Stuckism International Gallery

The Stuckism International Gallery was the gallery of the Stuckist art movement. It was open 2002 to 2005 in Shoreditch, and run by Charles Thomson, the co-founder of Stuckism.

History

The Stuckism International Gallery was opened in July 2002 at 3 Charlotte Road, Shoreditch, in a four-story Victorian warehouse, convert|70|yd away from the White Cube gallery, which represents Tracey Emin and Damien Hirst, conceptual artists which the Stuckists oppose.Alberge, Dalya. [http://www.stuckism.com/zPressText/10TimesSIG20-07-02.html "Artists brandish brushes at rivals"] , (Reprint), "The Times", 20 July 2002. Retrieved 17 February 2008.] Thomson lived on the premises, using the ground floor and basement for a studio. He said:

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."Buckman, David: "Dictionary of Artists in Britain since 1945", page 775. Art Dictionaries, 2006] [cite news
first = Dalya
last = Alberge
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date = 2002-07-08
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quote = ] He was given a show, before the official opening of 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 announce "The Death of Conceptual Art".Barr, Damian. [http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/audio_video/hard_code/article1352876.ece "Follow me to the edge: Cool in your code, Hoxton"] , "The Times", 9 February 2007. Retrieved 6 February 2008.] This event also launched the first formal group show at the gallery which was the "The Stuckists First International". The show had Stuckist art from around the world including Melbourne, Pittsburgh and the Ivory Coast. It ran till October 2002, reinforcing the Stuckist manifesto endorsement of content, meaning and communication through painting as the most viable contemporary form of art.cite news
first = David
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title = Britart Beware The First Stuckist International Is Here
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date = 2002-08-12
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David Prudames of 24 Hour Museum reviewed the show, "This exhibition of Stuckist work from around the world at a purpose built gallery lays the movement's foundations and states it is here to stay." "Arty" magazine edited by Cathy Lomax of Transition Gallery said, "Work presented here is always a wonder to behold... The best painted space in town—the coloured walls are themselves better than some galleries' shows... Art with attitude, whatever style you happen to enjoy. And there are more styles here than you'd be led to believe." However, Sarah Kent stated in "Time Out", "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." [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]

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." [ cite news
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title = Bizarre bet on Saatchi
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date = 2002-10-31
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In December 2002 the gallery staged "The Real Turner Prize Show" to protest that the Tate's Turner Prize should be for paintings. The four artists shown at the gallery—Ella Guru, Mandy McCartin, Paul Harvey and Charles Williams—shared the Stuckist prize. [cite news
first = David Prudames
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title = The Real Turner Prize 2002 - The Stuckists Alternative Award
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date = 2002-12-06
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quote = ] On 17 April 2003, when the Saatchi Gallery opened in new premises at County Hall with a display of Damien Hirst's work, including "The Physical Impossibility of Death in the Mind of Someone Living" (a shark in formaldehyde in a vitrine), the Stuckism gallery displayed a stuffed shark in their window. This 148kg (325lb) golden hammerhead shark had been caught off Florida in 1989, two years before Hirst's work was made, by Eddie Saunders, who displayed it in his Shoreditch shop, JD Electrical Supplies. [cite news
first = Sebastian
last = Shakespeare
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title = The real Jaws comes to town Bushy tales
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date = 2003-04-11
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quote = ] Alberge, Dalya. [http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/uk/article1128824.ece "Traditionalists mark shark attack on Hirst"] , "The Times", 10 April 2003. Retrieved 6 February 2008.] Thomson asked::If Hirst’s shark is recognised as great art, then how come Eddie’s, which was on exhibition for two years beforehand, isn’t? “Do we perhaps have here an undiscovered artist of genius, who got there first, or is it that a dead shark isn’t art at all? Not only did Eddie catch it himself — unlike Hirst — but it is also in considerably better condition.

: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.The Stuckists suggested Hirst may got the idea for his work from Saunders' shop display. [http://www.stuckism.com/SharkSpot.html "A Dead Shark Isn't Art" on the Stuckism International web site] Retrieved March 20, 2006]

In September 2003, the gallery collaborated with the Prince of Wales in hosting a charity show and auction with paintings including ones by Judi Dench, Jerry Hall and, said Thomson, "a painting from the BritArt artist Gavin Turk, who is normally somebody we would attack." [Guest, Katy. [http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qn4158/is_20030918/ai_n12704390 "Jacobson set to thrash Amis—at ping-pong"] , Pandora (6th article), "The Independent", 18 September 2003. Retrieved from findarticles.com, 6 February 2008.] The next month, the gallery's scheduled show, "The Real Turner Prize Show", was cancelled because of a dispute with Gina Bold, one of the artists, over how it should be promoted. [ [http://www.stuckism.com/Walker/AStuckistOnStuckism.html#Bold "A Stuckist on Stuckism: Gina Bold"] , online essay from "The Stuckists Punk Victorian" book, published by National Museums Liverpool*]

In February 2004, the gallery exterior was turned into a 1960s and 1970s sex shop frontage as a set for the BBC2 gangster drama, "The Long Firm" [ [http://www.stuckism.com/StuckCentre1/Porn.html "Stuckism International as porn shop] , stuckism.com. Retrieved 17 February 2008.] (based on the book by Jake Arnott).

