Bush video wins Turner Prize

Jeremy Deller admits he cannot draw or paint and does not have art O-level, but he is celebrating today after winning the Turner Prize.

The London artist is the latest to win the art world's most controversial - and lucrative - prize for a body of work which includes a film about US president George Bush's hometown.

At 38, Deller was the youngest of the shortlisted artists and the immediate favourite.

"I'm just surprised and shocked at the moment," said Deller, from south London. "You don't really do things like this to win prizes. You do it to satisfy yourself. Ultimately it's a personal thing; it's about what I'm interested in."

After receiving the award, he thanked the teacher who did not allow him to take O-level art, saying: "If I had taken it, I probably wouldn't be here, so it was a good decision."

He was praised by the Turner Prize jury for his "generosity of spirit across a succession of projects which engage with social and cultural contexts and celebrate the creativity of individuals".

The main piece of his exhibition, Memory Bucket, is a mixed-media installation featuring an unnarrated film about Crawford, Texas. It includes various encounters with locals, such as a survivor of the Waco siege, and takes a look around Mr Bush's favourite burger bar.

But he denied the film was anti-Bush. "It's not knocking him," he said. "I'm not a fan of his, but that would be too easy. I'm just interested in him as a personality."

Of the £25,000 prize, he said: "In London it doesn't go immensely far. It's not the most important thing in my life."

Dismissing claims that paintings should win art prizes, he said: "I think that art has moved on like everything else."

Among the guests at last night's ceremony at Tate Britain were last year's winner Grayson Perry and previous nominee Tracey Emin.

Others on this year's shortlist included the duo Ben Langlands and Nikki Bell, who produced an interactive digital model of Osama bin Laden's former house in Afghanistan.

Tate director Sir Nicolas Serota, who chaired the jury, said: "We live in a moment of big political change. The jury felt that and wanted to reflect that. (Deller's) work is controversial but in a different way. He orchestrates the creativity of other people rather than necessarily himself."