Stuckism International Gallery
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...
art movement. It was open 2002 to 2005 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:...
, and run 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...
, the co-founder of Stuckism. It was launched by a procession carrying a coffin marked "The death of 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...
" to the neighbouring 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.
The gallery staged group and solo shows of Stuckist paintings, and displayed a preserved shark as a challenge to 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,...
and 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...
. The premises were taken over by La Viande gallery, which shut in 2008.
History
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...
had originally intended to buy a 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:...
warehouse building with his then-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...
, but, after the arrangements had been made, she withdrew from the project. He subsequently made the purchase on his own.
The Stuckism International Gallery opened July 2002 at 3 Charlotte Road, 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:...
, in a four-story Victorian warehouse, 70 yards (64 m) away from 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, which represents Tracey Emin
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 ....
and 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,...
, conceptual art which the Stuckists oppose. Thomson lived on the premises, using the ground floor and basement for a studio. He said:
- The space was designed to fulfill the belief stated in our manifesto that the best space for art is not a white wall gallery but the more human space of a home (or a musty museum). The main space was my living room. It had sofas and normal home lighting, not gallery spotlights, which create a separation between the art and the viewer. People could come in, sit down, maybe have a cup of tea and experience the art as part of their environment, if they wanted to. The upstairs walls were either brick or painted maroon, and the downstairs a deep green. It was a small oasis in the greyness of the outside environment...
Stephen 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 a member of the Students for Stuckism group at 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...
and in 2002 was "expelled from the painting course for doing paintings." He was given a show, before the official opening of the gallery, with the title I Don't Want a Painting Degree if it Means Not Painting.
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 to announce "The Death of Conceptual Art".
David Prudames of 24 Hour Museum reviewed the show, "This exhibition of Stuckist work from around the world at a purpose built gallery lays the movement's foundations and states it is here to stay." Arty magazine edited by Cathy Lomax
Cathy Lomax
Cathy Lomax is a London artist, curator and director of the Transition Gallery.-Life and career:Cathy Lomax is an artist mainly known for her figurative paintings. She has a BA Fine Art from London Guildhall University , and an MA from Central Saint Martins College of Art and Design...
of Transition Gallery
Transition Gallery
Transition Gallery is a contemporary art project space in Hackney, East London. It is run by artists Cathy Lomax and Alex Michon. Transition Editions the gallery's publishing arm produces publications to accompany shows as well as two bi-annual magazines Arty and Garageland.-History:Transition...
said, "Work presented here is always a wonder to behold... The best painted space in town—the coloured walls are themselves better than some galleries' shows... Art with attitude, whatever style you happen to enjoy. And there are more styles here than you'd be led to believe." However, Sarah Kent
Sarah Kent
Sarah Kent is a British art critic, formerly the art editor of the weekly London 'what's on' guide Time Out. She was an early supporter of the Young British Artists in general, and Tracey Emin in particular, helping her to get early exposure. This has led to polarised reactions of praise and...
stated in Time Out, "it will prove their undoing. These vociferous opportunists are revealed to be a bunch of Bayswater Road
Bayswater Road
Bayswater Road is the main road running across the north of Hyde Park, London. To the east Bayswater Road becomes Oxford Street . It is where the fictional upper middle class Forsyte family live in the BBC series the Forsyte Saga...
-style daubers without an original idea between them."
In October 2002 the Gallery displayed a betting slip by Sean Hall. This was a bet that "Charles Saatchi, the renowned contemporary art collector, will purchase the original of this betting slip for pounds 1,000 or more on or before 31 December 2005."
In December 2002 the gallery staged The Real Turner Prize Show to protest that the 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...
's 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...
should be for paintings. The four artists shown at the gallery—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...
, 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...
, 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 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...
—shared the Stuckist prize.
.jpg)
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...
opened in new premises at County Hall
County Hall
A county hall or shire hall is usual name given to a building housing a county's administration. The location of the county hall has usually denoted the county town, and as county halls have moved it has also been considered that the county town has moved, for example when Derbyshire County Council...
with a display of 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 work, including The Physical Impossibility of Death in the Mind of Someone Living
The Physical Impossibility of Death in the Mind of Someone Living
The Physical Impossibility of Death in the Mind of Someone Living is an artwork created in 1991 by Damien Hirst, an English artist and a leading member of the "Young British Artists" . It consists of a tiger shark preserved in formaldehyde in a vitrine. It was originally commissioned in 1991 by...
