Stuckism press quotes 1999

These are some of the comments that introduced Stuckism to the world
in its first few months of public existence.

"The backlash has begun against the Turner prize..."
- The Evening Standard (23 July 1999)

"The Stuckists fight back against Brit Art"
- The Sunday Times (1 August 1999)

"a revolution waiting to happen..."
- The Times (26 August 1999)

"dedicated to restoring the place of painting in art"
- Today, BBC Radio 4 (11 September 1999)

"in danger of breaking into the mainstream"
- The Guardian (14 September 1999)

"...to championing the emotional integrity of figurative painting"
- The Evening Standard (16 September 1999)

"there's no denying that the Stuckists have a case"
- London Metro (20 September 1999)

"Twelve artists react against contemporary trends"
- The Evening Standard (20 September 1999)

"a far more authentic 'ism' than Saatchi's brand"
- The Evening Standard (24 September 1999)

"a row dividing London's hippest artists"
- Nightlife, London Weekend Television (24 September 1999)

"a radical new art movement"
- CNN International (25 September 1999)

"Brit Art? That's so yesterday...The Stuckists have certainly put the cat among the pigeons"
- The Express (25 September 1999)

"shaking up the arts world"
- The Scotsman (29 September 1999)

"it's a good, healthy thing"
- Tracey Emin, The Times (2 October 1999)

"The movement is going from strength to strength"
- Hendon & Finchley Times (7 October 1999)

"Whether you like the work or not is hardly the question: it somehow rings true... The show displays the work of the 12-strong group and is linked undeniably by the directness that Thomson lays claim to. 'The work is about an authentic engagement with experience and vision, which is put into pictures that communicate that clearly, directly and memorably,' he says. Whether this is Archway-based Ella Guru's dramatic portraits of men in beehive wigs...an axe-wielding Jayne Mansfield figure by the self-taught artist Joe Machine, or RA-trained Charles Williams's Home from the Abbatoir. They are nothing if not direct.It is this emotional honesty that seems to be at the core of the work... Humour, rather than the 'wit' of the YBAs is another appealing aspect to their work."
- Helen Smithson, Art Critic, Ham & High (Hampstead & Highgate Express) (8 October 1999)

"Twelve artists react against 20-th century modernism"
- The Independent (9 October 1999)

"So viel Witz and Originalität geht Saatchis Neurotischen Realisten ganz und gar ab." (Such wit and originality is completely missing in Saatchi's Neurotic Realism.)
- Die Welt (27 October 1999)

"there is a serious point to all this... the Stuckists... are fundamentally opposed to the way that Brit Art favours the conceptual over all aesthetic considerations. `Brit Shit', as they refer to the work of Emin and her cohorts, has become all shock and no value."
- Chrissy Iley, Hotair (Virgin Atlantic, Oct-Dec 1999)

"Now old skool art sensationalists like Damien Hirst and Chris Ofili are the new establishment there's no shortage of bright young replacements. Leading the pack are the Stuckists"
- Sky Magazine (December 1999)

"leading a backlash against the sterile 'cleverness' of Brit Art... intelligent insight"
- London Metro (13 January 2000)

"making serious points about the commodification of art as fashion and the tyranny of the marketplace"
- The Daily Telegraph (29 January 2000)

"This has got to be the best thing to happen to art in ages" - Natalie S (email sent to Stuckism)