Qualities of Turner Prize worthy artists

What gets you on the Turner Prize short-list? Inventiveness? Fearlessness? The ability to shock? Or humour? On my visit to the Turner Prize Retrospective artists I decided to find out. In the words of the curators the qualities of good artists are….

inventiveness; exuberance; humour; technical richness; breadth of cultural reference; acutely perceptive explorations of human relationships; continuing vibrancy and flair for self-expression; an often frank and brutal honesty; her versatility; his originality and uncompromising approach merges with contemporary culture while challenging established genres; sensuous use of materials; theoretical sophistication with visual beauty suggests a sense of threat; danger or life on the edge; a characteristic mixture of seriousness and humour; COLD MECHANICAL CONCEPTUAL BULLSHIT; set up the possibility of dialogue; playful energy; subvert conventional readings of cultural identity; using a rigorous process of research; create poetic narratives; to address themes of time, space and memory, while addressing broader social concerns; investigates society’s taboos with humour and provocation; (showing in your cinematic imagination); all his lines contain proposals, conversations, questions, statements and expressions of his emotional and physical state; “I want to make something that lives as a beautiful piece of art but on closer inspection a polemic or ideology will come out of it”; by instigating unpredictable situations he encourages people to reveal their individuality, making the personal public; her rigorous and consistent approach; injecting conventional materials with a sensual physicality to create something new.