STUCKISM PRESS
CUTTINGS
Guide
to Stuckism in the media - including press, magazines, radio and TV.
All
dates are in UK format, day-month-year.
For other languages, see Non-English.
For specific artists, see Artists' press.
For press on specific subjects see Stuckist
demonstrations and Tate Trustee
Scandal. For blogs, see blogs page.
For press prior to 2002, see UK News and International
News pages. For 1999-2000, see TV/Radio/Press
archive.
Other coverage
can be found via google
news, google
books and google
scholar
Futurist
show at Tate Modern (Jun 09)
Article on Futurism and Stuckism by Lawrence Pollard on the BBC
site (20.2.09): hear the Stuckist manifesto here.Tom
Sutcliffe in The
Independent (19.6.09) commends as "wonderfully galvanising"
the Futurist
manifesto, which wants to "glorify war - the only cure for
the world - militarism ... and contempt for woman, " but finds
the Stuckist manifesto
is "a hopeless reactionary whinge." Tom
Lubbock in The
Independent (15.6.09) says Stuckism is a joke. Charles Thomson
letter to The
Independent (5th section) (16.6.09) says Stuckism is not a joke.
Mark Lawson in The
Guardian (12.6.09) coins a new term for Stuckists as "young
British painters". This will now be adopted as YBPs. Read
The Other Muswell Hill Stuckists manifesto here
- issued 100 years after the Futurist manifesto.
The
Daily Telegraph - satire by Jim White (12.6.09)
"Germaine Greer: Save Ronaldo for the nation ... Spare me the
rant about the schlock of the new, will ya, all that blaady-blah Stuckist
nonsense about paint and canvas. Quite obviously the presiding art
form of the 21st century is the boy ... You want art? Just watch the
boy in action running down the wing: that's the real lineal descendant
of Michelangelo ... Why does the nation waste money on boring, boring
paintings when it should be spending it on ensuring those thighs are
on Match of the Day every week?"
Link
Daily
Mail - homework quiz 31.1.09 (page 78)
Apparently taken from the book, Homework For Grown Ups: Everything
You Learnt At School And Promptly Forgot, by E. Foley and B. Coates,
www.randomhouse.co.uk, £12.99. !0 questions were printed in
the Daily Mail, the last one being: " With
which artistic movement is Caravaggio most closely associated? a)
Baroque b) Romanticism c) Pre-Raphaelite d) Stuckism"
The
Guardian -
Stuckism one of the best in the last 30 years
25.11.08 (page 9)
"30th
Arts & Business Awards 2008: Timeline
"The
past is another country; they do things differently there" said LP
Hartley, author of The Go-Between. But when the Arts & Business awards
started up 30 years ago,was Britain's cultural life so very far removed
form today? Judge for yourself with our pick of the best from the
UK art world's last three decades.
"1978 Lloyd Webber Rice et al: Evita 1979 Warren Mitchell in
Death Of A Salesman 1980 Brenton's play The Romans in Britain 1981
Rushdie's Midnight's Children wins Booker 1982 Bleasdales's Boys from
the Black Stuff 1983 Granta's Best of Young British Novelists 1984
Inaugural Turner Prize: Malcolm Morley 1985 Pravda at the Olivier:
Anthony Hopkins 1986 Michael Gambon: The Singing Detective 1987 Julie
Walters in Bennett's Talking Heads 1988 Freeze art show includes Lucas
and Hirst 1989 Bussell is youngest ever principal dancer 1990 Channel
4's The Word 1991 Bleasdale's GBH 1992 Damien Hirst's The Kingdom
1993 Building begins on Shakespeare's Globe 1994 Four Weddings and
a Funeral 1995 Will Kemp in Bourne's Swan Lake 1996 Helen Dunmore
wins Orange Prize 1997 Myra, Marcus Harvey, Sensation exhibit 1998
The Angel of the North 1999 Stuckist party champions traditional art
2000 Tate Modern opens 2001 Iain McEwan publishes Atonement 2002 The
Play What I Wrote 2003 Grayson Perry wins the Turner 2004 The Sage
Centre, Gateshead 2005 Quinn's plinth sculpture of Alison Lapper 2006
Helen Mirren as the Queen 2007 Record price for Banksy's Space Girl.
2008 New Saatchi gallery: Atmosphere"
The
List - not a Stuckist reaction 3.7.08 Scotland
Neil Cooper writes of painters exhibiting in "Altered States
of Paint" at Dundee Contemporary Arts: "Jutta Koether,
Till Gerhard, Andreas Dobler, Angela de la Cruz, Neil Clements and
Rabiya Choudry aren’t involving themselves in some Stuckist reaction
to Conceptualism, as with the poets, mystics and psychedelicists who
inspired them (by way of William Blake leaping into Lewis Carroll’s
Looking Glass), these artists are desperately seeking something. Something
other, at that." Link
Sunday
Telegraph - Ken Livingstone 9.3.08
Stuckist quote on yet another conflict of interest involving Tate trustee
Jeremy Deller, this time with Ken Livingstone. Link
Daily
Mail - Shibboleth 24.2.08
Stuckist quote on Doris's crack aka Shibboleth, which cost £23,000
to ship: Link
BBC
Radio 4 Front Row 19.2.08
Mark Lawson alludes to Stuckists on in
conversation with airhead "Art is sexy! Art is money-sexy! Art
is money-sexy-social-climbing-fantastic!" Louisa
Buck and Brad Lochore who thinks someone's shoe
is art (video).
