Stuckism International Gallery
The Stuckism International Gallery was the flagship for the Stuckist art movement. It was open in Shoreditch from 2002 to 2005 in the heartland of Britart and conceptual art, only a stone's throw from The White Cube gallery, which represents Tracey Emin and Damian Hirst. It was run by Charles Thomson, the co-founder of Stuckism, in his home and open to the public most of the time during that period.
The History Of The Gallery
Stephen Howarth was a member of the Students for Stuckism group at Camberwell College of Arts and in 2002 was "expelled from the painting course for doing paintings." [1] [2] He was given a special preliminary show at the gallery, with the title I Don't Want a Painting Degree if it Means Not Painting.
To celebrate the opening of the gallery, the Stuckists carried a cardboard coffin round to the nearby White Cube gallery to announced "The Death of Conceptual Art". This event also launched the first formal group show at the gallery which was the The Stuckists First International, and subsequent shows. Sarah Kent in Time Out said of the Stuckists' gallery: "it will prove their undoing. These vociferous opportunists are revealed to be a bunch of Bayswater Road-style daubers without an original idea between them." [3]
The First Stuckist International had Stuckist art from around the world including Melbourne, Pittsburgh and the Ivory Coast. It ran till October 2002. [4]
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."[5]
In December 2002 the gallery staged "The Real Turner Prize Show" again to protest that the prize should be for paintings. Four artists were shown at the gallery in this, Ella Guru], Mandy McCartin, Paul Harvey and Charles Williams. They shared the honours equally.[6]
A sucess was when Charles Saatchi opened his new gallery in County Hall with a display of Damian Hirst's work, including his shark pickled in a glass case. The Stuckism gallery showed a stuffed shark in their window, effectively satirsing the Hirst one. Further more the Stuckist shark was caught by a local electrician 2 years before Hirst did his and it was exhibited in the electrician's shop. The Stuckists reckon Hirst might have seen it and got the idea for his and that the electrician Eddie Saunders is therefore the better artist out of the two, and the original genius.[7]
Charles Thomson said, "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." [8]
At the end of the year, the scheduled show "The Real Turner Prize Showe" was cancelled because of a dispute with Gina Bold, one of the exhibiting artists over how it should be promoted.[9] Althoughj she then left the movement, the last show at the Gallery in July 2004 was a solo show of her work called "Hysterical Shock", though she didn't attend the show.[10]
Notes and References
- ^ Buckman, David: "Dictionary of Artists in Britain since 1945", page 775. Art Dictionaries, 2006
- ^ "Art students accuse college of failing to teach them the basics" The Times, 8 July, 2002. Accessed from stuckism.com
- ^ Kent, Sarah "The Stuckists" Time Out. Accessed from stuckism.com
- ^ BRIT ART BEWARE THE FIRST STUCKIST INTERNATIONAL IS HERE By David Prudames 12/08/2002 24hr museum
- ^ Bizarre bet on Saatchi, Evening Standard (London), Oct 31, 2002
- ^ THE REAL TURNER PRIZE 2002 - THE STUCKIST ALTERNATIVE AWARD By David Prudames 06/12/2002 24hr museum
- ^ The real Jaws comes to town Bushy tales Evening Standard (London), Apr 11, 2003 by SEBASTIAN SHAKESPEARE
- ^ The Times (10.4.03)
- ^ A Stuckist on Stuckism online essay from the Stuckists Punk Victorian Book published by Natinal Museums Liverpool
- ^ [http://www.stuckism.com/Bold/indexHS.html Stuckism Gina Bold},