A Gallery
Encyclopedia
Wimbledon, London
Wimbledon is a district in the south west area of London, England, located south of Wandsworth, and east of Kingston upon Thames. It is situated within Greater London. It is home to the Wimbledon Tennis Championships and New Wimbledon Theatre, and contains Wimbledon Common, one of the largest areas...
, London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
run by Fraser Kee Scott
Fraser Kee Scott
Fraser Kee Scott is the "maverick and dynamic" owner of A Gallery in Wimbledon, London, and a partner in Wanted Gallery, Notting Hill. He has promoted artists, Paul Normansell and Thomas Ostenberg, as well as the Stuckists, with whom he has demonstrated against the Turner Prize...
.
The gallery was founded in 1997. Its first exhibit was by then-recent graduate Alison Jackson
Alison Jackson
Alison Jackson is an English artist known for her lookalike photographs of celebrities. She has won a BAFTA for BBC 2's series Doubletake...
. In 2004, the gallery exhibited a sculpture by Marie White of a nude female; some members of the public complained to the police. In 2005, Scott demonstrated with the Stuckists
Stuckism
Stuckism is an international art movement founded in 1999 by Billy Childish and Charles Thomson to promote figurative painting in opposition to conceptual art...
art group against the Tate's purchase of The Upper Room, and, in 2007, held a Stuckist show as a rival Stella Vine
Stella Vine
Stella Vine is an English artist, who lives and works in London. Her work is figurative painting with subject matter drawn from either her personal life of family, friends and school, or rock stars, royalty and celebrities.After a difficult relationship with her stepfather, she left home and in...
's show at Modern Art Oxford
Modern Art Oxford
Modern Art Oxford is an art gallery established in 1965 in Oxford, England. From 1965 to 2002, it was called The Museum of Modern Art, Oxford.-Foundation:...
.
In 2008, the gallery held Go Figure an exhibition of representational work, including Paul Normansell. Media coverage of the show resulted in commissions for Normansell from Rimmel
Rimmel
Rimmel is a cosmetics brand, now owned by Coty, Inc.. The House of Rimmel was originally founded by Eugene Rimmel in 1834 in Regent Street, London, UK....
and The Killers. Another exhibitor, sculptor Thomas Ostenberg, was selected for a street art project for the 2012 Olympic Games in London. Damien Hirst acquired the entire work of Mercedes Helnwein's "Whistling Past the Graveyard" show from A Gallery.
Founded
The A Gallery was founded by Fraser Kee Scott in 1997, since when it has dealt with "some of the biggest names in contemporary British art, often pre-empting the mainstream by at least a year." The gallery's first exhibit was recent ChelseaChelsea College of Art and Design
Chelsea College of Art and Design, the erstwhile Chelsea School of Art, is a constituent college of the University of the Arts London, and is a leading British art and design institution with an international reputation...
graduate Alison Jackson
Alison Jackson
Alison Jackson is an English artist known for her lookalike photographs of celebrities. She has won a BAFTA for BBC 2's series Doubletake...
's Crucifix, priced at £1,500 and five years later valued at ten times that amount, after she had won a Bafta and written a best-selling book.
Nude sculpture
In 2004, the gallery exhibited in the window a life-sized nude sculpture, This Is Me (Who Am I), by Marie White (aged 24), a graduate of Wimbledon College of ArtWimbledon College of Art
Wimbledon College of Art is a constituent college of the University of the Arts London and is one of London's major art institutions. It is located in Wimbledon and Merton Park, South West London.-History:...
. The work, made from hair, wax and resin, was shown at her degree show without a problem. A lady entered the gallery and expressed interest in the work. Then some local schoolboys entered and made out they were molesting the sculpture, until Scott shouted at them and they left. Some passers-by made complaints to police that the sculpture was "disgusting", one stopping a police car to do so. Two policeman went to the gallery, which was advised the work was offensive under the Indecent Displays Act 1991. Chief Inspector Neil Patterson, who visited the gallery, said the work was very lifelike, "very explicit and very graphic."
For 24 hours the sculpture was moved to the side of the gallery, out of public view, then returned to the window with two frosted glass panels in place. Scott raised the sculpture's price from £5,000 to £7,000, which he said was nearer its real value, as it had taken eight months and cost £3,000 to make, mainly for 250 hours of the model's time. White said the work was not intended to cause offence, and that, as it was not posed in a "lewd, crude way", she was surprised at "the reaction of males that they can't view a nude sculpture and not imprint the sexual aspect onto her." Scott said he knew that "eye-catching" sculptures in the gallery window, including a large screaming lady, would "get attention, but I didn't know it would get this," that there were nude sculptures outside the Houses of Parliament, including male figures, and he did not understand why there was so much fuss. The sculpture was later exhibited as part of the town's Feva festival in The Boathouse at Waterside, Knaresborough
Knaresborough
Knaresborough is an old and historic market town, spa town and civil parish in the Borough of Harrogate, North Yorkshire, England, located on the River Nidd, four miles east of the centre of Harrogate.-History:...