Here
is a sample of the conversation concerning Duchamp's urinal. Lochore
(contradicting himself as usual within a single sentence): "it
does remain the kind of butt up against which everyone seems to debate
whether things are or are not art, which - I think we've kind of moved
beyond that ..." Lawson comments: "you say we've got beyond
that. Artists have. At least, most of them have, apart from the Stuckists
possibly..." (background sniggers). Indeed artists have got beyond
that. Unfortunately a number of them have failed as yet to get beyond
getting beyond that.
Time Out - "hopeless"
12.2.08
"Serota stoked up further animosity by allegedly rejecting work
offered to the Tate both by Charles Saatchi, who was the major collector
of young British artists (YBAs) at the time, and by their opponents,
the frankly hopeless stuckists." Link.
Sounds like the frankly hopeless Sarah Kent having her say again.
BBC1 Breakfast News
8.2.08.
Charles Thomson discussed
a ghastly
sculpture in Holland Park. He took in his own sculpture, The
Iraq War, which bore a distinct resemblance to a potato, and a portrait
of Victoria Beckham which was to the untrained observer a squashed cardboard
box.
London
Talking, ITV London 22.1.08 Charles
Thomson, Stuckist Co-founder, was on
the show, discussing Banksy, with David Lee,
Richard Cork and others.
Rebel
magazine - least important in art
Dec 2007 Rebel
magazine's "Top 50 Least Important Art World Figures & Institutions".
"Charles Thompson/The Stuckists"
(sic) make it onto the list at number 2, narrowly being beaten by J.J.
Charlesworth, the reviews editor of Art Review magazine, but way ahead
of The Centre of Attention (8), Fiona Banner (10), Tim Marlow (a paltry
21), Normal Rosenthal (32), Banksy (33), David Lee of The Jackdaw (34),
Michael Craig-Martin (35), Aesthetica magazine (37), Gavin Turk (48)
and Julian Opie (50). As JJ himself said, "I’m glad that I’m apparently
more less important than they are." The list is mentioned in The
Guardian (last item) (28.12.07); more about it on artinfo.com
and an interview with Rebel editors Harry Pye and Jasper Joffe by the
delightful Ms Ana
Finel Honigman on the Saatchi
site. Buy The Rebel from the Tate gallery (Eh? - Ed.) (No, seriously.)
My
Art Space - David Lee 16.11.07
David Lee excoriates the Stuckists in the same breath as the Turner
Prize and Andy Goldsworthy. Link
The
Sunday Times - Childish letter 11.11.07
Billy
Childish letter on Stuckism, Gordon Brown & Tracey Emin in The Sunday
Times.
Link (bottom letter). Also in the Kent
News (14.11.07)
The
Sunday Times - Gordon Brown accused of stuckism. 4.11.07
Link
Things
magazine - John Bratby comparison 1.10.07
On the the work of John Bratby: "These paintings are almost Stuckist
in their frustrated intensity." Link
The
Guardian book - Letters to the Editor 2007
Charles Thomson and Billy Childish have letters in the book. Link.
The
Guardian - Charles Thomson and Billy Childish letter on Damien Hirst
11.9.07
" It is encouraging that Damien Hirst (Report, September 8) has
not only adopted our view of the Turner prize as "a media circus", where
"Turner would be turning in his grave", but has even chosen to use the
same phrases we have employed for the last eight years. We realise this
is a creative act by Hirst, known as appropriation, which demonstrates
yet again that he is ahead of the game." Link
BBC
Radio 4 "Brain of Britain" 10.9.07
Question: "Largely a reaction to conceptual art, which movement
was founded by Billy Childish and Charles Thomson in 1999 to promote
new ideas in figurative painting?" They weren't actually brainy
enough to get the answer, which was Stuckism, (one person suggested
Modernism) but then they didn't get the answer about Damien Hirst's
autobiography either. Question at 20:15. Repeated on Radio 4 (15.9.07)
The
Times 27.8.07
John Ayto, editor of The Oxford Dictionary of Modern Slang, defines
new words, including Stuckism, which was on the cover of Times 2 magazine.
Link
The
Saatchi Gallery 25.7.07
The Stuckists have a "universally perceived dodgy founder"
says
Ana Finel Honigman (left), Saatchi online magazine senior London correspondent,
on
the Saatchi
site (25.7.07).
Charles Thomson replies with
a blog
entry and poem (25.9.07)
The
reply vanished twice (see webcitation.org here
and here)
but this turned out to be due to a wider technical fault, not censorship
after all.
