Scot once again nabs top English art prize

If the Turner Prize could become any further removed from the quintessentially English landscape painter after which it is named, it did so at least geographically this year as the third Scottish artist in a row won.

Martin Boyce secured the top award in contemporary art at the Baltic Centre in Gateshead.

The bookies' favourite specialises in sculpture and installation and was awarded for a selection of works including Perforated and Porous (Northern Skies), a steel receptacle at an angle containing a refuse sack.

The award's curators said Boyce creates installations that "reference familiar objects", adding: "His environments offer a sense of wandering through a long-abandoned garden, or evoke the feeling of crossing through an urban park at night."

Boyce was born in Hamilton, Scotland, in 1967 and was awarded a BA in 1990 and an MA in 1997 from Glasgow School of Art. He originally failed to get into art school - working in a record shop and studying at night school before making it the next year.

His work was heavily influenced by "noir", Boyce said. He cites Saul Bass, who created the opening sequences to a series of Alfred Hitchcock films as well as modernist artists such as Jan and Joel Martel as being hugely influential.

This marked the second year the Turner Prize had been held outside London and the first it has been held outside a Tate gallery.

Boyce joins previous winners Damien Hirst, Anish Kapoor and Gilbert & George, and picks up a cheque for £25,000 ($50,200).Independent