Turner Prize prize

I was at the Turner Prize prize-giving (do you say prize twice?) on Monday. The line up this year was very good but as always with the prize the difficulty of showing it becomes apparent in the spaces. Four very different artists = four very different rooms. Simon Starling rightly won I think, looking a bit sheepish and feeling 'doubly-lucky' as he collected his large cheque (in amount, not physical size unfortunately. I think it would be better for the TV coverage if Nick Serota presented the winner with a glitzy giant cardboard cheque, children-in-need-style).

Watching the paparazzi phtotograph him afterwards in the winners room was pretty eye-opening as well. Apart from being a bunch of sexist, childish idiots it was amazing to witness the level of ignoranace as to why they were actually there - "this is the Tate right?" and "what's the prize awarded for again?". One of them actually stomped his feet as he left the room just to piss off Channel 4 who were recording an interview at the time. Still the interview consisted mostly of "so what would you say to people who think it is just a shed...?. So nothing very revelatory was missed.

This year was doubly-lucky for the media as well, as they could go down either the 'it's ONLY a Shed!!' route or the 'SHOCK! A painter in the line up!' route. The Guardian has a quick round-up of the not-so apoplectic reaction this year. It's also heartening to see Toulouse Le Plot staying on as Arts Editor at the Sun after being parachuted in to review Degas, Sickert and Toulouse Lautrec at such short notice earlier this year.

Trafalgar Square Model

Trafalgar Square Model
Originally uploaded by d m.

They need to update this model of Trafalgar Square in the National Gallery with the Fourth Plinth projects. Other than that, it's clean tourist-free space is eerily accurate...

I made a brief visit to Reubens at the National today, which was OK, and also Jonathan Monk's project at the ICA, which is really excellent and probably Brian Sewell's worst nightmare. I tried to ignore the fact that it bore a passing resemblance to my work 5 years ago (well, probably the other way round) only much better executed. I mulled over what it takes to be succesful in the art world but as this line of thought made me despondant, I swiftly moved on.

Outside, I was quite heartened to see how conventional the Alison Lapper statue actually looks like once it has been rendered in Carrera marble at a suitably monolithic size. The pigeons are already making light work of aggresively attacking it's pristineness, which is good news.

After which I met a friend and we walked to the New Picadilly Cafe, just off Picadilly Circus, for a sandwich and cuppa which I was really looking forward to (having been described as "a place of reverence" by Classic Cafes) and have been meaning to visit for a while. The decor certainly is wonderful, however the experience was marred by lack-lustre portions. Still, a cup of tea was only 80p (50p with food) which you can't argue with, and soundly beats Starbucks at it's price-fixing game at any rate.