Minimalist approach wins Jerwood prize

Callum Innes, the Scottish artist best known for his minimalist and monochromatic paintings, won the £30,000 Jerwood Painting prize last night.

The panel of judges praised his work for "the combination of abstract, painterly skills and visual authority in a severely limited palette".

Innes had previously been shortlisted for the Turner prize. He picked up his first important accolade at a ceremony at The Gallery, Jerwood Space, south-east London. Innes, 39, who has exhibited in Britain, Europe and the United States for 15 years, was presented with the prize by the Labour MP Tony Banks.

The winning work was selected from 1,300 pieces by 494 artists. Others on the shortlist included Graham Crowley, the professor of painting at the Royal College of Art; Lisa Milroy, whose recent exhibition at Tate Liverpool traced her work over two decades; Pamela Golden, the Chicago-born artist who has lectured at the Slade College; Nicky Hoberman, the South African painter who has exhibited widely in Europe and the United States; and Paul Morrison, whose entries included a cartoon-style silhouette and a painting of a cobweb.

The two winning entries, Exposed Painting, Ivory Black, and Exposed Painting, Vine Black, will be exhibited as part of the Jerwood Painting Prize 2002 display, which runs at The Gallery until 7 July and then transfers to Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery until 27 October.

The Jerwood Foundation was set up under the instruction of the late John Jerwood, a pearl merchant. The prize was established in 1994 and is open to any professional artist who is a British citizen or has lived in the country for the past three years.

The judges included Charles Saumerez Smith, director of the National Portrait Gallery, Andrea Rose, the director of visual arts of the British Council, and the writer and curator Norbert Lynton.

* A transformed Manchester Art Gallery was unveiled yesterday after a four-year, £35m expansion and refurbishment programme.

The Greek Revival-style gallery is now linked to the Athenaeum building and a new stone and glass extension designed by the architect Sir Michael Hopkins.

The gallery has twice as much space for its collection, which includes renowned Pre-Raphaelite paintings by Ford Madox Brown and William Holman Hunt. An area in the new wing is set aside for the 20th-century artists Francis Bacon and David Hockney. The revamped gallery opens to the public on Saturday.