Jesse Darling Wins 2023 Turner Prize

Oxford-born, Berlin-based sculptor Jesse Darling has won the Turner Prize, considered the UK’s most prestigious art honor and accompanied by a £25,000 (roughly $31,500) purse. Darling, who hassaidthat his work draws from “the effects of austerity, Brexit, and the pandemic,” and the “hostile environment” immigration policy, investigates themes of labor, class, and power, as well as that of Britishness through a practice encompassing sculpture, installation, text, and drawing. Typically using inexpensive, easily obtained materials, Darling is best known for his sculptures that resemble bodies.

“If the post-internet era uses new technology to position itself as a unique, irreparable break from the past, Jesse Darling’s practice situates this move within modernism’s theological underpinnings and legacy of progress,” wrote Charlie Markbreiter inArtforumin 2018.RelatedFORGOTTEN BOTTICELLI PAINTING RECOVERED FROM PRIVATE HOMEMARK BRADFORD WINS GETTY PRIZE Darling won for the exhibitions “No Medals, No Ribbons” at Modern Art Oxford, and “Enclosures” at Camden Art Centre, both of which featured an installation comprising barbed wire, strings of faded and shredded Union Jack pennants, and metal crowd-control barriers affixed with appendages that give them the appearance of running about. He beat out a shortlist that additionally included Ghislaine Leung, Rory Pilgrim, and Barbara Walker. Darling received the prize earlier today in a ceremony presided over by rapper Tinie Tempah at Eastbourne’s Winter Garden.The Guardianreported that he criticized former British prime minister Margaret Thatcher in his acceptance speech, noting, “She paved the way for the greatest trick the Tories ever played, which is to convince working people in Britain that studying, self-expression and what the broadsheet supplements describe as ‘culture’ is only for certain people in Britain from certain socio-economic backgrounds.

I just want to say don’t buy in, it’s for everyone.” Darling then removed from his pocket a small Palestinian flag. When queried later as to the meaning of the action, he replied, “Because there’s a genocide going on and I wanted to say something about it on the BBC.” Darling said he planned to spend the prize money on a new tooth, rent, and drinks for his mates. An exhibition of the work of all four shortlisted artists is on view at Towner Eastbourne through April 14, 2024..