BBC
Radio 5 Live, Simon Mayo show
12.7.07
Simon Mayo discusses the Ruralists group with Peter Blake.
Simon Mayo: So were you like the Stuckists. Was this a romantic version,
a romantic vision of what art should be like? Peter Blake: The
Stuckists have admitted that they based themselves a little bit on the
Ruralists, but their anger is different. They're a different kind of
group, but there was a link between the Stuckists and the Ruralists.
Time into programme: 2:09:07
The Times
27.6.07
Damien Hirst's skull and John Lekay's
skull:
The Times Also mentioned: Stuckist
shark display.
The
Daily Telegraph 1.6.07
Bill Gates for director of the Tate. Stuckists in Daily
Telegraph Stuckism meets Microsoft
- see Bryan Glick, editor's Diary on Computing
(30.5.07), also Blueeyesphoto.com
(1.6.07)
The
Evening Standard 24.5.07
Stuckism is not Scientology - the
Evening
Standard (24.5.07)
There was some confusion arising from a story in the South
London Guardian that Stuckism is linked to Scientology. It isn't.
Some Stuckist artists are exhibiting at the A Gallery, which is a normal
commercial gallery. Its director, Fraser Kee Scott, is a Scientologist.
That is his own personal affair, and nothing to do with the Stuckists.
The following comment by Charles Thomson is from an interview by Fraser
Kee Scott 26.6.08:
The background
to this is that a story appeared in the South London Guardian, promoting
a show at A Gallery, which included Stuckist artists. The story started
by talking about L. Ron Hubbard and Scientology, next to which was one
of Paul Harvey’s paintings. Paul is nothing to do with Scientology,
and neither am I, nor the Stuckists, so we felt we had been misrepresented.
We had agreed to exhibit at A Gallery on the basis that it functions
as a normal commercial gallery. The Evening Standard phoned me up about
this and I told them how I felt. After that, you informed me that was
not what you intended with the story. You had talked about the show,
and the journalist asked you about Scientology, but you didn’t realise
it would be highlighted in that way. I accept there was misunderstanding
and consider the matter resolved. We have continued to show at A Gallery
and very successfully. For the record, I have always found you to be
a very honest and principled person with a genuine passion for art.
Read
the whole interview on the A Gallery site here.
BBC
Radio 4, You and Yours 11.4.07
Charles Thomson, Stuckist co-founder, agrees with Lewis Biggs, ex boss
of Tate Liverpool, who said, "I'm astonished to find myself in
agreement with Charles Thomson." The agreement was that art had
a value that was not just utilitarian or financial..
Hear the programme on Real
Player (item at 26:00) or just the
art item.
Louisville
Eccentric Observer 3.4.07
Jeffrey Scott Holland (Mid Kentucky
Stuckists) cover story. Link
BBC Radio 4, Front Row 19.3.07
Programme
presenter, Mark Lawson, with David Jaffe, Senior Curator at the National
Gallery in London, and cultural historian, Steven Biel, senior lecturer
on history and literature at Harvard University, discussed the forthcoming
Surrealism show at the V&A, and the general nature of isms. This
is end of the conversation:
Steven
Biel: I was just told that there's something
in the UK called Stuckism, which I have to admit I wasn't aware of until
a couple of days ago, but I looked them up on the web and they have
a manifesto, so there is an ism out there. But one of the things about
isms is that it can be fairly sectarian and maybe sometimes isms are
only known to the ists, who are involved, rather than known to the larger
public.
Mark Lawson: Sectarianism, as you didn't say. We can join that
movement. But the Stuckists are a good example, who are in fact… They
set themselves up in fact in opposition to Modernism in British art,
so they're anti-Tracey Emin, they're anti-Damien Hirst. But they're
a good example, because, as Stephen says, they have a manifesto. They're
desperate to become an ism, but they've only really taken off among
themselves.
David Jaffe: I'll have to confess that they haven't taken off
for me yet.
Mark Lawson: You've never heard of the… well, you see this shows
their problem, David. You've never heard of the Stuckists.
David Jaffe: But we're helping them, we hope. I mean, we do get
a lot of people who like [not clear] paintings, so maybe they'll all
join the Stuckists and there'll be a huge movement.
Steven Biel: There are 19 items on the 1999
Stuckist manifesto which I have in front of me, and I particularly
like item 13: "Stuckism is anti-ism. Stuckism doesn't become an ism
because Stuckism is not Stuckism. It is stuck."
[Well, at least we know what our problem is now -
Ed.]
The
New Yorker 19.3.07
Stuckist demo mentioned in article about the Turner Prize (p 81).
Contemporary
Art Gallery 03.07.
"I
feel - or maybe hope - that there will eventually be a return to painting
and draughtsmanship. We have already seen signs of this in the Turner
Prize, and in new art movements such as The Stuckists."
