The Stuckist Revolt

by Stacey Allison

Blue Man , by Stuckist Artist
Naive John

   Stuckism stands against what it calls “hedonism, conceptualism, and the cult of the ego – artist”, and works toward a rebirth of spirituality in art. In London, England, in the late nineties, co-founders Billy Childish and Charles Thomson were angered by what they saw as a monopoly, held by a few galleries, artists, and well-heeled patrons, over the tastes of the gallery-going public and therefore over the future of many struggling artists. Post Modernism – in particular, Conceptualism – was being heralded by Charles Saatchi, the White Cube Gallery, and the Turner Prize, to the exclusion of more traditional art forms, namely painting.

   In 1999, Thomson and Childish penned the Stuckist Manifesto, creating what would become one of the art world’s fastest growing movements. The manifesto advances the idea of figurative painting as an expression of the human condition, and the belief that it is the artist’s duty, to

himself and to the public record, to document this condition.

   Stuckists believe that it is the process of creation, rather than the result, that is important in art.  Stuckism’s idea of success is to ‘get up in the morning and paint.” They see Conceptualism as an inversion of this belief.

Tube Girls   by Mandy McCartin,
Stuckist Guest Artist

   The original Stuckist group consisted of Childish, Thomson, and ten others. Two of these, Bill Lewis and Sexton Ming, had collaborated with Childish and Thomson in a group called The Medway Poets, formed in 1979. Others artists included Philip Absolon, Frances Castle, Sheila Clark, Eamon Everall, Ella Guru, Wolf Howard, Joe Machine, and Charles Williams. Sanchia Lewis (no relation to Bill Lewis) joined at a later date. Billy Childish left the group in 2001.

   The first Stuckist shows were held mainly in small galleries in Shoreditch, London. Their first National gallery exhibition was Stuckists Punk Victorian. It was held at the Walker Gallery and Lady Lever Art Gallery as part of the 2004 Liverpool Biennial. The show featured over a hundred paintings from nearly forty artists. It garnered extensive press coverage and was extended from two months to five. Since then, the Stuckists have had many shows in Britain, Europe, and North America.

   Conceptual artists like (YBA) Tracy Emin and Damien Hirst have frequently drawn the ire of the Stuckists for the “cynicism” of their art. Hirst uses armies of craftsmen to create a piece of art from an idea, totally bypassing the Stuckist notion of creation as an end rather than a means, thereby negating any spiritual value the finished product may have had.

Emin’s use of everyday items that would not be seen as art outside a gallery context has also offended the Stuckists. In his 2004 essay, Daubs and Daubers, Thomson writes of Emin’s Turner Prize nominated installation, My Bed, “no one had ever seen a bed in the Tate before 1999, but there was hardly a shortage of them at large in the world.”

My Bed, Installation by Tracy Emin

   Thomson and Childish are both astute self promoters in the post punk, DIY style, and have commanded a great deal of media attention over the years. The Stuckists’ yearly demonstrations against the Turner Prize, frequently dressed as clowns, have attracted coverage in Britain and beyond. In 2002, they carried a coffin with the words “The Death of Conceptual Art” written on it to the White Cube Gallery. In 2004, they demonstrated against The Triumph of Painting outside the Saatchi Gallery. They wore top hats with Saatchi’s photo on them and carried placards that said that Saatchi had copied their ideas. The art group Proto - mu has awarded the Stuckists with their prize for Conceptual Art for the Turner demonstrations.

The media attention the Stuckists have garnered has not all been due to their

demonstrations. Charles Thomson is media savvy, highly intelligent, and confrontational. He is also well spoken and believes one hundred percent in the Stuckist philosophy. He contributes

Sir Nicholas Serota Makes an Acquisitions Decision ,by Charles Thompson

frequently to arts magazines (he has a regular column in 3:AM), makes himself available for print and TV interviews, and writes for the Stuckist website.