, White's home town.
Stuckists
The Daily Telegraph
The Daily Telegraph is a daily morning broadsheet newspaper distributed throughout the United Kingdom and internationally. The newspaper was founded by Arthur B...
that Tate
Tate
-Places:*Tate, Georgia, a town in the United States*Tate County, Mississippi, a county in the United States*Táté, the Hungarian name for Totoi village, Sântimbru Commune, Alba County, Romania*Tate, Filipino word for States...
gallery chairman, Paul Myners, was hypocritical for refusing to divulge the price paid by the Tate for its purchase of The Upper Room, paintings by its trustee, Chris Ofili
Chris Ofili
Chris Ofili is a Turner Prize winning British painter best known for artworks referencing aspects of his Nigerian heritage, particularly his incorporation of elephant dung. He was one of the Young British Artists, and is now based in Trinidad.-Early life:Ofilli was born in Manchester. He had a...
, who had asked other artists to donate work to the gallery. Scott said that Stuckist
Stuckism
Stuckism is an international art movement founded in 1999 by Billy Childish and Charles Thomson to promote figurative painting in opposition to conceptual art...
artists would be painting pictures called "The Hypocrisy of Myners" and the best one would be offered to the Tate.
The gallery staged On Form, a group show which included Paul Normansell, Diarmuid Byron O'Connor and Stuckist artists, Charles Thomson
Charles Thomson (artist)
Charles Thomson is an English artist, painter, poet and photographer. In the early 1980s he was a member of The Medway Poets. In 1999 he named and co-founded the Stuckists art movement with Billy Childish. He has curated Stuckist shows, organised demonstrations against the Turner Prize, run an art...
, Paul Harvey
Paul Harvey (artist)
Paul Harvey is a British musician and Stuckist artist, whose work was used to promote their 2004 show at the Liverpool Biennial. His paintings draw on pop art and the work of Alphonse Mucha, and often depict celebrities, including Madonna....
and Peter McArdle
Peter McArdle
Peter McArdle is an English artist, member of the Stuckists art group and gallery owner.-Life and career:Peter McArdle was born in Tynemouth. He finished St. Aidan's RC School, Tyneside, in 1983, at which point he began to get sales for his paintings, which have supported him since...
, whose painting On a Theme of Annunciation, used to promote the show, was censored by MySpace
MySpace
Myspace is a social networking service owned by Specific Media LLC and pop star Justin Timberlake. Myspace launched in August 2003 and is headquartered in Beverly Hills, California. In August 2011, Myspace had 33.1 million unique U.S. visitors....
for showing a nude figure. Scott said it had been removed without warning, called the site "Murdoch Space" and said the painting was not porn or titillation, but thought-provoking: "They don't seem to be able to differentiate between the two!"
In an article in the South London Guardian
Newsquest
Newsquest is the third largest publisher of regional and local newspapers in the United Kingdom with 300 titles in its portfolio. Newsquest is based in Weybridge, Surrey and employs a total of more than 5,500 people across the UK...
, Scott talked about the show and also about Scientology.
Six weeks later in the Evening Standard
Evening Standard
The Evening Standard, now styled the London Evening Standard, is a free local daily newspaper, published Monday–Friday in tabloid format in London. It is the dominant regional evening paper for London and the surrounding area, with coverage of national and international news and City of London...
, Thomson said the South London Guardian article put the Stuckists in a difficult position, as he had been promised the gallery was run as a commercial enterprise, and it was "outrageous" that the show should be used to promote Scientology, linking it to the Stuckists, who had no connection with the Church. The article had included a painting by Paul Harvey
Paul Harvey (artist)
Paul Harvey is a British musician and Stuckist artist, whose work was used to promote their 2004 show at the Liverpool Biennial. His paintings draw on pop art and the work of Alphonse Mucha, and often depict celebrities, including Madonna....
, who said, "I feel my work was being used without my permission to promote Scientology." Leading German Stuckist Peter Klint
Peter Klint
Peter Klint is a German artist. He is a figurative painter and was a member of the Stuckist movement from 2003 to 2007.In October 2001 Klint's Portrait of Thomas Bernhard was on the front page of TLS magazine....
said it was "very dangerous" to co-operate with the gallery and that it would fund Scientology. Scott said that it wasn't "even an issue" and he did not use artists to promote Scientology, but was dedicated to selling their work, which he did so very successfully.