- Peter London, editor Grafitti Magazine (now renamed Art in London)
and director Gallery West-Eleven.Link
The
Independent 15.2.07
Dan
Belton letter on Manet. Link.
Comment: hope
springs blog (24.2.07)
Kylie
Minogues show at V&A, BBC TV news 6.2.07
Charles Thomson was on BBC TV Breakfast News at 6.40am in a short interview,
and at 8.20 am in a discussion, about the show of Kylie Minogue's stage
costumes at the Victoria & Albert Museum on the topics of is it
art and is it dumbing down? He said it wasn't art and nobody said it
was, and that it was a good job it wasn't at the Tate because they think
anything in the Tate is art by default. He approved of the show, but
thought it highlighted concerns about dumbing down brought about by
government pressure for attendance figures, as well as the bad example
set by the Tate who had dumbed down with shows such as the slides by
Kirsten Holler.
He was first quoted in The
Times (5.2.07: "Everybody wants to get in on the act. It
compromises integrity because the sway of glamour has overcome what
used to be independent academic rigour. We have museums frozen like
rabbits fixated in the headlights of celebrity culture. That said, I
rather like Kylie Minogue so I may be tempted to go along.”
Other coverage (7.2.06) with his quote in New
York Times, Yahoo
news, China
Daily, Today
online (p2). See also Stuck
Inn on 3am, "Kylie and Gina - a Tale of Two Ladies",
part
1: Kylie.
REMODERNISM
IN NORTH CAROLINA 28.1.07
"Montreat - local artist Clay Martin is heavily influenced by the
“remodernism” of the Stuckist movement — an “anti-conceptual” reaction
to postmodern conceptualism. Founder of the international online group
of like-minded artists (www.remodernists.deviantart.com), Martin is
showing his work at Montreat College’s Hamilton Gallery."
Ashville
Citizen-Times
The Daily Telegraph 10.12.06
Nigel Farndale in The
Telegraph defines "a Stuckist, one of those people who go around
wrecking conceptual art." Link
The Scotsman 9.12.06
A Stuckist quote describes Martin "vomit" Creed's installation
of a load of balls as "a load of balls". Link
The Independent 13.10.06
Trustee cronyism at National Portrait Gallery?
Stuckist quote.
Link
The Guardian 7.10.06
Article on the Frieze Art Fair says it is "A time ... for Stuckists
to paint banners in opposition" Link
Tate acquisition
prices 19.9.06
The Stuckists requested acquisition prices from the Tate in August last
year under the Freedom of Information Act. This was declined and a 20,000
word appeal lodged in February this year. In July, Tate Chairman, Paul
Myners, wrote to us that the prices would be made public after all.
This has now happened.
Story with Stuckist quote in The
Times (19.9.06), bloomberg.com
and The
Daily Mail (19.9.06)
Daily Mail 19.9.06
The Tate buys a hatstand for £400,857. Charles Thomson: "'Now
we know why the Tate has been so reluctant to tell anyone how they're
spending our money." Link
The
Observer 25.6.06
The Saatchi sites includes Stuckist painting. Link
Art
and Antiques Sept 06, p.32
In an article on the decay of Hirst's shark, The Physical Impossibility
of Death in the Mind of Someone Living: "A website (www.stuckism.com)
is dedicated to debunking the aesthetic value of works like Hirst's
shark."
The Independent:
The Triumph of Stuckism symposium
14.4.06
"Charles Saatchi is about to become the latest victim of a critical
mauling from the people of Liverpool. By way of a warm-up for 2008,
when they take on the mantle of "European City of Culture", Mersey-side's
finest academics are meeting to slag off the secretive collector. Liverpool
John Moores University has announced plans for a two- day symposium
on "the triumph of Stuckism". Dozens of art historians will use the
event to study the Stuckists, a media-savvy group of artists who were
formed to campaign gainst Saatchi and onceptual art." Link
The
Guardian: Gnarls Barkley 14.4.06
Gnarls Barkley "is also, apparently, the lover of Janet Jackson
and Mariah Carey, Kraftwerk's English teacher and the broker of a meeting
between the Wu-Tang Clan and Britain's Turner prize-baiting Stuckist
art movement." Link
The origin of this notion was a press release concocted by Emerson Dameron,
reproduced on the Atlantic Records site
(click "bio"). It can also be seen on the Gnarls Barkley blog
on MySpace 24.4.06. The original release reads, "So who is Gnarls
Barkley? Diligent pen pal to Bangs, soul giant Isaac Hayes, and Violent
Femmes ringleader Gordon Gano? Well-kept romantic consort to pop stars
Mariah Carey and Janet Jackson? English teacher to synth-rock legends
Kraftwerk? Croupier at a mysterious annual gathering in the Bay Area
that allegedly draws members of the Wu-Tang Clan and Britian's Stuckist
art collective?"
