Thanks to a large helping of elephant dung, conceptual art's hold on the Turner Prize was broken last night when Chris Ofili became the first painter to win the £20,000 prize since 1985.
But he is not the sort of painter who would necessarily appease the traditionalists who have made a habit of protesting against the Turner Prize 's recent championing of conceptual art. His colourful works include dried, resin-coated elephant dung, glitter and cartoon characters as well as incorporating references to black culture and Renaissance painting. Some even glow in the dark.
Ofili was the only man and the only painter among the four shortlisted artists. The other artists included a film-maker, a sculptor and a photographer. The last painter to win the Turner Prize - named after one of Britain's greatest painters - was Howard Hodgkin in 1985. Ofili is the first black artist to win.
Announcing the winner, the judges praised "the originality and energy of his painting, and his dynamic use of colour". They also admired "the complexity of his work, with its multilayered references to contemporary urban culture and awareness of the history of art".
After the fashion designer and gallery owner Agnes b presented Ofili with his prize at the Tate in London last night, he said: "Oh man. Thank God! Where's my cheque?" He added: "I don't know what to say. I am just really happy. I can't believe it. It feels like a film and I will watch the tape when I get home."
Ofili was the hot favourite with the bookmakers to win this year's prize, with closing odds of 5-4 on. His Turner Prize success caps an astounding year for the young painter, following an acclaimed and highly popular show in Southampton which later toured to the Serpentine Gallery in London. It is currently at Manchester City Art Gallery.
His paintings, which veer from the figurative to the abstract, often star a mythical black superhero called Captain Shit, inspired by the Marvel comics. Captain Shit is surrounded in many pictures by cut-outs of figures from black popular culture, from James Brown to Muhammad Ali. But his work is not exclusively about the black experience: pornography and the Bible also get mentions.
"My project is not a PC project," he has said. "It allows you to laugh about issues that are potentially serious. There are no rules, and even the ones you set for yourself can be temporary."
Ofili is unafraid to incorporate contemporary politics into his work. One painting in the Turner Prize exhibition, No Woman No Cry, is a tribute to the dignity and suffering of Doreen Lawrence, the mother of the murdered teenager Stephen Lawrence.
Ofili was born in Manchester in 1968 and studied fine art at Chelsea School of Art before completing a master's in painting at the Royal College of Art. He was a winner in the Whitworth Young Contemporaries exhibition and has twice been shortlisted for the BP Portrait Award.
Although his work incorporates many elements of popular culture, he insists that it is anything but frivolous. "My work and the way that I work comes out of experimentation, but it also comes out of a love of painting, a love affair with painting."
The elephant dung, which he acquires free of charge from London Zoo, was inspired by a visit to Zimbabwe. He stands his paintings on the dung and sticks it to the canvas.
The other artists on the shortlist were Tacita Dean, Cathy de Monchaux and Sam Taylor-Wood. The judges were Ann Gallagher from the British Council, the curator and critic Fumio Nanjo, Pet Shop Boy Neil Tennant, the author Marina Warner, and Tate director Nicholas Serota.