Interviewed later by Scott, Thomson said that his remarks in the Evening Standard represented how he saw matters at the time, but that he accepted Scott's subsequent explanation that there was no intention to link the show and the Church and Scott did not realise the article would do this; Thomson said to Scott that the matter was a misunderstanding which had been resolved, and the Stuckists had continued to show successfully at the gallery: "For the record, I have always found you to be a very honest and principled person with a genuine passion for art."
Stella Vine
Stella Vine is an English artist, who lives and works in London. Her work is figurative painting with subject matter drawn from either her personal life of family, friends and school, or rock stars, royalty and celebrities.After a difficult relationship with her stepfather, she left home and in...
on their wedding night. It coincided with the opening of Vine's major show at Modern Art Oxford
Modern Art Oxford
Modern Art Oxford is an art gallery established in 1965 in Oxford, England. From 1965 to 2002, it was called The Museum of Modern Art, Oxford.-Foundation:...
and was occasioned by Thomson's anger that the material promoting her show omitted any mention of her time with the Stuckists, which he said had had an influence on galvanising her previously "fairly ordinary" work.
Work in the show included a painting by Harvey based on Vine and Thomson's wedding photo, and two paintings by Mark D
Mark D
Mark D, born Mark Randall, is a British artist and punk musician . He is also associated with the Stuckist group of artists.-Life and work:Mark D was born and spent his childhood in Peterborough. He now lives in Nottingham...
of Vine, who holds a placard in one with the words "Go fuck yourself", which Vine had previously said to him, when he attempted to buy her work and she found out he had a link with Thomson. Another painting by Mark D, the Hypocrisy of Myners, depicted Tate gallery chairman, Paul Myners. The show also exhibited Michael Dickinson's collage, Good Boy, for which Dickinson faced prosecution in Turkey on a charge of insulting the Turkish prime minister. Leo Goatley, Rose West
Rosemary West
Rosemary Pauline "Rose" West is a British serial killer, now an inmate at HMP Low Newton, Brasside, Durham, after being convicted of 10 murders in 1995...
's solicitor, showed New Millenium Economic Symphony, a painting commenting on the undermining of "society’s dwindling safety" as a result of government reforms.
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In May 2008, Jason James, head of the British Council
British Council
The British Council is a United Kingdom-based organisation specialising in international educational and cultural opportunities. It is registered as a charity both in England and Wales, and in Scotland...
in Tokyo
Tokyo
, ; officially , is one of the 47 prefectures of Japan. Tokyo is the capital of Japan, the center of the Greater Tokyo Area, and the largest metropolitan area of Japan. It is the seat of the Japanese government and the Imperial Palace, and the home of the Japanese Imperial Family...
, ordered a print from the gallery of Sir Nicholas Serota Makes an Acquisitions Decision
Sir Nicholas Serota Makes an Acquisitions Decision
Sir Nicholas Serota Makes an Acquisitions Decision is one of the best known paintings to come out of the Stuckism art movement, and a likely "signature piece" for the movement, standing for its opposition to conceptual art...
, Thomson's "infamous" painting of Tate gallery director, Sir Nicholas Serota
Nicholas Serota
Sir Nicholas Andrew Serota is a British art curator. Serota was director of the Whitechapel Gallery, London, and The Museum of Modern Art, Oxford, before becoming director of the Tate, the United Kingdom's national gallery of modern and British art in 1988. He was awarded a knighthood in 1999. He...
, with a view to unveiling it during Serota's forthcoming visit. A printing delay prevented this.
Go Figure
In June 2008, the gallery opened Go Figure a figurative exhibition by nine artists with a stance that representational art is undervalued. The exhibitors were Diarmuid Byron O'Connor, commissioned by Great Ormond Street HospitalGreat Ormond Street Hospital
Great Ormond Street Hospital for Children is a children's hospital located in London, United Kingdom...
for Peter Pan
Peter Pan
Peter Pan is a character created by Scottish novelist and playwright J. M. Barrie . A mischievous boy who can fly and magically refuses to grow up, Peter Pan spends his never-ending childhood adventuring on the small island of Neverland as the leader of his gang the Lost Boys, interacting with...
and Little Tinkerbell sculptures, Beth Carter, designer of Royal Opera House
Royal Opera House
The Royal Opera House is an opera house and major performing arts venue in Covent Garden, central London. The large building is often referred to as simply "Covent Garden", after a previous use of the site of the opera house's original construction in 1732. It is the home of The Royal Opera, The...
Minotaur adverts with work in Keanu Reeves
Keanu Reeves
Keanu Charles Reeves is a Canadian actor. Reeves is perhaps best known for his roles in Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure, Speed, Point Break and the science fiction-action trilogy The Matrix...
