Scots-based artists among contenders for Turner Prize

THIS year's Turner shortlist was said by jurors to have been whittled down from a longlist of 19.

Asked if anyone had turned down the nomination, Stephen Deuchar, director of Tate Britain and jury chair, said: "We don't comment, but this year what the hell – I will say no!"

Here are this year's shortlisted artists for the Turner Prize 2009:
• Enrico David, aged 43, based in London

Born in Ancona, Italy, David has been nominated for his solo exhibitions How Do You Love Dzzzzt By Mammy? at the Museum fur Gegenwartskunst, Basel, and Bulbous Marauder at the Seattle Art Museum.

The surrealist creates rich paintings, drawings and sculptures which are described as disconcerting and confrontational as well as having beauty.

The bodies in his works have become increasingly embarrassed and awkward in their physicality, such as disguising heads with masks.
Jury member Jonathan Jones described his work as "deeply disturbing" and also said the artist made him think of Pablo Picasso.

Previous works include the series of gouaches Shitty Tantrums: The Squelching of the Slippers 2008 and Chicken Man Gong, 2005 – a sculpture/musical instrument that was neither fully chicken nor man nor gong.

• Roger Hiorns, aged 34, based in London

Nominated for his solo exhibitions Seizure, Artangel commission, Harper Road, London and at Corvi Mora, London.

Hiorns combines unusual materials. His exploration of chemical processes took spectacular effect in the work Seizure, when a derelict flat in south London was transformed into a magical cave of blue crystals.

Jury member Andrea Schlieker described him as a "modern alchemist" who "uses very base materials and turns them into something magic and wondrous".

• Lucy Skaer, aged 34, based in London and Glasgow

Dr Schlieker said her intricate drawings demand "quite a lot from the viewer" to engage with them.

She was nominated for her solo exhibition at the Fruitmarket Gallery, Edinburgh, and A Boat Used as a Vessel at the Kunsthalle Basel.

Cambridge-born Skaer makes drawings, sculptures and films which often take photographs as their starting point.

Skaer's images are said to hover between recognition and ambiguity.

• Richard Wright, aged 49, based in Glasgow

Mr Jones described Wright as "the thinking person's graffiti artist", following the tradition of artists who have been painting on walls over the centuries.

He said that the Turner Prize jury saw comparisons in David's work with Islamic art, in his fascination with geometry and mathematics.

Wright was nominated for work he exhibited in the 55th Carnegie International, Pittsburgh, and his exhibition at the Ingleby Gallery, Edinburgh.

He creates subtle wall paintings that respond directly to the architecture in which they are created.

Often awkwardly placed in discreet locations, they combine graphic imagery and intricate patterning from sources including medieval painting, graphics and typography.