Stuckism
Encyclopedia
Stuckism is an international
art movement
founded in 1999 by Billy Childish
and Charles Thomson
to promote figurative painting
in opposition to conceptual art
. The initial group of 13 British
artists has expanded to 220 groups in 50 countries as of July 2011.
They have issued several manifestos, the first one being The Stuckists, consists of 20 points starting with "Stuckism is a quest for authenticity". Remodernism
, the other well-known manifesto of the movement is a criticism of postmodernism
and aims to get back to the true spirit of modernism
, to produce art with spiritual value regardless of style, subject matter or medium. In another manifesto they also define themselves as anti-anti-art
which is against anti-art
and for art.
After exhibiting in small galleries in Shoreditch
, London
, the Stuckists' first show in a major public museum was held in 2004 at the Walker Art Gallery
, as part of the Liverpool Biennial
. The group has demonstrated annually at Tate Britain
against the Turner Prize
since 2000, sometimes dressed in clown costumes. They have also come out in opposition to the Charles Saatchi
-patronised Young British Artists
.
Although painting
is the dominant artistic form of Stuckism, artists using other media such as photography
, sculpture
, film
and collage
have also joined, and share the Stuckist opposition to conceptualism and ego-art.
The name "Stuckism" was coined in January 1999 by Charles Thomson in response to a poem read to him several times by Billy Childish. In it, Childish recites that his former girlfriend, Tracey Emin
had said he was "stuck! stuck! stuck!" with his art, poetry and music. Later that month, Thomson approached Childish with a view to co-founding an art group called Stuckism, which Childish agreed to, on the basis that Thomson would do the work for the group, as Childish already had a full schedule.
There were eleven other founding members: Philip Absolon
, Frances Castle
, Sheila Clark, Eamon Everall
, Ella Guru
, Wolf Howard
, Bill Lewis
, Sanchia Lewis (who joined during the first show in September and is unrelated to Bill Lewis), Joe Machine
, Sexton Ming
, and Charles Williams
. The membership has evolved since its founding through creative collaborations: the group was originally promoted as painters, but members work in various other media, including poetry, fiction, performance, photography, film and music.
In 1979, Thomson, Childish, Bill Lewis and Ming were members of The Medway Poets
performance group, to which Absolon and Sanchia Lewis had also contributed. Peter Waite's Rochester Pottery staged a series of solo painting shows. In 1982, TVS
broadcast a documentary on the poets. That year, Emin, then a fashion student, and Childish started a relationship; her writing was edited by Bill Lewis, printed by Thomson and published by Childish. Group members published dozens of works. The poetry group dispersed after two years, reconvening in 1987 to record The Medway Poets LP. Clark, Howard and Machine became involved over the following years. Thomson got to know Williams, who was a local art student and whose girlfriend was a friend of Emin; Thomson also met Everall. During the foundation of the group, Ming brought in his girlfriend, Guru, who in turn invited Castle.
In August 1999, Childish and Thomson wrote The Stuckists manifesto
which places great importance on the value of painting as a medium, as well as its use for communication, the expression of emotion and of experience – as opposed to what Stuckists see as the superficial novelty, nihilism and irony of conceptual art and postmodernism
. The most contentious statement in the manifesto is: "Artists who don't paint aren't artists".
The second and third manifestos, respectively An Open Letter to Sir Nicholas Serota and Remodernism
, were sent to Nicholas Serota
which received a brief reply: "Thank you for your open letter dated 6 March. You will not be surprised to learn that I have no comment to make on your letter, or your manifesto 'Remodernism'."
In Remodernism manifesto, the Stuckists declared that they aimed to replace postmodernism with remodernism, a period of renewed spiritual (as opposed to religious) values in art, culture and society. Other manifestos include Handy Hints, Anti-anti-art
, The Cappuccino writer and the Idiocy of Contemporary Writing, The Turner Prize, The Decreptitude of the Critic and Stuckist critique of Damien Hirst.
Manifestos have been written by other Stuckists, including the Students for Stuckism group. An "Underage Stuckists" group was founded in 2006 with their own manifesto for teenagers by two 16-year olds, Liv Soul and Rebekah Maybury, on MySpace. In 2006, Allen Herndon published The Manifesto of the American Stuckists, the content of which was challenged by the Los Angeles Stuckists group.
In July 1999, the Stuckists were first mentioned in the media, in an article in The Evening Standard and soon gained other coverage, helped by press interest in Tracey Emin, who had been nominated for the Turner Prize.
The first Stuckist show was Stuck! Stuck! Stuck! held in September 1999 in Joe Crompton's Gallery 108 (now defunct) in Shoreditch
, followed by The Resignation of Sir Nicholas Serota. In 2000 they staged The Real Turner Prize Show at the same time as the Tate Gallery's Turner Prize exhibition.
A "Students for Stuckism" group was founded in 2000 by students from Camberwell College of Arts
, who staged their own exhibition. S.P. Howarth
was expelled from the painting degree course at Camberwell college for his paintings, and had the first solo exhibit at the Stuckism International Gallery in 2002, named I Don't Want a Painting Degree if it Means Not Painting.
Thomson stood as a Stuckist candidate for the 2001 British General Election
, in the constituency of Islington South & Finsbury, against Chris Smith
, the then Secretary of State for Culture. He picked up 108 votes (0.4%). Childish left the group at this time because he couldn't stand Thomson being in charge of the group.
From 2002 to 2005 Thomson ran the Stuckism International Centre and Gallery
in Shoreditch, London. In 2003, under the title A Dead Shark Isn't Art, the gallery exhibited a shark which had first been put on public display in 1989 (two years before Damien Hirst
's) by Eddie Saunders in his Shoreditch shop, JD Electrical Supplies. It was suggested Hirst may have seen this at the time and copied it, but that regardless, Saunders was the real pioneering artist.
In 2003 they reported Charles Saatchi to the UK Office of Fair Trading, complaining that he had an effective monopoly
on art. The complaint was not upheld. In 2003, an allied group, Stuckism Photography
, was founded by Larry Dunstan and Andy Bullock. In 2005 the Stuckists offered a donation of 175 paintings from the Walker show to the Tate that was rejected by the Tate Board of Trustees.
In August 2005 the Stuckists initiated a major controversy over the Tate's purchase of its trustee Chris Ofili's work The Upper Room for £705,000. In July 2006 the Charity Commission completed an investigation into The Tate's purchase of Ofili's work, censuring the gallery for acting outside its legal powers. Sir Nicholas Serota stated that the Stuckists had "acted in the public interest". In October 2006, the Stuckists staged their first exhibition, Go West
, in a commercial West End gallery, Spectrum London
. This "major exhibition" signalled their entry as "major players" in the art world.
An international symposium on Stuckism took place in October 2006 at the Liverpool John Moores University
during the Liverpool Biennial. The programme was led by Naive John
, founder of the Liverpool Stuckists. There was an accompanying exhibition in the 68 Hope Gallery at Liverpool School of Art and Design (John Moores University Gallery).
