Stuckism () represents a global art movement established in 1999 by Billy Childish and Charles Thomson, advocating for figurative painting as a counterpoint to conceptual art. By May 2017, the movement had grown significantly, expanding from its original 13 British artists to encompass 236 groups across 52 nations.
Stuckism () is an international art movement founded in 1999 by Billy Childish and Charles Thomson to promote figurative painting as opposed to conceptual art. By May 2017, the initial group of 13 British artists had expanded to 236 groups in 52 countries.
Childish and Thomson have published multiple manifestos. The inaugural manifesto, titled The Stuckists, comprised 20 tenets, commencing with the declaration, "Stuckism is a quest for authenticity." Another prominent manifesto of the movement, Remodernism, articulates an opposition to the deconstruction and irony characteristic of postmodernism, instead championing what Stuckists term the "spirituality" of the artist. A subsequent manifesto further defines the movement as anti-anti-art, signifying a stance against anti-art and in favor of what they perceive as conventional artistic practices.
Following exhibitions in smaller galleries within Shoreditch, London, the Stuckists' inaugural presentation in a prominent public museum occurred in 2004 at the Walker Art Gallery, integrated into the Liverpool Biennial. Since 2000, the collective has conducted annual demonstrations at Tate Britain, protesting the Turner Prize, occasionally employing clown attire. Furthermore, they have publicly expressed opposition to the Young British Artists, a group notably patronized by Charles Saatchi.
While painting constitutes the predominant artistic medium within Stuckism, the movement has also attracted artists employing diverse media, including photography, sculpture, film, and collage. These members collectively endorse the Stuckist critique of conceptualism and "ego-art."
Nomenclature, Establishment, and Genesis
The appellation "Stuckism" originated in January 1999, formulated by Charles Thomson as a direct response to a poem repeatedly presented to him by Billy Childish. Within this poem, Childish recounted that his former partner, Tracey Emin, had characterized him as "stuck! stuck! stuck!" in his artistic endeavors, poetry, and music. Subsequently, in the same month, Thomson proposed to Childish the co-establishment of an art collective named Stuckism. Childish assented to this proposition, contingent upon Thomson undertaking the organizational responsibilities for the group, given Childish's pre-existing commitments.
The initial founding cohort included eleven additional members: Philip Absolon, Frances Castle, Sheila Clark, Eamon Everall, Ella Guru, Wolf Howard, Bill Lewis, Sanchia Lewis, Joe Machine, Sexton Ming, and Charles Williams. The composition of the membership has diversified since its inception, primarily through collaborative artistic endeavors. While the group was initially promoted for its focus on painting, its members have subsequently engaged with a broader spectrum of media, encompassing poetry, fiction, performance art, photography, film, and music.
In 1979, Thomson, Childish, Bill Lewis, and Ming were affiliated with the Medway Poets performance collective, a group to which Absolon and Sanchia Lewis had previously contributed. Concurrently, Peter Waite's Rochester Pottery hosted a sequence of solo painting exhibitions. By 1982, TVS aired a documentary profiling these poets. During the same year, Emin, then pursuing studies in fashion, commenced a relationship with Childish; her literary works were edited by Bill Lewis, printed by Thomson, and published by Childish. Members of the group collectively produced numerous publications. The poetry collective disbanded after two years but reassembled in 1987 to produce the The Medway Poets LP. Clark, Howard, and Machine subsequently joined the group in the ensuing years. Thomson established an acquaintance with Williams, then a local art student whose girlfriend was a friend of Emin; Thomson also encountered Everall. During the formative period of the Stuckist group, Ming introduced his girlfriend, Guru, who subsequently extended an invitation to Castle.
Declarations of Principles
In August 1999, Childish and Thomson authored The Stuckists manifesto, which emphasizes the intrinsic value of painting as an artistic medium, its utility for communication, and its capacity for expressing emotion and experience. This perspective stands in direct contrast to what Stuckists perceive as the superficial novelty, nihilism, and irony inherent in conceptual art and postmodernism. The most provocative assertion within this manifesto states: "Artists who don't paint aren't artists."
