Protester eggs Turner light show

A woman has hurled eggs at the controversial winning exhibit of this year's Turner Prize - an empty room in which the lights go on and off.

Onlookers cheered as Jacqueline Crofton, a successful artist, walked into the minimalist installation at Tate Britain and launched her assault.

Moments later she was led away by security staff and questioned by police.

The installation netted £20,000 for Yorkshire-born experimentalist Martin Creed when Madonna announced he had scooped the Turner Prize on Sunday.

Today Mrs Crofton, speaking from her £2 million home in Hampstead Heath, said: "I have nothing against Creed, although I do not think his work can be considered as art," she said. "At worst, The Lights Going On And Off is an electrical work. At best, it is philosophy.

"What I object to fiercely is that we've got this cartel who control the top echelons of the art world in this country and leave no access for painters and sculptors with real creative talent.

"All they are interested in is manufacturers of gimmicks like Creed, who made his name with a ball of Blu Tac and a sheet of A4 paper crumpled into a ball. The vast majority of people think things have gone too far. Painting is in danger of becoming an extinct skill in this country because it is no longer encouraged at art schools. Someone had to make a stand. I am anything but a typical anarchist."

Tate Britain officials have barred 52-year-old Mrs Crofton from the gallery after her attack yesterday afternoon, but chose not to press criminal charges.

Creed was on his way back to his home on an island off Corsica at the time of the attack. A Tate spokesman said: "It was a minor incident in the Turner Prize exhibition. The gallery was quickly reopened."

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