(a shark in formaldehyde
Formaldehyde
Formaldehyde is an organic compound with the formula CH2O. It is the simplest aldehyde, hence its systematic name methanal.Formaldehyde is a colorless gas with a characteristic pungent odor. It is an important precursor to many other chemical compounds, especially for polymers...
in a vitrine), the Stuckism gallery displayed a stuffed shark in their window. This 148 kg (325 lb) golden hammerhead
Smalleye hammerhead
The smalleye hammerhead or golden hammerhead is a small species of hammerhead shark, family Sphyrnidae, common in the shallow coastal waters of the western Atlantic Ocean from Venezuela to Uruguay. It favors muddy habitats with poor visibility, reflected by its relatively small eyes...
shark had been caught off Florida in 1989, two years before Hirst's work was made, by Eddie Saunders, who displayed it in his Shoreditch shop, JD Electrical Supplies.
Thomson asked:
- If Hirst’s shark is recognised as great art, then how come Eddie’s, which was on exhibition for two years beforehand, isn’t? “Do we perhaps have here an undiscovered artist of genius, who got there first, or is it that a dead shark isn’t art at all? Not only did Eddie catch it himself — unlike Hirst — but it is also in considerably better condition.
- We can’t see why Hirst’s shark was made so much fuss of when Eddie’s has been in a public London venue all this time. A lot of people admired it in his shop, but I doubt that anyone considered it a work of artistic genius.
The Stuckists suggested Hirst may got the idea for his work from Saunders' shop display.
In September 2003, the gallery collaborated with the Prince of Wales
Charles, Prince of Wales
Prince Charles, Prince of Wales is the heir apparent and eldest son of Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh. Since 1958 his major title has been His Royal Highness The Prince of Wales. In Scotland he is additionally known as The Duke of Rothesay...
in hosting a charity show and auction with paintings including ones by Judi Dench
Judi Dench
Dame Judith Olivia "Judi" Dench, CH, DBE, FRSA is an English film, stage and television actress.Dench made her professional debut in 1957 with the Old Vic Company. Over the following few years she played in several of William Shakespeare's plays in such roles as Ophelia in Hamlet, Juliet in Romeo...
, Jerry Hall
Jerry Hall
Jerry Faye Hall is an American model and actress, also known for her long-term relationship with Mick Jagger, with whom she had four children.-Early life:...
and, said Thomson, "a painting from the BritArt
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...
artist Gavin Turk
Gavin Turk
Gavin Turk is a British artist and one of the Young British Artists . He often uses his own image in life-size sculptures of famous people.-Life and work:...
, who is normally somebody we would attack." The next month, the gallery's scheduled show, The Real Turner Prize Show, was cancelled because of a dispute with Gina Bold
Gina Bold
Gina Boldis an English artist/poet, who makes paintings, stained glass and sculpture. She was an artist in residence at Arlington House from May to November 2007.- Life and work :...
, one of the artists, over how it should be promoted.
.jpg)
Jake Arnott
Jake Arnott is a British novelist, author of The Long Firm and other novels. Most of his works are crime novels, and include homosexual characters...
).
In May 2004, Mounsi
Mounsi
Mounsi is a French novelist and singer, born in Kabylie, Algeria. Aged seven, his father brought him to live in France, growing up in the red-belt suburb of Nanterre in Paris...
was presented with the inaugural 3AM Good Sex Prize at the gallery for his book, The Demented Dance, after an event which included readings by Tony White
Tony White (writer)
Tony White is an English novelist and journalist.White first published pulp novels, such as Road Rage! , Satan! Satan! Satan! , and Charlie Uncle Norfolk Tango . He also acted as editor of the Britpulp! anthology...
and Colin MacCabe
Colin MacCabe
Colin MacCabe is a British writer and film producer. He is distinguished professor of English and film at the University of Pittsburgh, professor of English and humanities at Birkbeck, University of London, and a visiting professor at the University of Exeter....
. Later that month, 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...
and his wife, Nigella Lawson
Nigella Lawson
Nigella Lucy Lawson is an English food writer, journalist and broadcaster. Lawson is the daughter of Nigel Lawson, the former Chancellor of the Exchequer, and Vanessa Salmon, whose family owned the J. Lyons and Co. empire...
arrived in a black cab to visit the gallery, but failed to gain admission, as Thomson was upstairs drinking coffee and Saatchi did not ring the bell.