   Over and above this, though, what may really capture the public’s imagination regarding Stuckism are the personal dramas embedded in this movement. Tracey Emin has always drawn heavy fire from the Stuckists. Coincidentally, she also dated Billy Childish twenty years ago. It was Emin who inadvertently provided the Stuckist moniker. While fighting with Childish one day, she proclaimed him and his paintings ‘stuck’. Childish recorded the epithet in a poem, and later Thomson coined the term Stuckism from the poem as a name for his burgeoning movement.

   Emin has been very clear on her feelings toward the situation. She has been quoted as saying ( of Childish and the ongoing connection made with her ) “ I don’t like it at all…If your wife was hounded and stalked through the media by someone she’d had a relationship with when she was 18, would you like it? I don’t find it funny, I find it a bit sick, and I find it very cruel, and I wish people would just get on with their lives and let me get on with mine.”

   Emin isn’t the only recipient of what some may see as personal attacks. Stella Vine, another British artist, was associated with the Stuckists in the early 2000s. Her first public showing was with the Stuckists, in 2001’s Vote Stuckist show. She founded the Westminster Stuckist group. In 2001 she was also briefly married to Charles Thomson. They separated after eight weeks, and by the end of the year she had completely severed ties with the Stuckist movement. She has since expressed hostility toward Thomson and the Stuckists.

In the past few years, Vine has become widely known in Britain for her lurid and often very controversial paintings. Thomson, for his part, has

gone out of his way to connect Vine’s style with the time she spent with the Stuckists. There is a large page on the Stuckist website mapping the movement’s influence on her painting and her career.

In 2007, Thomson held an art show at the A Gallery in Wimbledon, London, called “I Won’t Have Sex With You As Long As We’re Married”.  The title was drawn from something Vine had said to Thomson on their wedding night.  The show was held at the same time as one of Vine’s shows.

  The Stuckists are not only known for their well – publicized demonstrations and personal grievances. Their agitations against the BritArt world have at times crossed into the legal realm. In 2003, the Stuckists reported Charles Saatchi to the Office of Fair Trading, charging that he had a monopoly on the British art world.  The complaint was dismissed. Then, in 2005, they applied for Tate gallery trustee minutes under the Freedom of Information Act.  In them, they found an apparent conflict of interest involving the purchase of Chris Ofili’s work, the Upper Room.  This discovery caused a media furor and led to an official rebuke of the Tate Gallery by the Charity Commission.

    Public opinion on the Stuckist movement remains deeply divided.  The movement itself has grown to over 140 groups in 60 countries, and shows no sign of diminishing.  Traditionalists laud the Stuckists’ back to basics, painterly approach to art  – however, it has been pointed out that they politely ignore the paintings themselves.

  Subject matter in Stuckist art is often much more visceral than what the art world has become used to. Violence

"Artist and Model",
 by Peter McArdle

and sexuality are prevalent themes, and the techniques involved often draw heavy criticism. Much of Stuckist art is made hastily, with heavy color, rudimentary drawing, and crude brush strokes. Some Stuckist artists, like Joe Machine, have been known to paint on found objects. Machine’s painting, My Grandfather Will Fight You, is done on two pieces of old board that have been nailed together at the back.

It would be easy to dismiss this movement’s popularity based on these criticisms. After all, anyone can join the movement, regardless of training or even raw talent. All you have to do is paint. However, look closely at the work of the artists coming to the forefront of this movement, and you’ll find a very diverse range of styles and abilities. Peter McArdle’s work stands in stark contrast to what many see as a stereotypical Stuckist style. His work is very meticulous . He uses traditional glazing techniques, which means a painting may take months to finish. The results are beautiful, evocative pieces that seem to address the very modern theme of disassociation. Eamon Everall’s work is heavily influenced by Cubism, and shows a high degree of art education.

   In spite of its detractors, Stuckism remains one of the art world’s fastest growing movements. To decide where one stands regarding this highly publicized and controversial movement, the best thing to do is ignore the flurry of media coverage and go straight to the source – the art itself.

 Olympia by Eamon Everall

Breakfast With Andrea 
by Eamon Everall