By 2006 there were 63 Stuckist groups in the UK. Members include Naive John, Mark D
, Elsa Dax
, Paul Harvey
, Jane Kelly
, Emily Mann, Udaiyan, Peter McArdle
, Peter Murphy
, Rachel Jordan
, Guy Denning
and Abby Jackson
. John Bourne opened Stuckism Wales at his home, a permanent exhibition of (mainly Welsh) paintings. Mandy McCartin
is a regular guest artist.
In 2010, Paul Harvey's painting of Charles Saatchi was banned from the window display of the Artspace Gallery in Maddox Street, London, on the grounds that it was "too controversial for the area". It was the centrepiece of the show, Stuckist Clowns Doing Their Dirty Work, the first exhibition of the Stuckists in Mayfair
, and depicted Saatchi with a sheep at his feet and a halo made from a cheese wrapper. The Saatchi Gallery
said that Saatchi "would not have any problem" with the painting's display. The gallery announced they were shutting down the show. Harvey said, "I did it to make Saatchi look friendly and human. It's a ludicrous decision".
The Stuckists considered legal action, and protested with emails to the gallery. Subsequently, the painting was reinstated and the show continued.
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The Stuckists gained significant media coverage for eight years of protests (2000-2006 and 2008) outside Tate Britain against the Turner Prize, sometimes dressed as clowns. In 2001 they demonstrated in Trafalgar Square
at the unveiling of Rachel Whiteread
's Monument. In 2002, they carried a coffin marked The Death of Conceptual Art to the White Cube
Gallery. In 2004 outside the launch of The Triumph of Painting at the Saatchi Gallery they wore tall hats with Charles Saatchi's face emblazoned and carried placards claiming that Saatchi had copied their ideas.
Events outside Britain have included The Clown Trial of President Bush held in New Haven in 2003 to protest against the Iraq War. Michael Dickinson has exhibited political and satirical collages in Turkey
for which he was arrested, and charged, but acquitted of any crime—an outcome which was seen to have positive implications for Turkey's relationship with the European Union
.
The 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
and was part of the 2004 Liverpool Biennial. It consisted of over 250 paintings by 37 artists, mostly from the UK but also with a representation of international Stuckist artists from the USA, Germany
and Australia
. There was an accompanying exhibition of Stuckist photographers. A book, The Stuckists Punk Victorian, was published to accompany the exhibition. Daily Mail
journalist Jane Kelly exhibited a painting of Myra Hindley in the show, which may have been the cause of her dismissal from her job.
In 2005, Fraser Kee Scott, owner of A Gallery
, demonstrated with the Stuckists art group outside the Tate Gallery against the gallery's purchase of The Upper Room, a work by Chris Ofili, then a serving Tate trustee. In October that year, Scott, described as "gallery owner—and Stuckist", said in The Daily Telegraph
that Tate Gallery chairman, Paul Myners, was hypocritical for refusing to divulge the price paid. Ofili had asked other artists to donate work to the gallery.
In April 2007, some Stuckist artists were included in a group show at the A Gallery. Scott, who was the gallery owner and a member of the Church of Scientology
, talked about the Church and the show in an interview in the South London Guardian. Thomson told the Evening Standard
that it was "outrageous" that the Stuckists should be linked to Scientology, as the artists had no connection with it. Thomson later said he accepted that it was not Scott's intention to link the show and the Church, and he considered that the matter was a misunderstanding that had been resolved.
In July 2007, the Stuckists held an exhibition at the A Gallery, I Won't Have Sex with You as long as We're Married, titled after words apparently said to Thomson by his ex-wife, Stella Vine
on their wedding night. The show coincided with the opening of Vine's major show at Modern Art Oxford
and was prompted by Thomson's anger that the material promoting her show omitted any mention of her time with the Stuckists, which he said had been influential on her work. Tate chairman Paul Myners
visited both shows.
Charles Thomson's painting, Sir Nicholas Serota Makes an Acquisitions Decision, as Charlotte Cripps of The Independent
wrote is one of the best known paintings to come out of the Stuckist movement, and as Jane Morris wrote in The Guardian
it's a likely "signature piece" for the movement, standing for its opposition to conceptual art. Painted in 2000, the piece has been exhibited in Stuckist shows since, as well as being featured on placards during Stuckist demonstrations
against the Turner Prize.
It depicts Sir Nicholas Serota, Director of the Tate Gallery and the usual chairman of the Turner Prize jury, and satirises Young British Artist Tracey Emin's installation, My Bed
, consisting of her bed and objects, including knickers, which she exhibited in 1999 as a Turner Prize nominee.
started the first Stuckist group outside Britain in Melbourne
, Australia, and it was decided that other artists should be free to start their own groups also, named after their locality. Stuckism has since grown into an international art movement of 220 groups in 50 countries, as of July 2011.
.
In 2000, Susan Constanse founded the first US group The Pittsburgh Stuckists in Pittsburgh
—the second group to be founded outside the UK. This was announced in the In Pittsburgh Weekly, 1 November 2000: "The new word in art is Stuckism. A Stuckist paints their life, mind and soul with no pretensions and no excuses." By 2011 there are 44 US Stuckist groups. There have been Stuckist shows and demonstrations in the US, and American Stuckists have also exhibited in international Stuckist shows abroad. US Stuckists include Jeffrey Scott Holland
, Tony Juliano
, Frank Kozik
and Terry Marks
. There are also 4 Stuckist groups in Canada
including The White Rock Stuckists in British Columbia
founded by David Wilson.
founded the first Pakistan
i Stuckist group, The Karachi Stuckists, in 2005. At the end of 2009 he was thinking of expanding The Karachi Stuckists with new members, but on 15 January 2010 he committed suicide. In 2011 Sheherbano Husain restarted the group. The Tehran Stuckists group, founded in 2007 in Tehran
, is another major protagonist of Asian Stuckism. In April 2010 they curated the first Stuckist show in Iran
, Searching for the Unlimited Potentials of Figurative Painting. Other Asian Stuckists are Shelley Li (China
), Smeetha Boumik (India
), Joko Apridinoto (Indonesia
), Elio Yuri Figini (Japan
) and Fady Chamaa (Lebanon
).
by Robert Janás
, is a flourishing Stuckist group. Other Stuckist artists in Europe include Peter Klint
, Andreas Torneberg and Frank Christopher Schroeder (Germany
), Michael Dickinson (Turkey
), Odysseus Yakoumakis
(Greece
), Kloot Per W (Belgium
) and Pavel Lefterov (Bulgaria
).
and Dartington
) and one in Germany in protest against the Tate Gallery's Turner Prize. Other Australian Stuckists include Godfrey Blow
, who exhibited in The Stuckists Punk Victorian. In 2005 Mike Mayhew also founded The Christchurch Stuckists in New Zealand
.
