Glasgow's the place, says prize winner Boyce

Arts Correspondent

Wednesday 7 December 2011

Martin Boyce, the day after winning the Turner Prize, the £25,000 award for the best in British contemporary art, said simply: "Glasgow is a good place to live if you are an artist."

SPOTLIGHT: Turner Prize winner Martin Boyce says good artists could live anywhere like Berlin or New York, but many choose to live in Glasgow. Picture: Owen Humphreys/PA awards: Richard Wright and Susan Philipsz complete a hat-trick of previous Scots winners of the Turner Prize.

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And so it seems. The "excited and delighted" Boyce, 43, is the third Scot in a row to win the prestigious, controversial prize, and the second of those to live and work in the city.

Boyce's award, making it a hat-trick for Scotland after wins by Richard Wright in 2009 and 2010's Susan Philipsz (from Maryhill, but who lives in Berlin), confirms – if it had been in any doubt – that Glasgow and Scotland more than punch above their weight in the febrile world of contemporary art. Other cities must be wondering what is in the water in Glasgow. Since Douglas Gordon won the Turner Prize in 1996, it has become the second city of visual art in the UK behind London, and perhaps the third most important arts centre in Europe beyond Berlin and the English capital. There have already been calls for the Turner Prize show to be staged in the city.Wags have suggested that, like the World Cup, the Turner Prize should stay in Glasgow because it has been won three times in a row.When asked whether his award success will lead to a move to Berlin or London, Boyce laughed and uttered a swift 'no' – he has two children entering secondary school, he has lived in Berlin before, and he is busy on new projects for the Tramway and Scottish Ballet.The artist is baffled when asked to explain Scotland's new Golden Age of art, with six winners of the Turner Prize since 1996, and many more artists shortlisted."That question comes up all the time: it is just good artists, they could live anywhere but they choose to live in Glasgow because it is a good place to be as an artist –you may travel for work, but you always come home," he said.Academics, artists, and gallery curators have all pondered the question in recent years. They point to an unusual but beneficial confluence of factors in Glasgow's favour: the key presence of the Glasgow School of Art (GSA), supportive and innovative galleries, a population of artists of all kinds who provide support, work and mutual encouragement, cheaper rents than London providing affordable spaces for living and working, direct flights to Europe, and, over the years, some judicious public funding, from the Scottish Arts Council and Creative Scotland, and Glasgow City Council. In his acceptance speech, Boyce noted the contributions of teachers in his success, and yesterday he pinpointed two at the GSA: David Harding, former head of sculpture, and Sam Ainsley, former head of fine art. But he added: "You could also mention my school teacher, Ann Cramond, who saw I was interested in art. I learned so much from all of them."But I also learned from other artists and that is very important."Professor Roger Wilson, head of the school of fine art at GSA, said the now historically significant success of Glasgow artists is "quite extraordinary"."You have to remember, too, that for every Turner Prize winner that comes from GSA, there are 50 graduates who themselves become the audience for contemporary art," he said. "And that is a very educated and demanding audience, and the influence of that cannot be overlooked."Sarah Lowndes, an academic at the GSA whose book Social Sculpture tries to explain Glasgow's contemporary renaissance, added: "Of course the success can continue. There are artists here who could win, such as David Shrigley who hasn't been nominated yet, neither has Victoria Morton. I cannot see why it won't continue, there are still artists moving here and wanting to live and work here."It would be naive to say there are no problems with funding, but the cuts in Scotland have not been as severe as in England. It's not a flash in the pan – artists could choose to live in New York or London, but they are living here."

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Glasgow's the place, says prize winner Boyce

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