Sunderland Echo, Wednesday, April 16,2003 Alterative awards could net traditional artist £20,000
It’s good enough not to win the Turner Prize
Artist William McKinnie could cash in on the Turner Prize after being shortlised for a national prize poking fun at the controversial award.William’s work the Green Dress, is a finalist of the “Not the Turner Prize” art competition-if it’s the entry that most impresses judges he could win £20,000.
The alternative, some say traditional art prize, challenges the Tate Gallery’s Turner Prize. Mr McKinnie explained the reasoning behind it as; “The bulk of artist in this country who still paint, are ignored by the narrow tastes of the Turner Prize, with their penchant for novelty at all costs”
Mr Mckinnie 61 started painting full-time when he retired from teaching six years ago, but has a love of art since he was 11 years old.
In his late teens he trained at Nottingham College of Art and Design and was an art teacher at Hylton Redhouse School , after moving from is home in Ardrossan, Ayrshire , Scotland .
He told the Echo; I entered this competition because I thought I could win it. When I looked at the competition, I knew it was for me.
He describes his painting a “symbolising beauty” “I like the luminosity of the Green Dress” he said “The painting has a high colour and I have made it much brighter”.
Mr McKinnie, of Plough Road , Sunderland , who is married to Maggie and has grown up children, Bryden and Sadie, has never entered the original Turner Prize, because “it doesn’t show the skill of traditional painting”. He added, “The Turner Prize goes for light switches and screwdrivers, and there is no skill in that”.
Judging for “Not the Turner Prize” takes place next month.
Mr McKinnie’s painting is on display at the Town Centre Gallery, Waterloo Place , and Sunderland