. Wolf Howard left in 2006, but has exhibited with the group since. Jesse Richards
who ran the Stuckism Centre USA in New Haven, left the group in 2006 to focus on Remodernist film
.
Stella Vine
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In June 2000, Stella Vine went to a talk given by Childish and Thomson on Stuckism and Remodernism in London. At the end of May 2001, she exhibited some of her paintings publicly for the first time in the Vote Stuckist show in Brixton, and formed The Westminster Stuckists group. On 4 June, she took part in a Stuckist demonstration in Trafalgar Square. By 10 July, she renamed her group The Unstuckists. In mid-August, Thomson and Vine were married. A work by her was shown in the Stuckist show in Paris, which ended in mid-November, by which time she had rejected the Stuckists, and the marriage had ended.
In February 2004, Charles Saatchi bought a painting of Diana, Princess of Wales
by Vine and was credited with "discovering" her. Thomson said it was the Stuckists and not Saatchi who had discovered her. At the end of March 2004, Thomson made a formal complaint about Saatchi to the Office of Fair Trading, claiming that Saatchi's leading position was monopolistic "to the detriment of smaller competitors", citing Vine as an example of this. On 15 April, the OFT closed the file on the case on the basis that Saatchi was not "in a dominant position in any relevant market."
, jumped on Tracey Emin's installation My Bed, a work consisting of the artist's own unmade bed, at the Tate Gallery's Turner Prize, in an unauthorised art intervention
. Chai had written, among other things, the words "Anti Stuckism" on his bare back. Fiachra Gibbons of The Guardian wrote that the event "will go down in art history as the defining moment of the new and previously unheard of Anti-Stuckist Movement."
The filmmaker Andrew Kotting
released a manifesto declaring "The work should prove anti-Stuckist, genuinely post-modern, contingent and ad hoc in its thinking." The London Surrealist group issued a manifesto denouncing Stuckism as well as Young British Artists, and stating Stuckism "is a childish kicking against modernity that fails, pathetically, to challenge the underlying realities of capitalism, of the capitalist art market, of material, psychological, psychic and spiritual repression."
International
----International mostly means something that involves more than one country. The term international as a word means involvement of, interaction between or encompassing more than one nation, or generally beyond national boundaries...
art movement
Art movement
An art movement is a tendency or style in art with a specific common philosophy or goal, followed by a group of artists during a restricted period of time, or, at least, with the heyday of the movement defined within a number of years...
founded in 1999 by Billy Childish
Billy Childish
Billy Childish is an English artist, painter, author, poet, photographer, film maker, singer and guitarist...
and 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...
to promote figurative painting
Figurative art
Figurative art, sometimes written as figurativism, describes artwork—particularly paintings and sculptures—which are clearly derived from real object sources, and are therefore by definition representational.-Definition:...
in opposition to conceptual art
Conceptual art
Conceptual art is art in which the concept or idea involved in the work take precedence over traditional aesthetic and material concerns. Many of the works, sometimes called installations, of the artist Sol LeWitt may be constructed by anyone simply by following a set of written instructions...
. The initial group of 13 British
British people
The British are citizens of the United Kingdom, of the Isle of Man, any of the Channel Islands, or of any of the British overseas territories, and their descendants...
artists has expanded to 220 groups in 50 countries as of July 2011.
They have issued several manifestos, the first one being The Stuckists, consists of 20 points starting with "Stuckism is a quest for authenticity". Remodernism
Remodernism
Remodernism revives aspects of modernism, particularly in its early form, and follows postmodernism, to which it contrasts. Adherents of remodernism advocate it as a forward and radical, not reactionary, impetus....
, the other well-known manifesto of the movement is a criticism of postmodernism
Criticism of postmodernism
Criticism of postmodernism has been intellectually diverse, but much of it has centered on the perception that postmodernism tries to "deconstruct" modernity and promote obscurantism in ways that are similar to reactionary movements of the past....
and aims to get back to the true spirit of modernism
Modernism
Modernism, in its broadest definition, is modern thought, character, or practice. More specifically, the term describes the modernist movement, its set of cultural tendencies and array of associated cultural movements, originally arising from wide-scale and far-reaching changes to Western society...
, to produce art with spiritual value regardless of style, subject matter or medium. In another manifesto they also define themselves as anti-anti-art
Anti-anti-art
Anti-anti-art is a stance proposed by the Stuckists in their manifestos outlining their art. In it, they take a particularly strong position in opposition to what is known as "anti-art"....
which is against anti-art
Anti-art
Anti-art is a loosely-used term applied to an array of concepts and attitudes that reject prior definitions of art and question art in general. Anti-art tends to conduct this questioning and rejection from the vantage point of art...
and for art.
After exhibiting in small galleries in Shoreditch
Shoreditch
Shoreditch is an area of London within the London Borough of Hackney in England. It is a built-up part of the inner city immediately to the north of the City of London, located east-northeast of Charing Cross.-Etymology:...
, 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...
, the Stuckists' first show in a major public museum was held in 2004 at the Walker Art Gallery
Walker Art Gallery
The Walker Art Gallery is an art gallery in Liverpool, which houses one of the largest art collections in England, outside of London. It is part of the National Museums Liverpool group, and is promoted as "the National Gallery of the North" because it is not a local or regional gallery but is part...
, as part of the Liverpool Biennial
Liverpool Biennial
Liverpool Biennial is a British international festival of contemporary art held in Liverpool. The festival comprises the International Exhibition, the John Moores Painting Prize, the Bloomberg New Contemporaries Exhibition and the Independents Biennial....
. The group has demonstrated annually at Tate Britain
Tate Britain
Tate Britain is an art gallery situated on Millbank in London, and part of the Tate gallery network in Britain, with Tate Modern, Tate Liverpool and Tate St Ives. It is the oldest gallery in the network, opening in 1897. It houses a substantial collection of the works of J. M. W. Turner.-History:It...
against the Turner Prize
Turner Prize
The Turner Prize, named after the painter J. M. W. Turner, is an annual prize presented to a British visual artist under the age of 50. Awarding the prize is organised by the Tate gallery and staged at Tate Britain. Since its beginnings in 1984 it has become the United Kingdom's most publicised...
since 2000, sometimes dressed in clown costumes. They have also come out in opposition to the Charles Saatchi
Charles Saatchi
Charles Saatchi is the co-founder with his brother Maurice of the global advertising agency Saatchi & Saatchi, and led that business - the world's largest advertising agency in the 1980s - until they were forced out in 1995. In the same year the Saatchi brothers formed a new agency called M&C...
-patronised Young British Artists
Young British Artists
Young British Artists or YBAs is the name given to a loose group of visual artists who first began to exhibit together in London, in 1988...
.