CNN: Return of
painting 17.3.06
Charles Thomson on conceptual art: "Society today is obsessed with things
like junk food, offering quick gratification. This is junk art which
matches that" + other quotes. Link
The Daily Telegraph
7.2.06 David Roberts, new major collector buys Hirst, Emin and
the Stuckists. Link
SAW poetry magazine
publishes A
Failing in My Head - poem about Sir Nicholas Serota Jan
06
Send submissions or order enquiries to Colin Shaddick, Editor SAW, 4
Masefield Avenue, Barnstaple, Devon EX31 1QJ. Website: sawpoet.blogspot.com
Email: sawpoems@btinternet.com
The Evening
Standard: Charles Thomson leaves Stuckism International Gallery 14.12.05
"Artist Charles Thomson, cofounder of the Stuckists anti- Turner
Prize movement, has left the trendy environs of Shoreditch for suburban
East Finchley. He has bought a three bedroom former workmen's cottage
for Pounds 225,000 through Martyn Gerrard. "I'd grown tired of all that
Shoreditch pseudo-trendiness," says Thomson." Link
The
Guardian - Ivan Massow and Paul Myners 11.12.05 (ad feature)
Charles Thomson was asked to comment on "contemporary art".
Excerpt: "Ivan Massow, when Chairman of the ICA, was not allowed
to say conceptual art is 'tat'. On the other hand, Paul Myners, the
current Chairman of the Tate, can pronounce an equally vehement opinion
that "painting is the medium of yesterday", and no one blinks an eyelid.
Why has he too not been pilloried for narrow-mindedness and forced to
resign? Read the rest: Link
The
Age: Childish, Emin, Stuckism (Australia) 4.12.05.
Billy Childish and context of Tracey Emin's insult which led to Stuckism.
Link
BBC 14.9.05
h2g2 Guide Entry. Modern art is not rubbish. Tracey Emin is the example
for, Stuckism is the example against. Link
MUNGBEING
1.6.05, issue 2
"The
Outsider Art and Stuckism issue",
including
interviews with Charles
Thomson and Billy
Childish (ex Stuckist) + work by Ella
Guru, Peter
Klimt, Godfrey
Blow, Jeffrey
Scott Holland, SP
Howarth, Joe
Machine , Charles
Thomson and Kim
Richardson
Stuckism
on BBC Radio 4 Round Britain quiz 30.4.05
Question 1, connect, please: A painter, who formerly had an Eminent
friend; An architect who constructed a capital; A mountain which was
the scene of a mass trespass. Why is this a juvenile question?
Listen to it here
(on BBC player).
To hear on stand-alone Realplayer click here
. (You can download a free version of Realplayer here
)
Alternative viewing method: copy and paste this URL into Realplayer
(click File, then Open) - http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio/aod/shows/rpms/radio4/rbq.ram
The Age (Melbourne)
16.4.05
"A
beginners guide to the modern world: Stuckists." Scan
The Scotsman
7.1.05
"A
cultured person is someone who appreciates Mozart and Radiohead, can
argue a case for Tracey Emin or the Stuckists, and who understands what
a metaphor is." Link
MATTHEW
COLLINGS IN ART REVIEW ON STUCKISTS Dec 04
If you want to know exactly how the Stuckists are positioned in
the current game of art stances, then Matthew Collings is the man:
"The drift in the art world for years has been to come up
with pseudo-popular forms for formerly (that is, in the 1970s) genuinely
elitist or obscure conceptual art contents. But you can't get it wrong
- wrong popular is punished with sneers. (Grayson) Perry is right popular
like Tracey Emin; both are victims of abuse, use text, do multi-styles
and are willing to be embarrassing in a controlled context where the
codes of the conceptual academy are confirmed. (The Stuckists are of
course wrong popular: they do the fourth thing but only the first half
of it.)"
Well, thank God for that.
STUCKIST COMMENT
ON PHARMACY SALE 19.10.04
Stuckist comment on Damien Hirst's sale of items from failed restaurant
Pharmacy in London.
"The Damien Hirst sale is the art equivalent of the housing boom
of the '80s..... Prices for trivial knickknacks are inflated out of
all proportion to their true worth.'' See Bloomberg.com
THE FUTURE
Sept 04
The first issue of this magazine, edited by J.J. Charlesworth, contained
an article, "Dead Painters' Society", on the Stuckists by
Luke Heighton. A response to it is here.
STUCKISM IN LONELY PLANET LONDON 13.6.04
Stuckism International Gallery is given its own panel on page 47
of the current edition of the renowned guidebook Lonely Planet London,
with a very clear write-up on the movement, apart from the minor point
that Sean
Hall is not actually a Stuckist - just an agent provocateur (not
the lingerie shop by the way).
RANT
MAGAZINE Spring 2004
Charles Thomson was interviewed in a two-page spread in the innovative
Manchester arts and culture magazine (now defunct)
'NEW STATESMAN
SEXED-UP QUIZ' 15.12.03
Arts Questions set by Rosie Millard, arts correspondent of the BBC 1.