The last exhibition at the Gallery, in July 2004, was a solo show, Hysterical Shock, consisting of 12 paintings by Gina Bold
Gina Bold
Gina Boldis an English artist/poet, who makes paintings, stained glass and sculpture. She was an artist in residence at Arlington House from May to November 2007.- Life and work :...
from private collections and named after the title of one of them. It was curated by Louise Urwin and Tom Cowley. Bold was invited to participate in the show, but did not reply or attend it.
La Viande
A large photo was displayed in the gallery window of 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...
, who had made the remark, "Painting is the medium of yesterday", to the Stuckists during their demonstration in 2004 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...
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...
. He had also told them that their popular show, The Stuckists Punk Victorian
The Stuckists Punk Victorian
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 in Liverpool from 18 September 2004 to 20 February 2005, and was part of the 2004 Liverpool Biennial....
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...
in Liverpool, was "a travesty".
In February 2008, La Viande staged Disney Heroines Committing Suicide, a show of two Stuckist artists, 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...
and 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...
, the latter's work satirising 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 paintings.. La Viande closed in July 2008.
List of shows
.jpg)
- The First Stuckist International
- War on Blair
- The Real Turner Prize Show 2002
- Stuckist Classics..
- Stuckist Classics 2
- Stuckist Classics 3
- The Stuckist Summer Show 2003
- Kith and Kids charity show included work by 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...
, 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....
, Charles Thomson (artist)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...
, Jane KellyJane KellyJane 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:...
, Gina BoldGina BoldGina Boldis an English artist/poet, who makes paintings, stained glass and sculpture. She was an artist in residence at Arlington House from May to November 2007.- Life and work :...
, Adrian Bannister, Jerry HallJerry HallJerry Faye Hall is an American model and actress, also known for her long-term relationship with Mick Jagger, with whom she had four children.-Early life:...
, Elizabeth JaggerElizabeth JaggerElizabeth "Lizzy" Scarlett Jagger is an English-American model and actress. She is the oldest daughter of Mick Jagger and Jerry Hall, and the paternal half-sister to Jade Jagger.-Early life and career:...
, Judi DenchJudi DenchDame Judith Olivia "Judi" Dench, CH, DBE, FRSA is an English film, stage and television actress.Dench made her professional debut in 1957 with the Old Vic Company. Over the following few years she played in several of William Shakespeare's plays in such roles as Ophelia in Hamlet, Juliet in Romeo...
, Richard RogersRichard RogersRichard George Rogers, Baron Rogers of Riverside CH Kt FRIBA FCSD is a British architect noted for his modernist and functionalist designs....
, Gavin TurkGavin TurkGavin Turk is a British artist and one of the Young British Artists . He often uses his own image in life-size sculptures of famous people.-Life and work:...
, Keith CoventryKeith CoventryKeith Coventry is a British artist and curator. In September 2010 his Spectrum Jesus painting won the £25,000 John Moores Painting Prize.-Early life:...
and Jon MossJon MossJon Moss is an English drummer best known as a member of the 1980s pop group Culture Club. He has also played with other bands, including London, The Nips and The Damned.-Early life:... - Cabinet of Conceptualism featured a brick by Mike Dawson and a Saatchi betting slip by Sean Hall.
- The Real Turner Prize Show 2003 (cancelled)
Solo shows
- A Dead Shark Isn't Art, Eddie Saunders
- Intellectual Property, photos by Larry Dunstan
- The Vagina Monologues Of An Essex Boy, David Beesley
- Portraits of Leigh BoweryLeigh BoweryLeigh Bowery was an Australian performance artist, club promoter, actor, pop star, model and fashion designer, based in London. Bowery is considered one of the more influential figures in the 1980s and 1990s London and New York art and fashion circles influencing a generation of artists and...
by Sexton MingSexton MingSexton 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:... - The Pinhole Photography of a Gifted Gentleman Amateur, 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...
- Being On The Dole Is Like Playing Chess with Hitler, 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...
- Hysterical Shock, Gina BoldGina BoldGina Boldis an English artist/poet, who makes paintings, stained glass and sculpture. She was an artist in residence at Arlington House from May to November 2007.- Life and work :...
Other
- 3:AM Magazine3:AM Magazine3:AM Magazine is a literary magazine, which was set up as 3ammagazine.com in April 2000 and is edited from Paris. Its editor-in-chief since inception has been Andrew Gallix, a lecturer at the Sorbonne ....
Good Sex Prize, presented by Madame Tytania (with whip)