Although painting
Painting
Painting is the practice of applying paint, pigment, color or other medium to a surface . The application of the medium is commonly applied to the base with a brush but other objects can be used. In art, the term painting describes both the act and the result of the action. However, painting is...
is the dominant artistic form of Stuckism, artists using other media such as photography
Photography
Photography is the art, science and practice of creating durable images by recording light or other electromagnetic radiation, either electronically by means of an image sensor or chemically by means of a light-sensitive material such as photographic film...
, sculpture
Sculpture
Sculpture is three-dimensional artwork created by shaping or combining hard materials—typically stone such as marble—or metal, glass, or wood. Softer materials can also be used, such as clay, textiles, plastics, polymers and softer metals...
, film
Film
A film, also called a movie or motion picture, is a series of still or moving images. It is produced by recording photographic images with cameras, or by creating images using animation techniques or visual effects...
and 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....
have also joined, and share the Stuckist opposition to conceptualism and ego-art.
Name, founding and origin
Tracey Emin
Tracey Karima Emin RA is a British artist of English and Turkish Cypriot origin. She is part of the group known as Britartists or YBAs ....
had said he was "stuck! stuck! stuck!" with his art, poetry and music. Later that month, Thomson approached Childish with a view to co-founding an art group called Stuckism, which Childish agreed to, on the basis that Thomson would do the work for the group, as Childish already had a full schedule.
There were eleven other founding members: Philip Absolon
Philip Absolon
Philip 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...
, Frances Castle
Frances Castle
Frances Castle is an illustrator.Frances Castle was born in Kingston upon Thames, England.She is a full time illustrator and works across a broad range of media...
, Sheila Clark, Eamon Everall
Eamon Everall
Eamon 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:...
, Ella Guru
Ella Guru
Ella 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...
, Wolf Howard
Wolf Howard
Wolf Howard is an English artist, poet and filmmaker living in Chatham, Kent and was a founder member of the Stuckists art group...
, Bill Lewis
Bill Lewis
William "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:...
, Sanchia Lewis (who joined during the first show in September and is unrelated to Bill Lewis), 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:...
, Sexton Ming
Sexton Ming
Sexton Ming is a British artist, poet and musician who was a founding member of The Medway Poets and the Stuckists art group .-Life and career:...
, and Charles Williams
Charles Williams (artist)
Charles Williams is a British artist. He is a founder member of the Stuckist art group and a member of the New English Art Club.-Life and work:Charles Williams was born in Evanston, Illinois USA and raised in England...
. The membership has evolved since its founding through creative collaborations: the group was originally promoted as painters, but members work in various other media, including poetry, fiction, performance, photography, film and music.
In 1979, Thomson, Childish, Bill Lewis and Ming were members of The Medway Poets
The Medway Poets
The Medway Poets were founded in Medway, North Kent in 1979. They were an English punk based poetry performance group and later formed the core of the first Stuckists Art Group. The members were Miriam Carney, Billy Childish, Rob Earl, Bill Lewis, Sexton Ming and Charles Thomson...
performance group, to which Absolon and Sanchia Lewis had also contributed. Peter Waite's Rochester Pottery staged a series of solo painting shows. In 1982, TVS
Television South
Television South was the ITV franchise holder in the south and south east of England between 1 January 1982 and 31 December 1992. The company operated under various names, initially as Television South plc and then following reorganisation in 1989 as TVS Entertainment plc, with its UK...
broadcast a documentary on the poets. That year, Emin, then a fashion student, and Childish started a relationship; her writing was edited by Bill Lewis, printed by Thomson and published by Childish. Group members published dozens of works. The poetry group dispersed after two years, reconvening in 1987 to record The Medway Poets LP. Clark, Howard and Machine became involved over the following years. Thomson got to know Williams, who was a local art student and whose girlfriend was a friend of Emin; Thomson also met Everall. During the foundation of the group, Ming brought in his girlfriend, Guru, who in turn invited Castle.
Manifestos
Manifesto
A manifesto is a public declaration of principles and intentions, often political in nature. Manifestos relating to religious belief are generally referred to as creeds. Manifestos may also be life stance-related.-Etymology:...
which places great importance on the value of painting as a medium, as well as its use for communication, the expression of emotion and of experience – as opposed to what Stuckists see as the superficial novelty, nihilism and irony of conceptual art and postmodernism
Postmodernism
Postmodernism is a philosophical movement evolved in reaction to modernism, the tendency in contemporary culture to accept only objective truth and to be inherently suspicious towards a global cultural narrative or meta-narrative. Postmodernist thought is an intentional departure from the...
. The most contentious statement in the manifesto is: "Artists who don't paint aren't artists".
The second and third manifestos, respectively An Open Letter to Sir Nicholas Serota and Remodernism
Remodernism
Remodernism revives aspects of modernism, particularly in its early form, and follows postmodernism, to which it contrasts. Adherents of remodernism advocate it as a forward and radical, not reactionary, impetus....
, were sent to 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...
which received a brief reply: "Thank you for your open letter dated 6 March. You will not be surprised to learn that I have no comment to make on your letter, or your manifesto 'Remodernism'."
In Remodernism manifesto, the Stuckists declared that they aimed to replace postmodernism with remodernism, a period of renewed spiritual (as opposed to religious) values in art, culture and society. Other manifestos include Handy Hints, Anti-anti-art
Anti-anti-art
Anti-anti-art is a stance proposed by the Stuckists in their manifestos outlining their art. In it, they take a particularly strong position in opposition to what is known as "anti-art"....
, The Cappuccino writer and the Idiocy of Contemporary Writing, The Turner Prize, The Decreptitude of the Critic and Stuckist critique of Damien Hirst.
Manifestos have been written by other Stuckists, including the Students for Stuckism group. An "Underage Stuckists" group was founded in 2006 with their own manifesto for teenagers by two 16-year olds, Liv Soul and Rebekah Maybury, on MySpace. In 2006, Allen Herndon published The Manifesto of the American Stuckists, the content of which was challenged by the Los Angeles Stuckists group.
Growth in UK
The first Stuckist show was Stuck! Stuck! Stuck! held in September 1999 in Joe Crompton's Gallery 108 (now defunct) in Shoreditch
Shoreditch
Shoreditch is an area of London within the London Borough of Hackney in England. It is a built-up part of the inner city immediately to the north of the City of London, located east-northeast of Charing Cross.-Etymology:...
, followed by The Resignation of Sir Nicholas Serota. In 2000 they staged The Real Turner Prize Show at the same time as the Tate Gallery's Turner Prize exhibition.
A "Students for Stuckism" group was founded in 2000 by students from Camberwell College of Arts
Camberwell College of Arts
Camberwell College of Arts is a constituent college of the University of the Arts London, and is widely regarded as one of the world's foremost art and design institutions. It is located in Camberwell, South London, England, with two sites situated at Peckham Road and Wilson Road...
