Steve McQueen, the Turner Prize winning director of 12 Years a Slave, which was awarded the Oscar for best picture at last night's ceremony, has removed his name for consideration at the 2014 Hugo Boss Art Prize. Does this mean that he is putting art on the back burner, as he has clearly established himself as an A list Hollywood director.

Martine d’Anglejan-Chatillon, the director of his London gallery Thomas Dane, stated that the artist was in Los Angeles to promote this latest film and "didn’t have anything further to add about the decision".

Other nominees for the prize this year are: Paul Chan (b. 1973, Hong Kong) Sheela Gowda (b. 1957, Bhadravati, India) Camille Henrot (b. 1978, Paris) Hassan Khan (b. 1975, London) and  Charline von Heyl (b. 1960, Mainz, Germany) The $100,000 prize will be awarded in autumn 2014. Now in its 18th year, this will be the tenth presentation of the Prize at the Guggenheim Museum.

The Hugo Boss prize is administered by the Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation.  A publication featuring the work of the  six finalists with accompanying essays will be published in summer 2014. , followed by an exhibition of the artist’s work to be presented in 2015 at the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York.

McQueen is essentially a visual artist who works with film and photography. He was awarded the OBE, and was appointed a CBE in the 2012 Queen's New Year Honours List. He attended the Chelsea School of Art, London, 1989-90; Goldsmith's College, London, 1990-93 & Tisch School of the Arts, New York University, New York, 1993-94. He was selected as the Official War Artist for Iraq in association with the Imperial War Museum in 2003 and participated in Documenta as well as securing several major solo exhibitions, including the Fondazione Prada and the Musée d’Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris. He was commissioned by Robert Storr to create two new films, Gravesend and Unexploded, for  the Italian Pavilion at the 52nd Venice Biennale in 2007 and represented Britain at the 53rd Venice Biennale in 2009.