What has prompted the first ever age restriction for a display at Tate
Britain?
a Grayson Perry's satin dress
b Jake and Dinos Chapman's bronze blow-up dolls
c Tracey Emin's bath
d A retrospective of nudes by the Stuckists
Whole quiz here
THE INDEPENDENT
(Louise Jury) 10.12.03
"`The Stuckists' are the most strident critics of the contemporary
arts scene as dominated by conceptual artists like Tracey Emin and Damien
Hirst and encouraged by the likes of Sir Nicholas Serota of the Tate
and the collector Charles Saatchi. Charles Thomson, a founding Stuckist,
said he believed we are living in a time which is the mirror image to
the Victorian art establishment. "The Victorian values were moral, so
now we have everything anti- moral. Victorians had beauty so we have
to have ugliness and they had craft so we have to have anti-craft or
rubbish, junk art," he said." Link
ARTSCAPE
Nov 2003
"Stuckism
presented a unified, coherent challenge to the prevailing BritArt orthodoxy.
Its advantage lay in speaking the populist language of the ‘man in the
street’ with catchy slogans and use of humour, while backing this up
with a coherent philosophy written by established artists drawing on
a detailed knowledge of art history and criticism."
-
Jeremy Williams Artscape
(Nov 2003) Stuckism article, pp. 9-10.
STUCKISM INTERVIEW ON ABC RADIO NATIONAL AUSTRALIA
21.8.03
Thursday 21 August (9.10 - 9.45pm time slot, Sydney time) The Deep
End with Francis Leach
Interview with Stuckist Co-founder Charles Thomson (London)
THE
TIMES - HIRST SHARK V STUCKIST SHARK
14.8.03
Damien
Hirst accused of copying - again (well there's a surprise!)
includes - was Stuckist shark the original? Read it in The
Times
THE
AGE (Melbourne): Sterlac's ear transplant 6.8.03
Body artist Sterlace plans to transplant an ear to his arm. UK Stuckists
are reported to be virulently critical. Melbourne Stuckist, Nigel Stein,
says: "Personally, I have been an admirer of Stelarc's work for about
10 years. I would be really interested in seeing the outcome." Link
THE
TIMES: 'Traditionalists mount shark attack on Hirst' by Dalya Alberge
10.3.03
Article on the forthcoming Stuckism Gallery (London) show 'A Dead
Shark Isn't Art' which will display a 325lb golden hammerhead shark
caught by local electrician Eddie Saunders and displayed in his shop
since 1989 - two years before the HIrst version. The show starts 17
April to coincide with the opening of the Saatchi Gallery on the South
Bank.
TATE
PROFILES STUCKIST CRITIQUE 12.3.03
Two pages on the Tate Britain site headed 'Teach Yourself Turner Prize
Criticism' cite Stuckist reactions, such as that Martin Creed's work
(empty room, light going on and off) exuded 'outstanding stupidity'.
Read it here
and here.
HITCHHIKER'S
GUIDE TO STUCKISM 10.3.03
Not exactly, but extraordinarily Stuckism is mentioned in the new M.J.
Simpson biography of sci-fi writer the late Douglas Adams 'Hitchhiker',
due to Stuckist co-founder Charles Thomson being a class mate of Adams
at Brentwood School in Essex in the sixties. There is even a photo of
sixteen-year old Thomson.
PAUL
HARVEY ON FRONT COVER OF THE CRACK 10.3.03
Paul Harvey, Newcastle Stuckist
and guitarist of punk group Penetration, features on the front cover
of The Crack (March 2003), the North-East entertainment guide, with
his painting Carole Lesley. They say, "his extraordinary sense
of colour and eye for fine composition remain just as intoxicating as
ever."
CHANNEL
M (TV) - MANCHESTER
GLOVES
OFF progamme featured the Stuckist Tate clown demo last December, the
Stuckism International Centre (London) and a studio debate including
Stuckist Charles Thomson and Conceptualist Mike Dawson of Flux magazine.
2pm every day Mon 17 - Sun 23 Feb
Get
Channel M with a normal aerial Info: tel 0161 211 2916, Email:info@channelm.co.uk
STUCKISTS
ON THE AIRWAVES 10.2.03
Reme Noe and Lee Pearson of the Maidstone Stuckists were
interviewed on BBC Newsroom South-East about their show in Chatham on
24 Jan. SP Howarth was on Sky News with Richard Littlejohn on
6 Feb, debating whether an 'artist' kicking an empty takeaway container
down the High Street in Bedford should get a £12,000 grant. Charles
Thomson was on Radio 5 Live, 'Late Night Curry' with Edwina Curry
and conceptual artist Mike Dawson, talking about the same subject. Ella
Guru did an off-air demo interview for Radio 5, just for the record.
BILLY
CHILDISH SHUNS STUCKISTS
Dec 02
"He has even gone
so far as to shun the very art movement he was instrumental in founding
- The Stuckists." - The Observer
SARAH
KENT OF TIME OUT RANTS
7.8.02
Finally Sarah
Kent has decided the Stuckists exist after all and does her worst reviewing
the First Stuckist International at the Stuckism Centre London. She
tries hard, but we do feel compelled to point out that Ella Guru did
not paint "pussycats, ducks and swans". The pussycats were
by Wolf Howard, in the next section of work and in a style which a random
sample of visitors had no problem distinguishing from Ms Guru's. SP
Howarth was most indignant to be told he "indulges in soft porn".