, who staged their own exhibition. S.P. Howarth
Stephen Howarth
Stephen Purbeck Howarth known as S.P. is a poet, Stuckist artist and actor. He was expelled from college for his paintings. He has demonstrated against the Turner prize at the Tate gallery.-Life and work:...
was expelled from the painting degree course at Camberwell college for his paintings, and had the first solo exhibit at the Stuckism International Gallery in 2002, named I Don't Want a Painting Degree if it Means Not Painting.
Thomson stood as a Stuckist candidate for the 2001 British General Election
United Kingdom general election, 2001
The United Kingdom general election, 2001 was held on Thursday 7 June 2001 to elect 659 members to the British House of Commons. It was dubbed "the quiet landslide" by the media, as the Labour Party was re-elected with another landslide result and only suffered a net loss of 6 seats...
, in the constituency of Islington South & Finsbury, against Chris Smith
Chris Smith, Baron Smith of Finsbury
Christopher "Chris" Robert Smith, Baron Smith of Finsbury PC is a British Labour Party politician, and a former Member of Parliament and Cabinet Minister...
, the then Secretary of State for Culture. He picked up 108 votes (0.4%). Childish left the group at this time because he couldn't stand Thomson being in charge of the group.
Stuckism International Gallery
The Stuckism International Gallery was the gallery of the Stuckist art movement. It was open 2002 to 2005 in Shoreditch, and run by Charles Thomson, the co-founder of Stuckism...
in Shoreditch, London. In 2003, under the title A Dead Shark Isn't Art, the gallery exhibited a shark which had first been put on public display in 1989 (two years before Damien Hirst
Damien Hirst
Damien Steven Hirst is an English artist, entrepreneur and art collector. He is the most prominent member of the group known as the Young British Artists , who dominated the art scene in Britain during the 1990s. He is internationally renowned, and is reportedly Britain's richest living artist,...
's) by Eddie Saunders in his Shoreditch shop, JD Electrical Supplies. It was suggested Hirst may have seen this at the time and copied it, but that regardless, Saunders was the real pioneering artist.
In 2003 they reported Charles Saatchi to the UK Office of Fair Trading, complaining that he had an effective monopoly
Monopoly
A monopoly exists when a specific person or enterprise is the only supplier of a particular commodity...
on art. The complaint was not upheld. In 2003, an allied group, Stuckism Photography
Stuckism Photography
The Stuckist Photographers are a group of photographers founded by Larry Dunstan and Andy Bullock in December 2003 in order to apply the values of the Stuckist painters to photography.-History:...
, was founded by Larry Dunstan and Andy Bullock. In 2005 the Stuckists offered a donation of 175 paintings from the Walker show to the Tate that was rejected by the Tate Board of Trustees.
In August 2005 the Stuckists initiated a major controversy over the Tate's purchase of its trustee Chris Ofili's work The Upper Room for £705,000. In July 2006 the Charity Commission completed an investigation into The Tate's purchase of Ofili's work, censuring the gallery for acting outside its legal powers. Sir Nicholas Serota stated that the Stuckists had "acted in the public interest". In October 2006, the Stuckists staged their first exhibition, Go West
Go West (exhibition)
Go West is the title of the first exhibition by Stuckist artists in a commercial London West End gallery. It was staged in Spectrum London gallery in October 2006...
, in a commercial West End gallery, 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...
. This "major exhibition" signalled their entry as "major players" in the art world.
Liverpool John Moores University
Liverpool John Moores University is a British 'modern' university located in the city of Liverpool, England. The university is named after John Moores and was previously called Liverpool Mechanics' School of Arts and later Liverpool Polytechnic before gaining university status in 1992, thus...
during the Liverpool Biennial. The programme was led by Naive John
Naive John
Naive John is a British artist and figurative painter. His work shows attention to detail with subjects that combine elements from popular culture alongside the mythic and mundane. He has also in the past been involved in the Stuckism art movement.-Art: Naive John is a self-taught artist...
, founder of the Liverpool Stuckists. There was an accompanying exhibition in the 68 Hope Gallery at Liverpool School of Art and Design (John Moores University Gallery).
By 2006 there were 63 Stuckist groups in the UK. Members include Naive John, 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...
, Elsa Dax
Elsa Dax
Elsa 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:...
, 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....
, Jane Kelly
Jane Kelly
Jane Kelly is a journalist and artist, affiliated with the Stuckist art group. She was dismissed from the Daily Mail after exhibiting a painting of Myra Hindley.-Life and work:...
, Emily Mann, Udaiyan, 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...
, Peter Murphy
Peter Murphy (artist)
Peter Murphy is an English artist working in traditional egg tempera and gold leaf techniques, and a member of the Stuckist art movement.-Life and work:...
, Rachel Jordan
Rachel Jordan
This article is about the artist. For the Simpsons character see Rachel Jordan.Rachel Jordan is a British artist and has been a frequent guest exhibitor with the Stuckists...
, Guy Denning
Guy Denning
Guy Denning is a self taught English contemporary artist and painter based in France. He is the founder of the Neomodern group, a member of Stuckism International, and part of the urban art scene in Bristol.- Art :...
and Abby Jackson
Abby Jackson
Abby Jackson is a British artist, Stuckist painter, writer and art activist.-Life and work:Abby Jackson was born in North Devon and lives and works in London. She attended Somerset College of Art and studied advertising...
. John Bourne opened Stuckism Wales at his home, a permanent exhibition of (mainly Welsh) paintings. Mandy McCartin
Mandy McCartin
Mandy McCartin is an artist based in London, a "proud butch lesbian" and DJ "classic soul fanatic".-Life and work:Mandy McCartin was born in Sheffield, England, and went to North East London Polytechnic...
is a regular guest artist.
In 2010, Paul Harvey's painting of Charles Saatchi was banned from the window display of the Artspace Gallery in Maddox Street, London, on the grounds that it was "too controversial for the area". It was the centrepiece of the show, Stuckist Clowns Doing Their Dirty Work, the first exhibition of the Stuckists in Mayfair
Mayfair
Mayfair is an area of central London, within the City of Westminster.-History:Mayfair is named after the annual fortnight-long May Fair that took place on the site that is Shepherd Market today...
, and depicted Saatchi with a sheep at his feet and a halo made from a cheese wrapper. The Saatchi Gallery
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...
said that Saatchi "would not have any problem" with the painting's display. The gallery announced they were shutting down the show. Harvey said, "I did it to make Saatchi look friendly and human. It's a ludicrous decision".
The Stuckists considered legal action, and protested with emails to the gallery. Subsequently, the painting was reinstated and the show continued.
Demonstrations
Trafalgar Square
Trafalgar Square is a public space and tourist attraction in central London, England, United Kingdom. At its centre is Nelson's Column, which is guarded by four lion statues at its base. There are a number of statues and sculptures in the square, with one plinth displaying changing pieces of...
at the unveiling of Rachel Whiteread
Rachel Whiteread
Rachel Whiteread, CBE is an English artist, best known for her sculptures, which typically take the form of casts. She won the annual Turner Prize in 1993—the first woman to win the prize....
