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06 Dec 05 09:47 |
Simon Starling, the artist whose work includes turning a shed into a working boat and then back into a shed, told BBC Radio 4's Today programme how he felt the morning after winning the £25,000 Turner Prize:
"I feel slightly rumpled. I didn't sleep so well.
"The shed is one of a long line of works I have been doing. It comes from somewhere in my work.
"It's not a bolt from the blue.
"I don't feel I have to defend it in a way. One of the nice things about the Turner Prize is having this fantastically large audience for the work, which I don't usually have.
"I have been overwhelmed by the response from the general public.
"It's the press who feel the need to stir up some controversy from the work.
"There's lots of evidence in the shed of the boat-building activity.
"You can start to sort of read the shed like you would a painting or any kind of sculpture and in a way rebuild the boat in your mind.
Hirst praise
"You can look at the holes and cuts and piece it back together.
"There's also a lot of text which introduces the project and talks about the background.
"It's like any sort of art. It comes surrounded by a lot of mediation.
"I think conceptual art has already gained a permanent niche in the popular imagination.
"The impact of the generation of Damien Hirst and Tracey Emin is huge in this country.
"They have changed the way people look at work and think about work."