Praemium Imperiale Awards

Two Brits are among the five winners of this year's Praemium Imperiale Awards, worth 15 million yen (£95,000) to each winner in the fields of painting, sculpture, architecture, music and theatre/film. The winners in order of category are Michelangelo Pistoletto, Antony Gormley, Sir David Chipperfield, Placido Domingo and Francis Ford Coppola. This, the richest arts prize in the world, is awarded annually by the Japan Art Association in recognition of outstanding contributions to world arts (CLICK). I'm not sure what Antony Gormley is doing among these grizzled veterans. He mainly spreads casts of his naked self around the planet, on beaches, buildings and mountains. It's all rather boring and egotistical.