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Steve McQueen webchat
Shortlisted: 1999

Steve McQueen was announced as the winner of The Turner Prize on 30 November 1999. He took part in an online webchat the next day with users of the Channel 4 website. The following is a transcript of the interview.

C4 Chat Ed: Ok, welcome Steve, let's begin

Steve McQueen: Hello everyone!

Petal: Congratulations Steve, where do you find your inspiration?

Steve McQueen: Hrm. By just wanting to get on with it, basically! Just by doing inspires me, really.

Arty: What are you going to spend your prize money on?

Steve McQueen: Ah! I'm not too sure yet... I'm thinking of making a new work which is a little bit ambitious, and pricey!

Rokket: I heard you were inspired by a Buster Keaton movie, what was it and what inspired you about it?

Steve McQueen: It was 1928, Steamboat Bill Jnr... The moment in the movie where the man stands in front of a building, and the front falls onto him and he escapes through the open window, for some reason it had a poignance for me!

Catherine H: Why do you live in Amsterdam?

Steve McQueen: Coz I like riding bikes :)

Arty: Do you make your own Christmas cards?

Steve McQueen: No.

Arty: What do you think of Chris Smith's criticism of the Turner Prize?

Steve McQueen: Sorry, I didn't hear that, I don't know what he said.

Malings: Was the Turner Prize a thing that you specifically wanted to win?

Steve McQueen: Um...good question... not really no. It wasn't a thing I'd specifically wanted to win, though it's one of those things that if you do get it, it's great. An added bonus.

Carlospi: Steve: First of all, congratulations!! I am an artist and web designer. Have you thought of using the web as an exhibiting medium?

Steve McQueen: Erm...

Steve McQueen ponders that one

Steve McQueen: I have to investigate it more. I'm very interested in the 'net, and I need to get a little more information and a bigger understanding of it, to see the limits and possibilites really. Right now, it doesn't so much attract me.

Catherine H: Which artists are your main influences?

Steve McQueen: Miles Davis, Toni Morrison, and... Bach.

Catherine H: So no visual artists then!

Steve McQueen: The English countryside... and... um, no not really. I don't really get inspired by that, images and books. I'm most personally inspired by Marcel Duchamp.

Candy: How did you launch yourself into the art world? Did you study at art college? How did you break into the big time?

Steve McQueen: At first I went to Goldsmith's University to study Art then I went to New York University to study Graduate Filmmaking, but I got a bit tired of that, and someone had asked me to participate in a group show at the Royal College. And that's how it started. That was the takeoff point, and it was a show called Acting Out.

Candy: What did you think of the competition you were up against?

Steve McQueen: Well I admired the artists in the group. It goes like that really :)

Dauber: Is there any type of art that just doesn't turn you on at all?

Steve McQueen thinks.

Steve McQueen: No, I don't particularly have any particular types or anything but it is all about quality.

Malings: Are there any artists that you work with or would like to work with in the future?

Steve McQueen: Tricky. The Musician. I'd very much like to work with him.

Miles: What are you ambitions now?

Steve McQueen: Hrm... I've got two big projects coming up and I'm hoping to collaborate with Tricky, and some other people and use the 20K from the Turner Prize to help do it!

Treeboy: what do your family think of your art success, did they want you too follow this line of work?

Steve McQueen: Well my mother was ... very supportive of me. My dad always said that I should get a trade. They think it's fantastic now, and they're extremely happy for me.

Dauber: Do you earn a living as a film-maker?

Steve McQueen: Yes.

Treeboy: what trade would you have been in if art was not an option?

Steve McQueen: Oh dear! Um...

Steve McQueen ponders.

Steve McQueen: A very boring one, probably in a factory somewhere.

Arty: Is it fair to compare such different forms of media such as still life, video etc?

Steve McQueen: Yes. Because it should be always about the content, and not the medium.

Arty: Has your daughter shown any artistic tendencies yet?

Steve McQueen chuckles

Steve McQueen: Yes! She's firstly sort of scribbling with her crayons as we speak. She's doing a vaseline painting!

Miles: Why do you prefer working on black and white film Steve?

Steve McQueen: I don't miles...I've done colour too, I don't prefer black and white at all... it's just like, in the beginning I was known for that because my first three films were in black and white.

Malings: Are there any pieces of work that you have looked and and though 'I wish I'd done that'?

Steve McQueen: Oh yeah, absolutely.

Steve McQueen ponders

Steve McQueen: David Hammons - Snowballs. He was selling snowballs in the street in New York from small to x-large in a row, little teeny ones graduating to big handfuls. Beautiful work.

Rokket: What are you going to be doing for the millennium?

Steve McQueen: I haven't quite decided yet... that's a tricky one. You know, it's going to be either or - stay at home and do it quietly, or go out with a big bang.

Candy: Which gallery have you been most proud of having your work displayed in?

Strybjorn: where have you exhibited?

Steve McQueen: I think the Tate, you know! It's something you go in when you're 5 years old and look around, and the fact that me, myself, I'm now showing there... it's wonderful. Strybjorn, this, and Zurich, the Kunsthalle.

Jura: Do you think that Turner Prize is over-hyped?

Steve McQueen: Yes. And very much so.

Catherine H: Is humour important in your work?

Steve McQueen: It's an essential ingredient, but there are other ingredients in there as well :)

Arty: Do you fancy having a go at doing a commercial feature film?

Steve McQueen: One day, yes. When I get a good idea.

Ted: What would be your best piece of advice for struggling young artists?

Steve McQueen: Use your nose. Your instincts. You have to do what you feel is right, and you have to be honest with yourself about that.

Matt19: where do you think british modern art is going?
Steve McQueen: It could go left, it could go right! I hope it goes left, I hope it goes to a situation where people who aren't necessarily encouraged to make art... will be.

C4 Chat Ed: ok, that's it everyone. Thanks Steve and congratulations...Thanks everyone see you soon...bye!

Steve McQueen: Thank you for loggin in everyone. And thanks for your very interesting questions, and hope to see you again with my work sometime in London.

Ted: Thanks for coming Steve, good luck for the future...

Strybjorn: cheers steve

Malings: Thanks

Rokket: Ta Steve

Starbuck: Bye Steve... congrats

Treeboy: Cheers matey

Lyds: Bye

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