Mark Leckey, from Birkenhead, nominated for the Turner Prize 2008 _320
A BIRKENHEAD-BORN artist who has used the popular TV cartoon The Simpsons in his work has been nominated for one of the most well-known and controversial arts competitions.
Mark Leckey, 43, is described as a "modern day dandy" and is one of four artists put forward to win the £250,000 top award in the Turner Prize.
He was nominated for his solo exhibitions Industrial Light & Magic at Le Consortium, Dijon, and Resident at Kölnischer Kunstverein, Cologne, which combine sculpture, film, sound and performance.
But he is also well-known for his entertaining use of The Simpsons cartoon in which he spliced images of Marge Simpson walking out of the cinema and the artist himself with a Simpsons mask on in a performance lecture and installation, entitled Cinema in the Round last year.
The nomination said: "With wit and originality, Leckey continues to find new genres through which to communicate his fascination with contemporary culture."
Leckey, who now lives and works in London, also has "a slight obsession" with Felix the Cat who appears in the film, and some of his other pieces.
In the same work Leckey presented clips from Titanic, but interpreted Leonardo DiCaprio as a time traveller in a sci-fi movie, and images from Disney cartoons.
Jennifer Higgie, the editor of Frieze and one of the judges for this year’s prize, said that he explores "contemporary ideas of film, and film as sculpture" and that he was "very interested in how images present themselves to the wider public".
He was among four artists, including Runa Islam, Goshka Macuga and Cathy Wilkes, who have been selected to vie for Britain’s most controversial arts prize.
Commentators noted that this year's Turner Prize has taken a conceptual turn again after last year a political piece won the prize when anti-war artist Mark Wallinger was named winner of the during a televised ceremony at the Tate Liverpool.
The Turner Prize has traditionally been won by bizarre and controversial work and previous recipients include Gilbert and George, Damien Hirst, and transvestite potter Grayson Perry.
Only three females have won the prize since its first year in 1984, although this year three women feature in the shortlist.
Cathy Wilkes, 42, who lives and works in Glasgow, uses shop mannequins in many of her installations, while Runa Islam, who was born in Bangladesh and lives and works in London makes film and video installations.
The other female artist, Polish- born Macuga, 40, who also lives and works in London, often features artworks by her contemporaries as part of her own creations. The Turner Prize award is £40,000 with £25,000 going to the winner and £5,000 each for the other short listed artists.
The prize is awarded to a British artist under 50 for an outstanding exhibition or other presentation of their work in the twelve months preceding May 6.
Work by the shortlisted artists will be shown in an exhibition at Tate Britain opening on September 30.
The winner will be announced at Tate Britain on December 1 during a live broadcast by Channel 4.