' collection, Mila Judge Furstova, Gay Ribisi, the duo Dormice, Carmen Giraldez, Charles Thomson
Charles Thomson (artist)
Charles Thomson is an English artist, painter, poet and photographer. In the early 1980s he was a member of The Medway Poets. In 1999 he named and co-founded the Stuckists art movement with Billy Childish. He has curated Stuckist shows, organised demonstrations against the Turner Prize, run an art...
, Thomas Ostenberg and Paul Normansell. GQ magazine's 20th Anniversary issue selected Dormice as one of "the best 100 things in the world", noting that fans of the artists included Leonardo Di Caprio, Roberto Cavalli
Roberto Cavalli
Roberto Cavalli is an Italian fashion designer from Florence.-Biography:Roberto Cavalli was born in Florence, Tuscany. His grandfather, Giuseppe Rossi, was a member of the Macchiaioli Movement, whose work is exhibited in the Uffizi Gallery. Cavalli decided to enroll at the local Art Institute,...
and Versace
Versace
Gianni Versace S.p.A. , usually referred to as Versace, is an Italian fashion label founded by Gianni Versace in 1978.The first Versace boutique was opened in Milan's Via della Spiga in 1978, and its popularity was immediate. Today, Versace is one of the world's leading international fashion houses...
.
Scott had noticed the work of Normansell in his Birmingham degree show, and subsequently showcased it in the A Gallery with, said Scott, the largest gallery holding of Normansell's work in the country. An article on Go Figure in GQ magazine showed Normansell's painting of Kate Moss
Kate Moss
Kate Moss is an English model. Moss is known for her waifish figure and popularising the heroin chic look in the 1990s. She is also known for her controversial private life, high profile relationships, party lifestyle, and drug use. Moss changed the look of modelling and started a global debate on...
, which was seen by the manager of rock band The Killers, who commissioned Normansell to create the artwork for the Day & Age album and the single, Human
Human (The Killers song)
"Human" is a song by American rock band The Killers, and was released as the first single from the band's third studio album Day & Age. It premiered on Zane Lowe's evening show on BBC Radio 1 on September 22, 2008, with a digital release on September 30, 2008. It became the third song by the band...
. The video to the single the Killers
Human (The Killers song)
"Human" is a song by American rock band The Killers, and was released as the first single from the band's third studio album Day & Age. It premiered on Zane Lowe's evening show on BBC Radio 1 on September 22, 2008, with a digital release on September 30, 2008. It became the third song by the band...
was later inspired by Normansell's paintings too. Another article on Go Figure in thelondonpaper
Thelondonpaper
The London Paper was a free daily newspaper, published by NI Free Newspapers Ltd, a subsidiary of News International...
with Normansell's Moss painting was seen by Rimmel
Rimmel
Rimmel is a cosmetics brand, now owned by Coty, Inc.. The House of Rimmel was originally founded by Eugene Rimmel in 1834 in Regent Street, London, UK....
's Head of Global Marketing, who commissioned a work for the firm's lobby.
The A Gallery represents bronze sculptor Ostenberg, who was a financial consultant for 15 years, then trained at Kansas City Art Institute
Kansas City Art Institute
The Kansas City Art Institute is a private, independent, four-year college of fine arts and design founded in 1885 in Kansas City, Missouri....
and, with a grant from the Henry Moore Foundation
Henry Moore Foundation
The Henry Moore Foundation is a registered charity in England, established for education and promotion of the fine arts — in particular, to advance understanding of the works of Henry Moore. The charity was set up with a gift from the artist in 1977...
, at the Royal College of Art
Royal College of Art
The Royal College of Art is an art school located in London, United Kingdom. It is the world’s only wholly postgraduate university of art and design, offering the degrees of Master of Arts , Master of Philosophy and Doctor of Philosophy...
. Ostenberg was one of 40 artists selected by Wilfred Cass
Wilfred Cass
Wilfred Cass CBE FRSA co-founded the Cass Sculpture Foundation.-Biography:Wilfred was born in Berlin and comes from the famous Cassirer family. His great uncle, Paul Cassirer, was an important dealer for the impressionists in Europe...
for a £3 million project to commission street sculptures for the 2012 Olympic Games
2012 Summer Olympics
The 2012 Summer Olympic Games, officially known as the "London 2012 Olympic Games", are scheduled to take place in London, England, United Kingdom from 27 July to 12 August 2012...
in London. A one man show by Ostenberg was presented at La Galleria, London, in September 2008. Thomson predicted that Scott would do well with Ostenberg and Normansell in 2009.
The A Gallery was located at 154 Merton Hall Road, Wimbledon, SW19 3PZ