Stephen Howarth

Stephen Purbeck Howarth, known as "S.P.", (born 23 July, 1981) is a poet and Stuckist artist. He was expelled from college for this paintings. He has demonstrated against the Turner prize at the Tate Gallery.

Life and work

Stephen Howarth was born in Lewisham, London and educated at St. Christopher's School, Letchworth. In 2000 he attended Camberwell College of Arts and was in the Students for Stuckism group.Buckman, David: "Dictionary of Artists in Britain since 1945", page 775. Art Dictionaries, 2006] In 2002, he was "expelled from the painting course for doing paintings." He said:

The incident was reported in "The Times" with the headline "Art students accuse college of failing to teach them the basics". [ [http://www.stuckism.com/SPHowarth/TimesArticle.html#PicTop "Art students accuse college of failing to teach them the basics"] "The Times", 8 July, 2002. Accessed from stuckism.com] Other students supported him and there were also letters of support in the newspaper.

Howarth was then given the inaugural show at the Stuckism International Gallery in Shoreditch, with the title "I Don't Want a Painting Degree if it Means Not Painting". He was in the first group show at the gallery, "The Stuckists First International", and subsequent shows. Sarah Kent in Time Out called his painting, "Midnight in the hotel Suburbia", "soft porn". [Kent, Sarah [http://64.233.183.104/custom?q=cache:PaSVFkAN06gJ:www.stuckism.com/presscuttings.html+SP&hl=en&ct=clnk&cd=4 "The Stuckists"] "Time Out". Accessed from stuckism.com] He responded that it was "hard porn".

After college he worked in a gallery, bar and factory, and as a labourer. He founded the Balham Stuckists group and also the South London Stuckism International Centre. In 2001 he demonstrated with the Stuckists in Trafalgar Square during the unveiling of Rachel Whiteread's sculpture, "Monument", and was in the Stuckist demonstration outside Tate Britain against the Turner Prize. In 2003, he took part in a debate on Sky News with Richard Littlejohn about the £12,000 public funding given to artist Andre Stitt, who proposed to kick an empty takeaway container along Bedford High Street. Howarth's work was part of the donation of Stuckist paintings offered to the Tate Gallery in 2005, which the Tate rejected.

Group shows include "Seven New Artists Pay Their Respects to Past Masters" (2001) at the Fridge Gallery, Brixton; "Umpapa" (2001), Tap Collective, Clapham; "Rivington Gallery Artists" (2002), Rivington Gallery, Hoxton; "Stuckism Group Show" (2003), Wednesbury Museum, West Midlands; also at Black Spot, Clapham; Ace of Clubs, Clapham; Worthing Library; and Newcastle Arts Centre. He was in the first national museum show of the Stuckists, "The Stuckists Punk Victorian", at the Walker Art Gallery during the 2004 Liverpool Biennial. Stella Vine, who was then a member of the Stuckists, bought one of his paintings at the Fridge Gallery.

He commented on his work:

He is also a performance poet. He is a Shortfuse Poetry Idol Competition winner. [ [http://poetsonfire.blogspot.com/2006_05_01_archive.html Poets on Fire] ] His publications of poetry are "Poet, Painter, Pervert" (Coffin Press) and "Noteless Nocturnes to the Never-Ending Night" (Coffin Press).

ee also

*Stuckism
*Stuckism International Gallery
*Classificatory disputes about art
*Conceptual art

Notes and references

External links

* [http://www.stuckism.com/SPHowarth/ Howarth on the Stuckist web site]
* [http://www.liverpoolmuseums.org.uk/walker/exhibitions/stuckists/ukstuckists/sphowarth.asp Howarth at the Walker Art Gallery during the Liverpool Biennial in 2004]
* [http://www.stuckism.com/Vine1/Salon.html Photo of Howarth at the Fridge Gallery in 2001 with Stella Vine]
* [http://www.urban75.org/brixton/photos/windmill2.html Photo of Howarth performing poetry]