The second and third manifestos, titled An Open Letter to Sir Nicholas Serota and Remodernism, were dispatched to Nicholas Serota, the director of the Tate. His concise response stated: "Thank you for your open letter dated 6 March. You will not be surprised to learn that I have no comment to make on your letter, or your manifesto 'Remodernism'."
The Stuckists articulated their objective to supersede postmodernism with remodernism, a movement advocating for the re-establishment of spiritual (distinct from religious) values across art, culture, and society, as outlined in their Remodernism manifesto. Additional manifestos published by the group include Handy Hints, Anti-anti-art, The Cappuccino writer and the Idiocy of Contemporary Writing, The Turner Prize, The Decreptitude of the Critic, and Stuckist critique of Damien Hirst.
Within their manifesto, Anti-anti-art, the Stuckists articulated their dissent against the concept of "anti-art." They contend that while conceptual art often draws justification from Marcel Duchamp's oeuvre, Duchamp's own creations were "anti-art by intent and effect." The Stuckists interpret Duchamp's work as a critique of the stagnant and uncritical artistic establishment of his era, highlighting what they perceive as a profound, albeit unintended, irony: postmodernism has become the very conformist and unoriginal establishment that Duchamp initially challenged.
Beyond the core group, other Stuckist factions have also authored manifestos, notably the Students for Stuckism. In 2006, the "Underage Stuckists" emerged, publishing a manifesto specifically for teenagers, penned by 16-year-olds Liv Soul and Rebekah Maybury on MySpace. Subsequently, in 2009, a collective known as the Other Muswell Hill Stuckists released their own document, titled The Founding, Manifesto and Rules of the Other Muswell Hill Stuckists.
The movement's expansion within the United Kingdom.
The Stuckists first garnered media attention in July 1999, featuring in an article published by The Evening Standard. Their visibility subsequently increased, partly due to heightened press interest surrounding Tracey Emin's nomination for the Turner Prize.
The inaugural Stuckist exhibition, Stuck! Stuck! Stuck!, took place in September 1999 at Joe Crompton's Shoreditch Gallery 108 (which is no longer operational), succeeded by The Resignation of Sir Nicholas Serota. In 2000, the group concurrently presented The Real Turner Prize Show, coinciding with the Tate Gallery's official Turner Prize exhibition.
In 2000, students from Camberwell College of Arts established the "Students for Stuckism" group, organizing their own exhibition. Notably, S.P. Howarth, who was expelled from Camberwell's painting degree program due to his artistic output, held the first solo exhibition at the Stuckism International Gallery in 2002, titled I Don't Want a Painting Degree if it Means Not Painting.
In the 2001 British General Election, Thomson contested the Islington South & Finsbury constituency as a Stuckist candidate, opposing Chris Smith, who then served as the Secretary of State for Culture. Thomson secured 108 votes, representing 0.4% of the total. Concurrently, Childish departed from the group, citing objections to Thomson's leadership.
Between 2002 and 2005, Thomson managed the Stuckism International Centre and Gallery located in Shoreditch, London. In 2003, the gallery presented an exhibition titled A Dead Shark Isn't Art, featuring a shark that Eddie Saunders had publicly displayed in his Shoreditch shop, JD Electrical Supplies, in 1989—two years prior to Damien Hirst's similar work. This display prompted speculation that Hirst might have observed and subsequently emulated Saunders' concept.
In 2003, the Stuckists lodged a complaint with the UK Office of Fair Trading against Charles Saatchi, alleging that he maintained an effective monopoly within the art market; however, this complaint was not substantiated. The same year saw the establishment of an affiliated entity, Stuckism Photography, co-founded by Larry Dunstan and Andy Bullock. Subsequently, in 2005, the Stuckists proposed donating 175 paintings from the Walker exhibition to the Tate, an offer that the Tate's trustees ultimately declined.
