UK
Group Show STUCKISTS: ELIZABETHAN AVANT-GARDE
Staged
at the invitation of Bermondsey Project Resident Curator, Edward Lucie-Smith
5-21 October 2012
Mon – Sun, 1 - 6pm. Bermondsey Project, 46 Willow Walk, London SE1 5SF
Facebook
event
page. Gallery site www.bermondseyproject.co.uk
Tel: 020 7036 2416 Travel
to Borough tube and walk or catch a bus down Great Dover Street to Bricklayer's
Arms stop. Another route is Tower Hill tube and bus down Tower Bridge
Road. Or various other routes...
Stuckists:
Elizabethan Avant-Garde took place at the Bermondsey Project at
the invitation of the resident curator, world-renowned critic, Edward
Lucie-Smith who said:
1.
Stuckism is now, whether one likes it or not, an important part of the
British art scene, and the barrier that used to exist between Stuckism
and the rest of the British contemporary art world has started to break
down.
2.
Some interesting parallels exist between the early years of Stuckism
and the early years of the 19th century Pre-Raphaelite Movement. 19th
century critics excoriated the Pre-Raphaelites when they first appeared,
and in fact became quite paranoid about them.
3.
The Stuckist movement has been remarkably durable, and now has an undoubted
place in the history of British 20/21st century art.
4.
It has also established itself as an international art movement, largely
through an intelligent use of the Web.
5.
It is democratic and anti-elitist (good reasons why I tend to support
it).
6.
There is no such thing as a recognisable Stuckist style, imposed by
an art guru or group of art gurus. Within the boundaries of opposition
to Conceptual artworks, which are purely intellectual structures; and
even more so, of opposition to art that is manufactured by others, and
not by the artist himself or herself, Stuckist artist do what the creative
spirit moves them to do.
He
added, "But, while I am sympathetic to many aspects of Stuckism, I am
not in fact a Stuckist!"
The
show title, "Stuckists: Elizabethan Avant-Garde", continued the Stuckist
satirical tradition by mimicking the Tate's then-current show title,
Pre-Raphaelites: Victorian Avant-Garde. As well as paintings
by over 30 Stuckists artists from the UK and abroad, Lucie-Smith took
the opportunity to present his own homage to Tracey Emin and Damien
Hirst. Emin is represented by neon signs purchased from Ebay for £20
each, one of which says, "Tracey's Room" and another shows sex positions.
Hirst's trademark "spots" are as found on various commercially-marketed
items, ranging from a Tesco toilet seat to a £3.50 Sainsbury table covering.
The
presentation of these objects lies within the tradition of the Readymade,
founded by Marcel Duchamp, who is presented in all histories of the
Modern movement one of the most important 20th century avant-garde artists.
The toilet seat, for instance, is a direct successor to Duchamp's most
celebrated work, Fountain - a male urinal bought direct from
commercial plumber's stock. All the items in the show were regularly
available for purchase from major manufacturers, at extremely low prices.
In no case were they attributed in any way by the manufacturers to any
artists.
Ruth
Dudley Edwards blogs on the Stuckist Turner Prize demo and forthcoming
show for The
Daily Telegraph (1.10.12).
Edward
Lucie-Smith's neon and spot display in Stuckists: Elizabethan
Avant-Garde in The
Independent on Sunday (30.9.12)
"Billed as an alternative to the vomit-inducing Turner Prize',
The Stuckists' assault on mainstream contemporary art continues
with an exhibition poking fun of pretty much anyone who has ever
appeared on the Culture Show down at the Bermondsey Project Space.
As well as paintings from over 30 well-known Stuckists, Edward
Lucie-Smith is taking the chance to pay homage to leading proponents
of modern British art: Tracy Emin and Damien Hirst. Flattering
it ain't. Controversial, offensive and always funny in the wryest
sense possible, we can't wait for this one/"
Spoonfed
"Any
Turner Prize Crap badges? They are collectors items." Coxsoft
(2.10.12)
"Prepare
to be Shocked ... This exhibition pokes fun at the cult of celebrity
in the art world." Giddylimits
(7.10.12)
Not
Tracey Emin and Not Damien Hirst - installations at Stuckists:Elizabethan
Avant-Garde
by Edward Lucie-Smith of cheap Chinese neons from Ebay, plus a spotted
table cloth from
Sainsbury's and a spotted toilet seat from Tesco. Also Sir Nicholas
Serota by Charles
Thomson, plus paintings by Jasmine Maddock's toy cats, Aurora and Persita.
A
video of the show by The Bury Stuckists, who can't spell Elizabethan
Combining
rebellion, aesthetics, spiritual perspective and imaginative concepts,
the Stuckists constitute Britain’s contemporary modern art movement.
This exhibition brings together over 250 works in different media,
including painting, sculpture, photography, video and Turner Prize
demonstration placards, revealing the Stuckists to be advanced
in their approach to every genre. Led by Charles Thomson, Joe
Machine, Ella Guru and Paul Harvey, the Stuckists rebel against
the art establishment of the early twenty-first century, taking
inspiration from early Modernist painting.
The exhibition
establishes the Stuckists as a present day example of the avant-garde:
painters who self-consciously overturn orthodoxy and establish
a new benchmark for contemporary painting and communication. It
will include many famous Stuckist works, and will also re-introduce
some rarely seen masterpieces including Charles Thomson’s polemical
Sir Nicholas Serota Makes an Acquisitions Decision 2001 and the
2006 sculpture created by Adrian Bannister of a grey businessman
on an orange space hopper.
You’ll
also see Mark D’s plain-speaking painting Damien Hirst – Money
for Old Rope 2005 and Annie Zamero’s politcially* charged Tony
Blair Turns Catholic: after Portrait of Innocent X by Diego Velazquez,
1650 2007, showing the former Prime Minister as the Pope.
The exhibition
shows that the Stuckist environment is widely encompassing in
its reach across the fine and conceptual arts, in response to
a fast-changing irreligious and political backdrop, and in its
relationship to women practitioners.