's Monument. In 2002, they carried a coffin marked The Death of Conceptual Art to the White Cube
White Cube
White Cube is a contemporary art gallery designed by MRJ Rundell & Associates in Hoxton Square in the East End of London Mason's Yard, in central London and White Cube Bermondsey in South East London...
Gallery. In 2004 outside the launch of The Triumph of Painting at the Saatchi Gallery they wore tall hats with Charles Saatchi's face emblazoned and carried placards claiming that Saatchi had copied their ideas.
Events outside Britain have included The Clown Trial of President Bush held in New Haven in 2003 to protest against the Iraq War. Michael Dickinson has exhibited political and satirical collages in Turkey
Turkey
Turkey , known officially as the Republic of Turkey , is a Eurasian country located in Western Asia and in East Thrace in Southeastern Europe...
for which he was arrested, and charged, but acquitted of any crime—an outcome which was seen to have positive implications for Turkey's relationship with the European Union
European Union
The European Union is an economic and political union of 27 independent member states which are located primarily in Europe. The EU traces its origins from the European Coal and Steel Community and the European Economic Community , formed by six countries in 1958...
.
The Stuckists Punk Victorian
Lady Lever Art Gallery
The Lady Lever Art Gallery was founded in 1922 by Sunlight Soap magnate, William Lever, 1st Viscount Leverhulme, and dedicated to the memory of his wife....
and was part of the 2004 Liverpool Biennial. It consisted of over 250 paintings by 37 artists, mostly from the UK but also with a representation of international Stuckist artists from the USA, Germany
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
and Australia
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
. There was an accompanying exhibition of Stuckist photographers. A book, The Stuckists Punk Victorian, was published to accompany the exhibition. Daily Mail
Daily Mail
The Daily Mail is a British daily middle-market tabloid newspaper owned by the Daily Mail and General Trust. First published in 1896 by Lord Northcliffe, it is the United Kingdom's second biggest-selling daily newspaper after The Sun. Its sister paper The Mail on Sunday was launched in 1982...
journalist Jane Kelly exhibited a painting of Myra Hindley in the show, which may have been the cause of her dismissal from her job.
A Gallery
A Gallery
The A Gallery was a contemporary art gallery in Wimbledon, London run by Fraser Kee Scott.The gallery was founded in 1997. Its first exhibit was by then-recent graduate Alison Jackson. In 2004, the gallery exhibited a sculpture by Marie White of a nude female; some members of the public complained...
, demonstrated with the Stuckists art group outside the Tate Gallery against the gallery's purchase of The Upper Room, a work by Chris Ofili, then a serving Tate trustee. In October that year, Scott, described as "gallery owner—and Stuckist", said in The Daily Telegraph
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 Gallery chairman, Paul Myners, was hypocritical for refusing to divulge the price paid. Ofili had asked other artists to donate work to the gallery.
In April 2007, some Stuckist artists were included in a group show at the A Gallery. Scott, who was the gallery owner and a member of the Church of Scientology
Church of Scientology
The Church of Scientology is an organization devoted to the practice and the promotion of the Scientology belief system. The Church of Scientology International is the Church of Scientology's parent organization, and is responsible for the overall ecclesiastical management, dissemination and...
, talked about the Church and the show in an interview in the South London Guardian. Thomson told 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...
that it was "outrageous" that the Stuckists should be linked to Scientology, as the artists had no connection with it. Thomson later said he accepted that it was not Scott's intention to link the show and the Church, and he considered that the matter was a misunderstanding that had been resolved.
In July 2007, the Stuckists held an exhibition at the A Gallery, I Won't Have Sex with You as long as We're Married, titled after words apparently said to Thomson by his ex-wife, 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...
on their wedding night. The show 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 prompted by Thomson's anger that the material promoting her show omitted any mention of her time with the Stuckists, which he said had been influential on her work. Tate chairman Paul Myners
Paul Myners
Paul Myners, Baron Myners, CBE was the Financial Services Secretary in HM Treasury, the UK's finance ministry, during the Labour Government of Gordon Brown. He held the position from October 2008 until May 2010, and was made a life peer in consequence of his appointment, as he was not an elected...
visited both shows.
Sir Nicholas Serota Makes an Acquisitions Decision
Charles Thomson's painting, Sir Nicholas Serota Makes an Acquisitions Decision, as Charlotte Cripps of The Independent
The Independent
The Independent is a British national morning newspaper published in London by Independent Print Limited, owned by Alexander Lebedev since 2010. It is nicknamed the Indy, while the Sunday edition, The Independent on Sunday, is the Sindy. Launched in 1986, it is one of the youngest UK national daily...
wrote is one of the best known paintings to come out of the Stuckist movement, and as Jane Morris wrote in The Guardian
The Guardian
The Guardian, formerly known as The Manchester Guardian , is a British national daily newspaper in the Berliner format...
it's a likely "signature piece" for the movement, standing for its opposition to conceptual art. Painted in 2000, the piece has been exhibited in Stuckist shows since, as well as being featured on placards during Stuckist demonstrations
Stuckist demonstrations
Stuckist 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...
against the Turner Prize.
It depicts Sir Nicholas Serota, Director of the Tate Gallery and the usual chairman of the Turner Prize jury, and satirises Young British Artist Tracey Emin's installation, My Bed
My Bed
My Bed is a work by the British artist Tracey Emin. First created in 1998, it was exhibited at the Tate Gallery in 1999 as one of the shortlisted works for the Turner Prize. It consisted of her bed with bedroom objects in an abject state, and gained much media attention...
, consisting of her bed and objects, including knickers, which she exhibited in 1999 as a Turner Prize nominee.
International movement
In 2000 Regan TamanuiRegan Tamanui
Regan Tamanui is a self-taught artist based in Melbourne, Australia. In October 2000, he founded the Melbourne Stuckists, the fourth Stuckist group to be started and the first outside of the United Kingdom...
started the first Stuckist group outside Britain in Melbourne
Melbourne
Melbourne is the capital and most populous city in the state of Victoria, and the second most populous city in Australia. The Melbourne City Centre is the hub of the greater metropolitan area and the Census statistical division—of which "Melbourne" is the common name. As of June 2009, the greater...
, Australia, and it was decided that other artists should be free to start their own groups also, named after their locality. Stuckism has since grown into an international art movement of 220 groups in 50 countries, as of July 2011.
Africa
Mafa Bamba founded The Abidgan Stuckists in 2001 in Ivory Coast and Kari Seid founded The Cape Town Stuckists in 2008 in South AfricaSouth Africa
The Republic of South Africa is a country in southern Africa. Located at the southern tip of Africa, it is divided into nine provinces, with of coastline on the Atlantic and Indian oceans...
.