His response published the following week in Time Out, said, "I
am bemused at Sarah Kent's accusation (TO 1668, The Stuckists) that
I indulge in soft porn in my work. It is quite obviously hard porn.
She describes my painting as 'A boneless red blob masturbates whilst
sniffing the crotch of a crude purple nude"' Where I come from, the
usual practice is licking." Charles Thomson, who has condemned
Britart, was taken aback to be told he "feigns hatred of contemporary
art", especially when Patrick Caulfield was cited as an example.
He says, "I have no problem acknowledging Caulfield as a precedent,
but, as far as being influenced by "Michael Craig Martin, the man
who taught many YBAs", I have only ever seen his work in the Tate.
I am extremely impressed that Sarah Kent has realised that my style,
which I developed in 1978, is indebted to his painting 'Knowing', which
he did in 1996. Also, it's not 'puerile humour' - it's reality. A few
weeks after I did the painting, Tracey Emin was shown on TV getting
very angry about an installation because someone had substituted another
pair of knickers for hers. Don't shoot the messenger. I don't ever recall
saying that I considered the painting 'a serious weapon', so I don't
know where she got that from. I just think it would be funny in a puerile
way - if it weren't true. That makes it a bit sad." See the press
cutting here.
IVAN
MASSOW/STUCKISTS BBC NEWS SITE 21.1.01
In case you hadn't heard,
Ivan Massow, Chairman of London's ICA (Institute of Contemporary Art),
which is renowned for promoting the pretentious self-indulgent, craftless
tat of conceptual art, has written an article in the New Statesman (21.1.01)
condemning conceptual art as pretentious self-indulgent craftless tat.
He also let drop en route that conceptual art's most noted UK proponent
Tracey Emin couldn't "think her way out of a paper bag".
This has ruffled a few feathers,
including, not surprisingly, Tracey Emin's, who called for him to resign.
Sir Nicholas Serota who was also lambasted, declined to comment, which
is his usual spirited stance on the wrong kind of artistic challenge.
Stuckist
response | Post
a comment | Report
on Massow's comments | Guardian
Report
STUDY
OF TURNER PRIZE WITH STUCKISTS 4
October 2001
A study from the
University of Glasgow looks at the history of the Turner Prize, and
includes Stuckist clown demo and Real Turner Prize Show 2000. Check
it out
STUCKISTS
ARE THE CRITICS 4
October 2001
A press release
from news agency Reuters says the Turner Prize is 'Condemned by critics
as "an ongoing national joke."' That quote is actually from the Stuckists
Turner Prize Manifesto.
RACHEL
JORDAN'S VIRGIN DEBUT 25
September 2001
We are not implying
that Rachel is a virgin, although for all we know she might well be,
but she has been a regular exhibitor at Stuckist shows.
Particularly memorable
was her 'Turnerprize Hotel' showing a gaudy pink and yellow Tate promoting
'100 dirty beds/non-stop bland videos/dreary laundromat' which was first
show in 'The Resignation of Sir Nicholas Serota' at Gallery 108.
The painting was
recently reproduced in Virgin Trains magazine 'Hotline' as part of a
feature on the Turner Prize.
Stuckist views
are printed against the Prize ('what Turner did was paint pictures...').
Inevitably Charles Thomson's painting of Sir Nicholas with a large pair
of red knickers is also reproduced. (Has he actually done any other
work apart from this, we ask ourselves?)
ADVANCE
NOTICE: LONDON RADIO 1-3AM MON 25 JUNE 18
June 2001
Charles Thomson
has been invited to sit in with Tessa Dunlop on her LBC radio show in
the early hours. Listeners will therefore be treated to that rare combination
of brains and beauty (and Charles Thomson as well). You can also phone
in yourself. Tune to 1152 AM (or medium wave as it used to be known).
DETROIT
REPORTS 9
May 2001
"Stuckists
stick to bucking art establishment" Stuckist book launch in the
Detroit News. (and Mr Sewell's comments).
4
May 2001
DON'T
MISS THIS PROGRAMME! ARTVERTISING
- CHANNEL 4 TV
3.55-4.25 am (note:
AM) Friday 4 May On
Charles Saatchi. Features
the Stuckists and 'Art or Arse' song.
ART
REBELS TAKE ON SMITH ON POLLING DAY 12
April 2001
That was the headline
in the Evening Standard Londoner's Diary today. It announced that Stuckist
co-founder Charles Thomson was to stand in the next General Election
against Culture Secretary Chris Smith in the South Islington and Finsbury
constituency.
Thomson alleges
(although this is nothing new for readers of this site - or Jackdaw
magazine) that there are "people on Arts Council panels awarding taxpayers
money to galleries which display works of art by people on the panels".
