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 Stuckism is an international art movement that was founded in 1999 by Billy Childish and Charles Thomson to promote figurative painting in opposition to conceptual art.[1] The first group of thirteen British artists has since expanded, as of October 2009, to 202 groups in 48 countries.[2] The Stuckists have staged shows and gained media attention for outspoken comments and demonstrations, particularly outside Tate Britain against the Turner Prize, sometimes dressed in clown costumes. They have also stated their opposition to the Charles Saatchi-patronised Young British Artists. After exhibiting mainly in small galleries in Shoreditch, London, they were given their first show in a major public museum in 2004, the Walker Art Gallery, as part of the Liverpool Biennial. Other campaigns mounted by the group include official avenues, such as standing in the 2001 general election, reporting Saatchi to the Office of Fair Trading to complain about his power in the art world (the complaint was not upheld), and applying under the Freedom of Information Act 2000 for Tate Gallery trustee minutes, which started a media scandal about the purchase of Chris Ofili's work, The Upper Room and led to an official rebuke of the Tate by the Charity Commission. 
[edit] Name, founding and origin The name Stuckism was coined in January 1999 by Charles Thomson in response to a poem recited to him several times by Billy Childish, who records in it that his former girlfriend, Tracey Emin had said he was "stuck! stuck! stuck!" with his art, poetry and music.[3] 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.[3] There were ten 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 no relation to Bill Lewis), Joe Machine, Sexton Ming, and Charles Williams.[3] The membership had been evolved over the previous twenty-five years through creative collaborations:[4] the group was promoted as artists, but members continued to work in various media, including poetry, fiction, performance, photography, film and music, as well as painting.[3] In 1979, Thomson, Childish, Bill Lewis and Ming had been in The Medway Poets performance group, to which Absolon and Sanchia Lewis had also contributed.[3] Peter Waite's Rochester Pottery staged a series of solo painting shows.[3] In 1982, TVS broadcast a documentary on the poets.[3] 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.[3] Group members brought out dozens of publications.[3] The poetry group dispersed after two years, reconvening in 1987 to record The Medway Poets LP.[3] Clark, Howard and Machine became involved over the following years.[3] Thomson got to know Williams, who was a local art student and whose girlfriend was a friend of Emin; Thomson also met Everall.[3] During the foundation of the group, Ming brought in his girlfriend, Guru, who in turn invited Castle.[3] [edit] Manifestos In August 1999, Childish and Thomson wrote The Stuckists manifesto[5] which places great importance on the value of painting as a medium, as well as the use of it for communication and the expression of emotion and experience - as opposed to what they see as the superficial novelty, nihilism and irony of conceptual art and postmodernism. The most contentious statement in this manifesto is: "Artists who don't paint aren't artists". The second manifesto was An Open Letter to Sir Nicholas Serota which received a brief reply from him: "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'."[6] In Remodernism, their third 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.[7] [edit] Growth in UK 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! 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. 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,[8] and had the first solo at the Stuckism International Gallery in 2002, 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. 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 anyway Saunders was the real pioneering artist.[9] 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.[10] 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. This 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.[11] In July 2006 the Charity Commission completed an investigation into The Tate's purchase of trustees' work, censuring the gallery for acting outside its legal powers.[12] Sir Nicholas Serota stated that the Stuckists had "acted in the public interest".[13] In October 2006, the Stuckists staged their first exhibition, Go West, in a commercial West End gallery, Spectrum London. This "major exhibition"[14] signalled their entry as "major players" in the art world.[15] 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 groups in the UK. Artists include Mark D, Elsa Dax, Paul Harvey, Naive John, 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. [edit] DemonstrationsMain article: Stuckist demonstrations .jpg) 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.[16][17] In 2004 outside the launch of The Triumph of Painting at the Saatchi Gallery they wore tall hats with Charles Saatchi's face on and carried placards claiming that Saatchi had copied their ideas. In 2005 they protested outside the Turner Prize against the purchase of Ofili's The Upper Room. 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,[18] and charged, but acquitted of any crime—an outcome which was seen to have positive implications for Turkey's relationship with the European Union.[19] [edit] The Stuckists Punk VictorianMain article: 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 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 US, Germany and Australia. There was an accompanying exhibition of Stuckist photographers. A book, The Stuckists Punk Victorian, was published to accompany the exhibition. The cover showed Paul Harvey's painting of Emily Mann. Daily Mail journalist Jane Kelly exhibited a painting of Myra Hindley in the show, and was dismissed from her job.[20] [edit] A GalleryFor more details on this topic, see A Gallery#Stuckists.  In 2005, Fraser Kee Scott, Director 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 2005, 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 by the Tate for its purchase of The Upper Room, paintings by its trustee, Chris Ofili, who had asked other artists to donate work to the gallery.[21] In April 2007, some Stuckist artists were included in a group show at the A Gallery, Wimbledon, London. The gallery owner, Fraser Kee Scott, a member of the Church of Scientology, talked about the Church and the show in an interview in the 'South London Guardian'.[22] 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.[23] 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.[24] 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,[25][26] titled after words apparently said to Thomson by his ex-wife, Stella Vine on their wedding night.[26] 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.[25] Tate chairman Paul Myners visited both shows.[27] [edit] Sir Nicholas Serota Makes an Acquisitions DecisionMain article: Sir Nicholas Serota Makes an Acquisitions Decision Thomson's painting, Sir Nicholas Serota Makes an Acquisitions Decision, is one of the best known paintings to come out of the Stuckist movement,[17] and a likely "signature piece" for the movement,[28] standing for its opposition to conceptual art. It was painted in 2000 and 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.[29] [edit] International movementThe Stuckists have grown to an international movement and as of October 2009 numbered 202 (affiliated but independent) groups in 48 countries.[30] [edit] AustraliaMain article: Stuckism in Australia In October 2000, Regan Tamanui founded the Melbourne Stuckists,[31] 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, Falmouth 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.[32] [edit] America Main article: Stuckism in the United States in 2000, Susan Constance founded the first US group The Pittsburgh Stuckists—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."[33] By 2006 there were 21 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, Terry Marks and Jesse Richards. [edit] EuropeStuckist artists in Europe include Peter Klint, Andreas Torneberg, Mary von Stockhausen and Frank Christopher Schroeder (Germany); Odysseus Yakoumakis (Greece), Kloot Per W (Belgium); and Michael Dickinson (Turkey). [edit] Ex StuckistsCo-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 Gallery. 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, but still works with some current and former members on occasion. Mary von Stockhausen, who runs the Stuckist Centre Germany in Lewenhagen, left the group in 2007.
Main article: Charles Thomson, Stella Vine, and the Stuckists .jpg) In June 2000, Stella Vine went to a talk given by Childish and Thomson on Stuckism and Remodernism in London.[35] 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.[34] On 4 June, she took part in a Stuckist demonstration in Trafalgar Square.[35][36] By 10 July, she renamed her group The Unstuckists.[37] In mid-August, Thomson and Vine were married.[38] 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,[34] 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.[39] At the end of March 2004, Thomson made a formal complaint about Saatchi to the Office of Fair Trading (OFT), claiming that Saatchi's leading position was monopolistic "to the detriment of smaller competitors",[40] citing Vine as an example of this.[41] 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."[42] [edit] ResponsesIn 1999, two performance artists, Yuan Chai and Jian Jun Xi, 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."[43] 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."[44] [edit] Group shows.jpg)
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[edit] GallerySome UK artists.
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