America
In 2000, Susan Constanse founded the first US group The Pittsburgh Stuckists in Pittsburgh
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
Pittsburgh is the second-largest city in the US Commonwealth of Pennsylvania and the county seat of Allegheny County. Regionally, it anchors the largest urban area of Appalachia and the Ohio River Valley, and nationally, it is the 22nd-largest urban area in the United States...
—the second group to be founded outside the UK. This was announced in the In Pittsburgh Weekly, 1 November 2000: "The new word in art is Stuckism. A Stuckist paints their life, mind and soul with no pretensions and no excuses." By 2011 there are 44 US Stuckist groups. There have been Stuckist shows and demonstrations in the US, and American Stuckists have also exhibited in international Stuckist shows abroad. US Stuckists include Jeffrey Scott Holland
Jeffrey Scott Holland
Jeffrey Scott Holland, , is an artist and musician living both in New York City and in Louisville, Kentucky. He is an active member of the Stuckist and Remodernist art movements, holding a traveling exhibit of Stuckist art in the United States in 2001, and co-curating the Deatrick Gallery, the...
, Tony Juliano
Tony Juliano
Tony Juliano is a satirist painter in Orange, Connecticut and is affiliated with the international art movement Stuckism.-Life and work:Tony Juliano was born in 1975...
, Frank Kozik
Frank Kozik
Frank Kozik is an American graphic artist who has worked with Nirvana, Pearl Jam, Stone Temple Pilots, the Red Hot Chili Peppers, Melvins, The Offspring and Butthole Surfers. Kozik runs Man's Ruin Records, a media outlet and record label, and has published several books including Man's Ruin:...
and Terry Marks
Terry Marks
Terry Marks is a Stuckist artist in New York City. She was one of the US artists in the show The Stuckists Punk Victorian at the Walker Art Gallery during the 2004 Liverpool Biennial. She is also a tattooist and actor for film and television...
. There are also 4 Stuckist groups in Canada
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
including The White Rock Stuckists in British Columbia
British Columbia
British Columbia is the westernmost of Canada's provinces and is known for its natural beauty, as reflected in its Latin motto, Splendor sine occasu . Its name was chosen by Queen Victoria in 1858...
founded by David Wilson.
Asia
Asim ButtAsim Butt (artist)
Asim Butt was a Pakistani painter and sculptor, with an interest in graffiti and printmaking. He was also a member of the Stuckism International art movement.-Life and work:...
founded the first Pakistan
Pakistan
Pakistan , officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan is a sovereign state in South Asia. It has a coastline along the Arabian Sea and the Gulf of Oman in the south and is bordered by Afghanistan and Iran in the west, India in the east and China in the far northeast. In the north, Tajikistan...
i Stuckist group, The Karachi Stuckists, in 2005. At the end of 2009 he was thinking of expanding The Karachi Stuckists with new members, but on 15 January 2010 he committed suicide. In 2011 Sheherbano Husain restarted the group. The Tehran Stuckists group, founded in 2007 in Tehran
Tehran
Tehran , sometimes spelled Teheran, is the capital of Iran and Tehran Province. With an estimated population of 8,429,807; it is also Iran's largest urban area and city, one of the largest cities in Western Asia, and is the world's 19th largest city.In the 20th century, Tehran was subject to...
, is another major protagonist of Asian Stuckism. In April 2010 they curated the first Stuckist show in Iran
Iran
Iran , officially the Islamic Republic of Iran , is a country in Southern and Western Asia. The name "Iran" has been in use natively since the Sassanian era and came into use internationally in 1935, before which the country was known to the Western world as Persia...
, Searching for the Unlimited Potentials of Figurative Painting. Other Asian Stuckists are Shelley Li (China
China
Chinese civilization may refer to:* China for more general discussion of the country.* Chinese culture* Greater China, the transnational community of ethnic Chinese.* History of China* Sinosphere, the area historically affected by Chinese culture...
), Smeetha Boumik (India
India
India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...
), Joko Apridinoto (Indonesia
Indonesia
Indonesia , officially the Republic of Indonesia , is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania. Indonesia is an archipelago comprising approximately 13,000 islands. It has 33 provinces with over 238 million people, and is the world's fourth most populous country. Indonesia is a republic, with an...
), Elio Yuri Figini (Japan
Japan
Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...
) and Fady Chamaa (Lebanon
Lebanon
Lebanon , officially the Republic of LebanonRepublic of Lebanon is the most common term used by Lebanese government agencies. The term Lebanese Republic, a literal translation of the official Arabic and French names that is not used in today's world. Arabic is the most common language spoken among...
).
Europe
Despite Stuckists in UK, The Prague Stuckists, founded in 2005 in CzechCzech Republic
The Czech Republic is a landlocked country in Central Europe. The country is bordered by Poland to the northeast, Slovakia to the east, Austria to the south, and Germany to the west and northwest....
by Robert Janás
Robert Janás
Robert Janás is a Czech Stuckist Photographer and poet. He founded The Prague Stuckists in 2004, and has curated shows of the group and held solo photography shows....
, is a flourishing Stuckist group. Other Stuckist artists in Europe include 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....
, Andreas Torneberg and Frank Christopher Schroeder (Germany
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
), Michael Dickinson (Turkey
Turkey
Turkey , known officially as the Republic of Turkey , is a Eurasian country located in Western Asia and in East Thrace in Southeastern Europe...
), Odysseus Yakoumakis
Odysseus Yakoumakis
Odysseus Yakoumakis is a Stuckist artist, painter and illustrator, based in Athens, Greece. He is the founder of the first Greek Stuckist group, The Romantic Anonymous Fellowship, and organiser of the first international Stuckist group show in Greece, Under the Cover of Romantic Anonymity...
(Greece
Greece
Greece , officially the Hellenic Republic , and historically Hellas or the Republic of Greece in English, is a country in southeastern Europe....
), Kloot Per W (Belgium
Belgium
Belgium , officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a federal state in Western Europe. It is a founding member of the European Union and hosts the EU's headquarters, and those of several other major international organisations such as NATO.Belgium is also a member of, or affiliated to, many...
) and Pavel Lefterov (Bulgaria
Bulgaria
Bulgaria , officially the Republic of Bulgaria , is a parliamentary democracy within a unitary constitutional republic in Southeast Europe. The country borders Romania to the north, Serbia and Macedonia to the west, Greece and Turkey to the south, as well as the Black Sea to the east...
).
Oceania
In October 2000, Regan Tamanui founded The Melbourne Stuckists in Melbourne, the fourth Stuckist group to be started and the first one outside the UK. On October 27, 2000, he staged the Real Turner Prize Show at the Dead End Gallery in his home, concurrent with three shows with the same title in England (London, FalmouthFalmouth, Cornwall
Falmouth is a town, civil parish and port on the River Fal on the south coast of Cornwall, England, United Kingdom. It has a total resident population of 21,635.Falmouth is the terminus of the A39, which begins some 200 miles away in Bath, Somerset....
and Dartington
Dartington
Dartington is a village in Devon, England. Its population is 1,917. It is located west of the River Dart, south of Dartington Hall and about two miles from Totnes...