He also challenges
the Culture Secretary to a debate on such issues, which the government's
failure to address is condemned as "another example of Labour sleeze".
THE
BIG ISSUE: STUCKISTS V LOUISA BUCK (WHO'S SHE AGAIN?)
9 March 2001
The 5 February issue
of The Big Issue (the magazine sold by the homeless, just in case anybody
didn't know)kindly features a whole page on the Stuckists.
It includes a bold
colour print of Ella Guru's 'Divine' which is rapidly becoming a Stuckist
icon and is actually called 'The Long Island Iced Tea Party II' (the
wrong title appearing in our book and not the fault of Big Issue, we
hasten to add).
The article by
Helen Sumpter is accurate, insightful, comprehensive and well worth
getting. Order a back issue for a mere £1.50 from: http://www.bigissue.com/london/back.htm
Ah yes, that Louisa
Buck makes an appearance as the mandatory other side of the argument.
Here's what she has to say (our comments in square brackets): "The Tate
isn't a seething mass of work by Hirst, Emin and Lucas [never said it
was, although on a recent visit there were three Emin videos playing
and not one work by, for example, Peter Blake on view]...
"I saw the last
Stuckists exhibition and some of the work was just plain cack [so what
exactly was the rest of it then? Some other kind of cack? Or maybe the
rest of it was good? Who knows? Who's was the plain cack? Have some
guts Louisa and name names: we promise to publish your analysis in full,
so you can go down in art history as the person that called cack cack].
"There may be a
lot of boring conceptual work [ah, we agree on something at least] but
to have a grumpy [vivacious] reactionary [forward-thinking] movement
against it is just daft." [Yes, of course it is - much better to stay
bored, keep in with the in crowd and pocket the cash. (We hasten to
add these comments are generalised observations and in no way allude
to the person of Louisa Buck, who, as far as we know does not at all
subscribe to such behaviour or attitudes)].
So what exactly
can we find out about the character of the elusive Louisa and her take
on the profundity of non-cack? "Never...", according to an article
by her in ES (Evening Standard) magazine last year, has the following
quotation from US Museum Director Thomas Hoving "seemed more apt". Here
then is what art is all about: "Art is sexy! Art is money-sexy! Art
is money-sexy-social-climbing-fantastic!"
STUCKISM
20TH CENTURY ART MOVEMENT - OFFICIAL! ALSO LOUISA BUCK (WHO'S SHE?)
3 March 2001
Wildldbrush's Art
Today site lists some sixty 20th Century art movements, amongst which
you will doubtless be relieved (and also impressed by Wildbrush's astuteness)
that Stuckism takes its place, (albeit with some glaring typos in evidence).
All the more odd then that Louisa Buck's recently revised book 'Moving
Targets: a User's Guide to British Art now' fails to even mention the
existence of Stuckism. Come on Louisa (wait for it - dreadful
pun imminent) buck up. So click on Wildbrush
and don't buy Louisa Buck's book (although it does mention Childish,
so flick through it in the shop).
STUCKIST
PANTS FOR LONDON DINNER PARTIES 2
March 2001
ES, the Evening
Standard magazine, has featured the new Stuckist book on the page 'Something
for the weekend' (a phrase traditionally followed by 'Sir?' as a barbers'
code to enquire if a gentleman require a restock of condoms).
We are 'Something
Pants' due to the inclusion of Charles Thomson's ubiquitous picture
of Sir Nicholas Serota, Tate Gallery director with a pair of red knickers,
which may or may not be a genuine Tracey Emin artwork.
Anyway, the write-up
begins, "Brush up your dinner-party conversation by dipping into The
Stuckists... " So that's what that lady in the £3000 Prada dress
was doing at our show last November.
If you want to
know what to say at the dinner party, the bon mot is "Stuckism is the
backlash against the current Brit Art elite". You can follow it
up with the origin of the name "Stuckism" which I'm really not going
to go into again here.
If you want to
be particularly radical, I suggest (and this wasn't in ES): "Well of
course it's been obvious for some time that Brit Art has had its day."
STUCKISTS,
ATTITUDE, TWO RANKIN NUDE HUNKS 1
March 2001
The Stuckists get
a half page in March issue of gay mag 'Attitude' next to two Rankin
photos of nude hunks. The ubiquitous Sir Nicholas Serota pops
up again with his red knickers. Maybe the Tate Director is on his way
to new status as a gay icon.
BOOK
REVIEWED IN CREATIVE REVIEW 1
March 2001
Creative Review,
slick magazine for designers and graphic artists, reviews The Stuckists
book on page 88 (not page 92 as has been alleged) of the March issue.
We are suitably honoured. They say, "There's a lot that's interesting
here, including their comment that 'the Turner Prize effectively turns
the Tate Gallery into a state-funded ad agency for Charles Saatchi,
the Lisson Gallery and the White Cube Gallery' ...it's certainly provocative
enough to get you talking."
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