Conflict of interests for Turner Prize judge

Conflict of interests for Turner Prize judge

Andrew Renton, a Turner Prize judge has shortlisted items by artists whose works he had previously purchased. He bought works by Mark Titchner, Rebecca Warren and Phil Collins in his capacity as the curator of London's Cranford Collection of modern art and owns a number of other works by Collins in his personal collection.

Mr Renton's choices were revealed in documents released to the Sunday Telegraph under the Freedom of Information Act. Mr Renton accepted that he and his fellow three judges had effectively boosted the value of the artists' work by shortlisting them for last year's prize but denied acting in a biased manner.

The Tate declined to explain why judges were asked to declare conflicts of interest after the list was drawn up, but insisted that it was happy with its existing procedures.

Questions raised over Turner judge links (Sunday Telegraph, 18 February 2007)