) and one in Germany in protest against the Tate Gallery's Turner Prize. Other Australian Stuckists include Godfrey Blow
Godfrey Blow
Godfrey Blow is an artist based in Kalamunda, Western Australia. He is the founder of the Perth Stuckists.-Life and art:Godfrey Blow was born in Lincolnshire, England on the same day as fellow Stuckist artist, Eamon Everall...
, who exhibited in The Stuckists Punk Victorian. In 2005 Mike Mayhew also founded The Christchurch Stuckists in New Zealand
New Zealand
New Zealand is an island country in the south-western Pacific Ocean comprising two main landmasses and numerous smaller islands. The country is situated some east of Australia across the Tasman Sea, and roughly south of the Pacific island nations of New Caledonia, Fiji, and Tonga...
.
Ex Stuckists
Co-founder, Billy Childish left the group in 2001, but has stated that he remains committed to its principles. Sexton Ming left to concentrate on a solo career with the Aquarium GalleryAquarium Gallery
The Aquarium L-13 was a contemporary commercial art gallery run by Steve Lowe. It was originally based in a Georgian building in Bloomsbury, London, and then moved to Farringdon...
. Wolf Howard left in 2006, but has exhibited with the group since. Jesse Richards
Jesse Richards
Jesse Richards is a painter, filmmaker and photographer from New Haven, Connecticut and was affiliated with the international movement Stuckism.-Early life:...
who ran the Stuckism Centre USA in New Haven, left the group in 2006 to focus on Remodernist film
Remodernist Film
Remodernist film developed in the United States and the United Kingdom in the early 21st century with ideas related to those of the international art movement Stuckism and its manifesto, Remodernism...
.
Stella Vine
In February 2004, Charles Saatchi bought a painting of Diana, Princess of Wales
Diana, Princess of Wales
Diana, Princess of Wales was the first wife of Charles, Prince of Wales, whom she married on 29 July 1981, and an international charity and fundraising figure, as well as a preeminent celebrity of the late 20th century...
by Vine and was credited with "discovering" her. Thomson said it was the Stuckists and not Saatchi who had discovered her. At the end of March 2004, Thomson made a formal complaint about Saatchi to the Office of Fair Trading, claiming that Saatchi's leading position was monopolistic "to the detriment of smaller competitors", citing Vine as an example of this. On 15 April, the OFT closed the file on the case on the basis that Saatchi was not "in a dominant position in any relevant market."
Responses
In 1999, two performance artists, Yuan Chai and Jian Jun XiYuan Chai and Jian Jun Xi
Yuan Chai and Jian Jun Xi are two Chinese performance artists, based in Britain, who work together and specialise in art intervention. They have enacted events at the Venice Biennale and the Turner Prize, where in 1999 they jumped onto Tracey Emin's My Bed.-Life:At the time of the My Bed incident ...
, jumped on Tracey Emin's installation My Bed, a work consisting of the artist's own unmade bed, at the Tate Gallery's Turner Prize, in an unauthorised art intervention
Art intervention
Art intervention is an interaction with a previously existing artwork, audience or venue/space. It has the auspice of conceptual art and is commonly a form of performance art. It is associated with the Viennese Actionists, the Dada movement and Neo-Dadaists...
. Chai had written, among other things, the words "Anti Stuckism" on his bare back. Fiachra Gibbons of The Guardian wrote that the event "will go down in art history as the defining moment of the new and previously unheard of Anti-Stuckist Movement."
The filmmaker Andrew Kotting
Andrew Kötting
Andrew Kötting is a British film director, writer and artist.Kötting was born in Kent. He studied BA Fine Art at Ravensbourne College of Art and Design, London, 1984; MA in Mixed Media, Slade School of Art, London 1988. In 1989 he collaborated with Leila McMillan in setting up BadBLoOd & siBYL...
released a manifesto declaring "The work should prove anti-Stuckist, genuinely post-modern, contingent and ad hoc in its thinking." The London Surrealist group issued a manifesto denouncing Stuckism as well as Young British Artists, and stating Stuckism "is a childish kicking against modernity that fails, pathetically, to challenge the underlying realities of capitalism, of the capitalist art market, of material, psychological, psychic and spiritual repression."
See also
- List of Stuckist artists
- List of Stuckist shows
- RemodernismRemodernismRemodernism revives aspects of modernism, particularly in its early form, and follows postmodernism, to which it contrasts. Adherents of remodernism advocate it as a forward and radical, not reactionary, impetus....
- Anti-anti-artAnti-anti-artAnti-anti-art is a stance proposed by the Stuckists in their manifestos outlining their art. In it, they take a particularly strong position in opposition to what is known as "anti-art"....
- Dogme 95Dogme 95Dogme 95 was an avant-garde filmmaking movement started in 1995 by the Danish directors Lars von Trier and Thomas Vinterberg, who created the "Dogme 95 Manifesto" and the "Vow of Chastity". These were rules to create filmmaking based on the traditional values of story, acting, and theme, and...
- New PuritansNew PuritansThe New Puritans was a literary movement ascribed to the contributors to a 2000 anthology of short stories entitled All Hail the New Puritans, edited by Nicholas Blincoe and Matt Thorne. The project is said to have been inspired by the Dogme 95 manifesto for cinematic minimalism and authenticity...
- Wesley KimlerWesley KimlerWesley Kimler an American artist based in Chicago, Illinois, is known for his colossal paintings, up to 15 feet high and 27 feet wide...
(anti-conceptual artist)
Further reading
- Ed. Katherine Evans, "The Stuckists", Victoria Press, 2000, ISBN 0-907165-27-3.
- Ed. Frank Milner, "The Stuckists punk Victorian", National Museums LiverpoolNational Museums LiverpoolNational Museums Liverpool, previously known as National Museums and Galleries on Merseyside, comprises several museums and art galleries in and around Liverpool, England. All museums and galleries in this group have free admission...
, 2004, ISBN 1-902700-27-9. - Robert JanásRobert JanásRobert Janás is a Czech Stuckist Photographer and poet. He founded The Prague Stuckists in 2004, and has curated shows of the group and held solo photography shows....
, "Stuckism International: The Stuckist Decade 1999 - 2009", Victoria Press, 2009, ISBN 0-907165-28-1. - Charles ThomsonCharles ThomsonCharles Thomson was a Patriot leader in Philadelphia during the American Revolution and the secretary of the Continental Congress throughout its existence.-Biography:...
, Robert Janás, Edward Lucie-SmithEdward Lucie-SmithJohn 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...
, "The Enemies of Art: The Stuckists", Victoria Press, 2011, ISBN 0-907165-31-1. - Gabriela Luciana Lakatos, Expressionism Today (pages 13-14), University of Art and Design Cluj Napoca, 2011.