Abby Jackson

Abby Jackson (born 1982) is a British artist, Stuckist painter, writer and art activist.

Life and work

Abby Jackson was born in North Devon and lives and works in London. She graduated from Somerset College of Art in 2002.

In 2005 Jackson joined the international art movement Stuckism, which believes in traditional painting and generally opposes conceptual modes of art. Her work was in the Stuckist show, "Painting is the Medium of Yesterday" – Paul Myners", at la Viande gallery in Shoreditch in September 2005.

In 2006, she supported the Design and Artists Copyright Society (DACS) campaign for artists resale rights, taking part in a protest in Whitehall in January, and being one of the four artist representatives to present the petition to 10 Downing Street. [http://www.stuckism.com/Jackson/index.html Abby Jackson on stuckism.com] ] She criticised David Hockney and other artists, who were opposed to the threshold being lowered to encompass emerging artists. ["Arts Hub" 15 January, 2006] In a letter in "The Times", she said, "A Bill like this will encourage young artists to keep going, even when they can’t afford a studio or a takeaway at the weekend. I don’t want money to go towards a lavish wedding, I need it to continue painting." [ [http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/comment/debate/letters/article719010.ece The Times (25.1.06)] ]

In 2006, she donated her painting "Foreign Policy 2000" to Brian Haw's Parliament Square peace protest display. This painting was first exhibited at the Wellington Club. It depicts President Bush's head on top of a bare breasted dominatrix spanking Tony Blair on all fours. Most of Haw's display, including her painting and other art work (one by Banksy), was removed by the Metropolitan Police in a dawn raid. Jackson's painting was copied by Mark Wallinger as part of his recreation of Haw's display; the recreation was exhibited as an installation, "State Britain", which opened in January 2007 at Tate Britain. [ [http://www.tate.org.uk/britain/exhibitions/wallinger Tate Gallery] ] Jackson commented::State Britain is a true metaphor of conceptual art, as it's fake. I feel that I and the other people who contributed to Brian's display are the original artists. [Marre, Oliver (2007) [http://observer.guardian.co.uk/7days/story/0,,2083726,00.html "Serota sticks it up the Stuckists"] , "The Observer", 20 May 2007. Retrieved 29 August 2007.]

In 2006 she instigated and co-curated the first show of artists from the Saatchi Yourgallery website, "Lost and Found": this took place at the Brick Lane Gallery inEast London. [ [http://www.thebricklanegallery.com/Lost&Found.htm Brick Lane gallery] ]

Her writing has been published in "The Face", "The Hospital" and "Ditched". In "Still Life v Real Life" in "Aesthetica", she contrasted the differentresponses of Stuckist artist Wolf Howard and Luc Tuymans to the subject of 9/11: "Tuymans chooses to avoid his subject matter, whereas Howard, as a Stuckist, approaches his subject head on." [ [http://myweb.tiscali.co.uk/aesthetica/gfx/11abby.pdf Aesthetica magazine no. 36, 2006] ]

She said of her own work:

She has had solo shows at the Adam Street Gallery and Diorama Gallery, and group shows by West Eleven Gallery, Artshole, Wimbledon Art Studios, Islington Arts Fair, Stephen Lawrence Gallery (in association with BBC Africa 05), and Peace Camp (curated by Bob and Roberta Smith). In February 2008, she is staging a joint exhibition, called "Disney Heroines Committing Suicide", with Mark D at La Viande gallery in Shoreditch, London. [ [http://www.laviande.co.uk/whatson/ "Disney Heroines Committing Suicide"] , La Viande. Retrieved 13 February 2008.]

Gallery

References

External links

* [http://www.abbyjackson.co.uk/ Abby Jackson official web site]
* [http://www.stuckism.com/Jackson/index.html Abby Jackson on the Stuckism web site]
* [http://www.saatchi-gallery.co.uk/yourgallery Abby Jackson on the Saatchi Gallery (Your Gallery)]