Turner Prize 2023 review: 'a big surprise' at Eastbourne's Towner Gallery
The mini-exhibitions by the four shortlisted artists are 'rather effective'

It's been a while since the Turner Prize "forced Britain to take an interest in contemporary art", said Waldemar Januszczak in The Sunday Times. In recent years, this "once-fierce" art award has generally been a boring event filled with mediocre offerings. Indeed, so routinely has it underwhelmed that I set out to visit this year's version – on show at Eastbourne's Towner Gallery – "untouched by hope or excitement". As usual, the four shortlisted artists who competed for the £25,000 prize have each been accorded their own mini-exhibition. The difference, however – "and this really is a big surprise" – is that the show is "rather effective". The 2023 Turner nominees are installation artists Ghislaine Leung and Jesse Darling; painter, film-maker and musician Rory Pilgrim; and Barbara Walker, who is feted for her portraits of black Britons. They have created a display that is brimful with "that rarest of all Turner qualities – talent".
Walker's contribution is a highlight, said Laura Cumming in The Observer: a series of "cogent and pensive" charcoal portraits of Windrush scandal victims, drawn directly onto the walls. These images of people "denied their lawful immigration status" and subjected to a "vicious chain of policies and deliberate procedures" are "colossal" in scale: "monumentally visible". Some are superimposed onto documents proving their subjects' right to remain. Less successful is Leung, who offers a wall chart attesting to her hours free from childcare, along with some shiny steel ventilation ducts and a collection of toys – tiny washing machines, vacuum cleaners and houses. It is rather obvious as a "critique of the means of art-world production" – and the struggles of working mothers – and not a very interesting one, either.
I wasn't impressed by Pilgrim's entry, said Alastair Sooke in The Daily Telegraph. His deeply worthy show takes in a film of people performing what he describes as a "seven-song oratorio" during the pandemic, as well as some "wishy-washy, faux-naïf paintings and drawings of fantastical landscapes". Frankly, it's "awful". Thank goodness, then, for Darling, who was announced as the winner last week – an artist who makes the rest seem "lukewarm" by comparison. His exhibition is a vision of a dystopian, ruined Britain that is nevertheless suffused with wit. It contains an array of "anarchic yet stylish recent sculptures" made from unlikely materials: metal barricades, pigeon spikes, a maypole wrapped in tape. You see "a rollercoaster's buckled rails bursting through a wall"; and "patchwork versions of the Union flag". He's a worthy winner: his display is "the most exhilarating" thing I've seen at the Turner Prize in years. "Hmmm," said Waldemar Januszczak. I suppose Darling's work represents "a glumly poetic interpretation of Britain today". But it doesn't have much visual impact. How would I describe his installations? "Bitty."
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
Towner Gallery, Eastbourne, Sussex (01323-434670, townereastbourne.org.uk). Until 14 April 2024.
Sign up to The Week's Arts & Life newsletter for reviews and recommendations.
Sign up for Today's Best Articles in your inbox
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
-
Jeanette Vizguerra: a high-profile activist and the latest casualty of the immigration crackdown
In the Spotlight Famous for hiding out in churches to avoid deportation, the activist has been thrust back into the limelight following her arrest
By Theara Coleman, The Week US Published
-
The Age of Diagnosis: Suzanne O'Sullivan's 'immensely persuasive' read
The Week Recommends Rather than 'getting sicker', we may be 'atrributing more to sickness'
By The Week UK Published
-
Trump pauses $175M for Penn over trans athlete
Speed Read The president is withholding federal funds from the University of Pennsylvania because it once allowed a transgender swimmer to compete
By Rafi Schwartz, The Week US Published
-
The Age of Diagnosis: Suzanne O'Sullivan's 'immensely persuasive' read
The Week Recommends Rather than 'getting sicker', we may be 'atrributing more to sickness'
By The Week UK Published
-
Clueless: 'irresistible' musical is a lot of fun
The Week Recommends 'Charming' stage adaptation of the hit film features 'infuriatingly catchy' songs by KT Tunstall
By The Week UK Published
-
The Rule of Jenny Pen: John Lithgow and Geoffrey Rush star in 'pure choking horror'
The Week Recommends Psychological horror set in a care home is 'balls-to-the-wall bonkers'
By The Week UK Published
-
Music reviews: Lady Gaga, Jason Isbell, and Astropical
Feature “Mayhem,” “Foxes in the Snow,” and “Astropical”
By The Week US Published
-
Art review: Christine Sun Kim: 'All Day All Night'
Feature Whitney Museum of American Art, New York City, through July 6
By The Week US Published
-
Abdulrazak Gurnah's 6 favorite books about war and colonialism
Feature The Nobel Prize winner recommends works by Michael Ondaatje, Toni Morrison, and more
By The Week US Published
-
Book reviews: ‘One Day, Everyone Will Have Always Been Against This’ and ‘How to Be Avant-Garde: Modern Artists and the Quest to End Art’
Feature Examining the West’s role in Gaza’s war and how the art market has ruined art
By The Week US Published
-
Film reviews: Black Bag and Novocaine
Feature A spy hunts for a rat—who could be his own wife—and a guy who can’t feel pain turns action hero.
By The Week US Published