A painter of abstract designs who wants none of his work to survive his death was awarded one of the world's top contemporary art prizes Monday. Scottish-based Richard Wright beat the bookmakers' favourite Roger Hiorns to win Britain's Turner Prize, an annual award that normally stirs a hornet's nest of controversy over what is art and what is not. Best known for his intricate, mathematically precise wall frescoes, Wright seems an oddly sedate choice for a prize normally associated with the enfants terribles of conceptual art. Damien Hirst won the Turner in 1995 with a pickled cow and Chris Ofili caused a stir in 1998 for works that incorporated lumps of elephant dung. Wright's exhibition piece is a baroque-style painting in gold leaf, which progresses in geometric swirls across an entire wall. His work has the ephemeral beauty of a glistening spider's web, something created with painstaking detail but which will not last. At 49, Wright only just qualified for the prize which is open to British-based artists under the age of 50 whose work over the past year has been judged especially innovative or important. Wright picks up a cheque for 25,000 pounds ($41,120). The three other shortlisted candidates - Enrico David, Roger Hiorns and Lucy Skaer - each receive a cheque for 5,000 pounds. Work from all four short-listed artists will remain on display at the Tate Britain museum until Jan. 3.