In May 2004, Mounsi was presented with the inaugural 3AM Good Sex Prize at the gallery for his book, "The Demented Dance", after an event which included readings by Tony White and Colin MacCabe. [Stevens, Andrew. [http://www.3ammagazine.com/buzzwords/2004/jul.html "A riot of our own"] , "", 5 July 2004. Retrieved 6 February 2008.] Later that month, Charles Saatchi and his wife, Nigella Lawson arrived in a black cab to visit the gallery, but failed to gain admission, as Thomson was upstairs drinking coffee and Saatchi did not ring the bell. [Adams, Guy. [http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qn4158/is_20040518/ai_n12784104 "Pandora: Saatchi stuck in street"] , (4th article), "The Independent", 18 May 2004. Retrieved from findarticles.com, 6 February 2008.]

The last exhibition at the Gallery, in July 2004, was a solo show consisting of 11 paintings "Hysterical Shock", named after the title of one of her paintings, all the work was Gina Bold from private collections. It was curated by Louise Urwin and Tom Cowley. Bold had moved on by then and did not attend it. [Gina Bold had her first solo show 'Born to be Bold' at the Arlington Gallery in 2007. Gina Bold was never a member of the group and had constantly argued with Thomson over the way in which he promoted himself. [http://www.stuckism.com/Bold/indexHS.html "Stuckism: Gina Bold"] , stuckism.com. Retrieved 6 February 2008.]

Thomson moved in 2005 and the premises were taken over by La Viande Gallery, who staged a Stuckist exhibition in September 2005, called "Painting Is the Medium of Yesterday"—Paul Myners CBE, Chairman of Tate Gallery, Chairman of Marks and Spencer, Chairman of Aspen Insurance, Chairman of Guardian Media, Director of Bank of England, Director of Bank of New York. A Show of Paintings by the Stuckists, as Refused by the Tate Gallery. Guaranteed 100% Free of Elephant Dung." [http://www.laviande.co.uk/pastexhibitions/pastexhibitions.html "Some past exhibitions"] , La Viande. Retrieved 6 February 2008.] In February 2008, La Viande staged a show of two Stuckist artists, "Disney Heroines Committing Suicide", with work by Mark D, which satirises Stella Vine's paintings,Deedes, Henry. [http://www.independent.co.uk/opinion/columnists/pandora/scrum-down-at-the-dorchester-781532.html "Vine's Stuckist rival sticks one on her at exhibition"] , "The Independent", 13 February 2008. Retrieved 13 February 2008.] and by Abby Jackson.

List of shows

Group Shows
*"The First Stuckist International"
*"War on Blair"
*"The Real Turner Prize Show 2002"
*"Stuckist Classics..
*"Stuckist Classics 2"
*"Stuckist Classics 3"
*"The Stuckist Summer Show 2003"
*"Kith and Kids" charity show included work by Ella Guru, Paul Harvey, Charles Thomson (artist), Jane Kelly, Gina Bold, Adrian Bannister, Jerry Hall, Elizabeth Jagger, Judi Dench, Richard Rogers, Gavin Turk, Keith Coventry and Jon Moss
*"Cabinet of Conceptualism" featured a brick by Mike Dawson and a Saatchi betting slip by Sean Hall.
*"The Real Turner Prize Show 2003 (cancelled)"

Solo shows
*"A Dead Shark Isn't Art", Eddie Saunders
*"Intellectual Property", photos by Larry Dunstan
*"The Vagina Monologues Of An Essex Boy", David Beesley
*"Portraits of Leigh Bowery" by Sexton Ming
*"The Pinhole Photography of a Gifted Gentleman Amateur", Wolf Howard
*"Being On The Dole Is Like Playing Chess with Hitler", Wolf Howard
*"Hysterical Shock", Gina Bold

Other
* Good Sex Prize, presented by Madame Tytania (with whip)

Gallery

Notes and References

*The online essay "A Stuckist on Stuckism" (stuckism.com) is taken from the book: "The Stuckists Punk Victorian" (Ed.) Frank Milner (2004), National Museums Liverpool, ISBN 1-902700-27-9

External links

* [http://www.stuckism.com/CentreLondon.html Stuckism International Gallery Archive]
* [http://www.stuckism.com/SharkSpot.html A Dead Shark Isn't Art - Archive]
* [http://www.stuckism.com/StuckCentre1/Porn.html Stuckism Gallery as a set for BBC television drama The Long Firm]
* [http://www.larrydunstan.com/exhibitions_7.htm Intellectual Property photography show by Larry Dunstan at Stuckism International]
* [http://www.laviande.co.uk La Viande Gallery]
* [http://www.bbc.co.uk/drama/longfirm/ "The Long Firm" on the BBC web site]