In August 2005, Thomson informed the media that the Tate had acquired Chris Ofili's work, The Upper Room, for £705,000, despite Ofili simultaneously serving as a Tate trustee. Fraser Kee Scott, proprietor of A Gallery, joined the Stuckists in a protest outside the Tate Gallery, opposing the acquisition of The Upper Room. Scott asserted in The Daily Telegraph that Paul Myners, the Tate Gallery's chairman, exhibited hypocrisy by declining to disclose the purchase price. Ofili had previously solicited donations of artwork from other artists for the gallery. By July 2006, the Charity Commission formally reprimanded the gallery for exceeding its legal authority. Sir Nicholas Serota acknowledged that the Stuckists had "acted in the public interest."
October 2006 marked the Stuckists' inaugural exhibition, Go West, held at Spectrum London, a commercial gallery in the West End. This event signified their emergence as significant participants within the art world.
In October 2006, an international symposium dedicated to Stuckism was convened at Liverpool John Moores University, coinciding with the Liverpool Biennial. Naive John, the founder of the Liverpool Stuckists, directed the program. A complementary exhibition was also presented at the 68 Hope Gallery, located within the Liverpool School of Art and Design (John Moores University Gallery).
By 2006, the United Kingdom hosted 63 Stuckist groups, comprising members such as Naive John, Mark D, Elsa Dax, Paul Harvey, Jane Kelly, Udaiyan, Peter McArdle, Peter Murphy, Rachel Jordan, Guy Denning, and Abby Jackson. John Bourne established Stuckism Wales as a permanent exhibition of predominantly Welsh paintings within his residence. Mandy McCartin frequently participates as a guest artist.
In 2010, a painting by Paul Harvey depicting Charles Saatchi was initially prohibited from the window display of the Artspace Gallery on Maddox Street, London, due to concerns regarding its perceived controversial nature within the locale. This artwork served as the focal point of Stuckist Clowns Doing Their Dirty Work, the inaugural Stuckist exhibition in Mayfair, portraying Saatchi accompanied by a sheep and adorned with a halo crafted from a cheese wrapper. Despite the Saatchi Gallery's assertion that Saatchi himself "would not have any problem" with the painting's presentation, the Artspace Gallery initially declared the exhibition's closure. Harvey commented, "I did it to make Saatchi look friendly and human. It's a ludicrous decision." Following protests from the Stuckists, communicated via email to the gallery, the painting was subsequently reinstated, and the exhibition proceeded as planned.
Demonstrations
The Stuckists garnered substantial media attention through eight years of protests (spanning 2000–2006 and 2008) conducted outside Tate Britain, primarily targeting the Turner Prize, often with participants attired as clowns. In 2001, the group staged a demonstration in Trafalgar Square during the unveiling of Rachel Whiteread's Monument. The following year, 2002, they transported a coffin inscribed with The Death of Conceptual Art to the White Cube Gallery. Furthermore, in 2004, outside the launch of The Triumph of Painting at the Saatchi Gallery, members wore distinctive tall hats featuring Charles Saatchi's likeness and displayed placards alleging that Saatchi had appropriated their artistic concepts.
International activities have encompassed The Clown Trial of President Bush, organized in New Haven in 2003 as a protest against the Iraq War. Michael Dickinson, a member, exhibited political and satirical collages in Turkey, leading to his arrest and subsequent charges; however, he was ultimately acquitted of all offenses. This verdict was perceived to hold favorable implications for Turkey's diplomatic relations with the European Union.
The Stuckists Punk Victorian
The Stuckists Punk Victorian marked the inaugural national gallery exhibition dedicated to Stuckist art. Hosted at the Walker Art Gallery and Lady Lever Art Gallery, it formed an integral component of the 2004 Liverpool Biennial. The exhibition featured more than 250 paintings by 37 artists, predominantly from the United Kingdom, alongside works by international Stuckist artists from the United States, Germany, and Australia. A concurrent exhibition showcased Stuckist photographers. A companion book, titled The Stuckists Punk Victorian, was released in conjunction with the event. Notably, Daily Mail journalist Jane Kelly exhibited a painting of Myra Hindley within the show, an inclusion that potentially contributed to her subsequent dismissal from her journalistic position.
A Gallery
In July 2007, the Stuckists presented an exhibition at A Gallery, titled I Won't Have Sex with You as long as We're Married. This title was reportedly derived from a statement made by Stella Vine, Thomson's ex-wife, on their wedding night. The exhibition was strategically timed to coincide with the opening of Vine's significant show at Modern Art Oxford and was motivated by Thomson's dissatisfaction that promotional materials for her exhibition omitted any reference to her prior association with the Stuckists. Paul Myners, then chairman of the Tate, attended both exhibitions.
Sir Nicholas Serota Makes an Acquisitions Decision
As Charlotte Cripps of The Independent observed, Charles Thomson's painting Sir Nicholas Serota Makes an Acquisitions Decision stands as a prominent work associated with the Stuckist movement. Jane Morris, writing in The Guardian, further suggested it is a potential "signature piece" for the movement, embodying its critique of conceptual art. Painted in 2000, this artwork has been featured in subsequent Stuckist exhibitions and utilized on placards during Stuckist protests against the Turner Prize. The painting portrays Sir Nicholas Serota, the Director of the Tate Gallery and customary chairman of the Turner Prize jury, while satirizing Young British Artist Tracey Emin's installation, My Bed, an installation from 1999 that featured her bed and various personal items, including underwear, as part of her Turner Prize nomination.
International Expansion
In 2000, Regan Tamanui established the inaugural Stuckist group beyond the United Kingdom in Melbourne, Australia. Subsequently, a policy was adopted allowing other artists to form independent groups, each designated by its geographical location. By July 2012, Stuckism had expanded into a global art movement, encompassing 233 groups across 52 nations.
Africa
Mafa Bamba established the Abidjan Stuckists in Ivory Coast in 2001, and Kari Seid founded the Cape Town Stuckists in South Africa in 2008.
America
In 2000, Susan Constanse established the inaugural U.S. group, the Pittsburgh Stuckists, in Pittsburgh, marking the second such group founded outside the United Kingdom. An announcement in the In Pittsburgh Weekly on November 1, 2000, declared: "The new word in art is Stuckism. A Stuckist paints their life, mind and soul with no pretensions and no excuses." By 2011, the number of U.S. Stuckist groups had grown to 44. The United States has hosted Stuckist exhibitions and demonstrations, with American Stuckists also participating in international shows overseas. Notable U.S. Stuckists include Ron Throop, Jeffrey Scott Holland, Frank Kozik, and Terry Marks. Additionally, Canada hosts four Stuckist groups, among them the White Rock Stuckists in British Columbia, founded by David Wilson.
Asia
Asim Butt established the inaugural Pakistani Stuckist group, the Karachi Stuckists, in 2005. By late 2009, Butt was considering expanding the Karachi Stuckists with new members; however, he died by suicide on January 15, 2010. In 2011, Sheherbano Husain re-established the group.
Founded in Tehran in 2007, The Tehran Stuckists is an Iranian collective of painters identifying as Stuckist, Remodernist, and anti-anti-art, serving as a significant proponent of Asian Stuckism. In April 2010, the group curated Iran's inaugural Stuckist exhibition, titled Tehran Stuckists: Searching for the Unlimited Potentials of Figurative Painting, hosted at the Mirmiran Gallery within the Iran Artists Forum. Their subsequent exhibition, International Stuckists: Painters Out of Order, which featured works by Stuckists from Iran, Britain, the USA, Spain, South Africa, Pakistan, and Turkey, took place at Day Gallery in November 2013. Despite a core tenet of the Stuckist movement advocating for "uncensored expression," the Tehran Stuckists' exhibitions in Iran have faced censorship, preventing the display of certain artworks in Iranian galleries. The collective has also participated in Stuckist exhibitions held in Britain, Lithuania, and Spain.
Additional Asian Stuckist artists include Shelley Li (China), Smeetha Boumik (India), Joko Apridinoto (Indonesia), Elio Yuri Figini (Japan), and Fady Chamaa (Lebanon).
Europe
Robert Janás established the Prague Stuckists in the Czech Republic in 2005. Other European Stuckist artists comprise Peter Klint (Germany), