Go West (exhibition)
Encyclopedia
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 in a commercial London West End gallery. It was staged in Spectrum London
Spectrum London
Spectrum London was a London art gallery which showed contemporary figurative painting, photography and sculpture. It staged Go West, the first commercial West End show of the Stuckists, and a retrospective by Sebastian Horsley...
gallery in October 2006. The show attracted media interest for its location, for the use of a painting satirising 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...
, Director of the Tate gallery
Tate Gallery
The Tate is an institution that houses the United Kingdom's national collection of British Art, and International Modern and Contemporary Art...
, and for two paintings of a stripper by 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...
based on his former wife, artist 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...
.
Show
Royden Prior, the director of Spectrum London, said, "These artists are good and are part of history. Get past the art politics and look at the work."
Art critic Edward Lucie-Smith
Edward Lucie-Smith
John Edward McKenzie Lucie-Smith is a British writer, poet, art critic, curator, broadcaster and author of exhibition catalogues.-Biography:Lucie-Smith was born in Kingston, Jamaica, moving to the United Kingdom in 1946...
wrote in an essay for the show:
Rachel Campbell-Johnston
Rachel Campbell-Johnston
Rachel Campbell-Johnston is The Times newspaper's chief art critic.Appointed to her post in 2002, she has also been her newspaper's poetry editor, leader writer, deputy comment editor, obituary writer and deputy books editor....
, art critic of The Times
The Times
The Times is a British daily national newspaper, first published in London in 1785 under the title The Daily Universal Register . The Times and its sister paper The Sunday Times are published by Times Newspapers Limited, a subsidiary since 1981 of News International...
, condemned the work as "empty of anything much" and "formulaic". Nevertheless Thomson's and Joe Machine
Joe Machine
Joe Machine is an English artist, poet and writer. He is a founding member of the Stuckists art group. His work is "raw and autobiographical".-Life:...
's paintings sold out, before the show opened, to buyers from the UK, Japan and the US.
Exhibition dates: October 6 – November 4, 2006.
Controversy
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...
, satirising 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...
, displayed in the gallery window (see image above), could be seen as revenge for the Tate's rejection of a Stuckist donation of 175 paintings the previous year.
Thomson was also accused of revenge for exhibiting two paintings of strippers, which he said were based on his ex wife and one-time stripper, Stella Vine. She was briefly a member of the Stuckists group at the time of their marriage in 2001, but has since attracted solo attention. Rivalry increased when her work was promoted by Charles Saatchi
Saatchi Gallery
The Saatchi Gallery is a London gallery for contemporary art, opened by Charles Saatchi in 1985 in order to exhibit his collection to the public. It has occupied different premises, first in North London, then the South Bank by the River Thames and currently in Chelsea. Saatchi's collection, and...
in 2004. Thomson denied any intention of vengeance with the paintings and said that "I would prefer her to enjoy these, as I still enjoy her art".
Michael Dickinson, a Stuckist from Istanbul, was a guest artist at the show with a folder of collage
Collage
A collage is a work of formal art, primarily in the visual arts, made from an assemblage of different forms, thus creating a new whole....
s. He had recently been released from ten days in a Turkish jail without charge after exhibiting Good Boy, a collage of the Turkish prime minister, Tayyip Erdoğan as a dog.
Artists in the show
- Charles ThomsonCharles 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...
- Joe MachineJoe MachineJoe Machine is an English artist, poet and writer. He is a founding member of the Stuckists art group. His work is "raw and autobiographical".-Life:...
- Paul HarveyPaul 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....
- Ella GuruElla GuruElla Guru is an American painter and musician living in London. She was a member of Mambo Taxi and the Voodoo Queens. In 1999, she became one of the founding members of the Stuckist art movement.-Life:Ella Guru was born in Ohio, USA...
- Peter McArdlePeter McArdlePeter 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...
- Philip AbsolonPhilip AbsolonPhilip Absolon is a British artist and a founder member of the Stuckists art group, exhibiting in the group shows, including The Stuckists Punk Victorian at the Walker Art Gallery in 2004, and taking part in Stuckist demonstrations against the Turner Prize...
- Bill LewisBill LewisWilliam "Bill" Lewis is an English artist, story-teller, poet and mythographer. He was a founder-member of The Medway Poets and of the Stuckists art group.-Early life:...
- Wolf HowardWolf HowardWolf Howard is an English artist, poet and filmmaker living in Chatham, Kent and was a founder member of the Stuckists art group...
- Eamon EverallEamon EverallEamon Everall is an English artist and educator. He was one of the 12 founder members of the Stuckists art group. He paints in a "neo-cubist" style, with subjects from life worked on over a long period.-Life and career:...
- Elsa DaxElsa DaxElsa Dax is a French painter and a member of the Stuckists art movement. Major themes in her work are myth, legend and fairytale.-Life and career:...
Guest artist
- Michael Dickinson
See also
- StuckismStuckismStuckism is an international art movement founded in 1999 by Billy Childish and Charles Thomson to promote figurative painting in opposition to conceptual art...
- Stuckist demonstrationsStuckist demonstrationsStuckist demonstrations since 2000 have been a key part of the Stuckist art group's activities and have succeeded in giving them a high profile both in Britain and abroad...
- The Stuckists Punk VictorianThe Stuckists Punk VictorianThe Stuckists Punk Victorian was the first national gallery exhibition of Stuckist art. It was held at the Walker Art Gallery and Lady Lever Art Gallery in Liverpool from 18 September 2004 to 20 February 2005, and was part of the 2004 Liverpool Biennial....
- Sir Nicholas Serota Makes an Acquisitions DecisionSir Nicholas Serota Makes an Acquisitions DecisionSir 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...