 1993 Turner
Prize, an increasingly prestigious award given annually to a British
artist for the best exhabition or presentation of work in the preceding
year, along with $30,000. A few hours later, outside the Tate, in front
of television crews and photographers, Ms. Whiteread accepted, by
prearangment, the K. Foundation Award for Britain's worst artist. The
prize came with $60,000 cash, double the Turner amount, naile in clumps
of £50 notes to a board with an ornate picture frame.
The second prize award, sort of an anti-Turner Prize, was widely
viewed as a publicity stunt. It was initiated by the K. Foundation on
behalf of the K.L.F., or the Kashmir Liberation Front, a disbanded
British rock band [SIC!!!] known for its irreverant antics, which
advertisted in newspapers announcing its creation last summer and
repeated them last month after the Tate announced the names of the four
artists on the short list for the Turner Prize. It was not clear if Ms.
Whiteread had actually won the write-in-vote that the foundation
advertisted or if she had been chosen because her already high profile
would generate the most publicity for the group.
The artist, who learned on Tuesday morning that she had won the
K. Foundation Award, did not want to accept it at first but changed her
mind when she was told the money would be burned if she did not collect
it in person. That afternoon, she issued a statement through the
Karsten Schubert Gallery, which represents her, announcing that she would
not keep any of the money from the K. Foundation, but would give $15,000
to Shelter, an organization for homeless people, and the rest to young
artists in the form of 10 grants of $4,500 each.
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