"Death" and the Turner Prize

Yesterday's Guardian has an interesting analysis of this year's Turner Prize winner, and of "shock art" in general. "Death," a bronze sculpture by Jake and Dinos Chapman depicting oral sex and a vibrator, took the honors this year. (I wonder what sort of hits I'll get from that sentence?)

I didn't know the Turner Prize had an age restriction on its nominees. Wouldn't it be better to honor artists who have had a lifetime to develop their craft? I'm not saying that young artists don't produce prizeworthy works, but automatically excluding anyone over 50 makes the prize about youth, not about art.

If you'd like to see more work from the trendy Young British Artists (jauntily known as YBAs), check out this online gallery. It even has Giuiliani's favorite, The Blessed Virgin Mary by Chris Ofili. Oh, for the days when elephant dung was the most pressing news item!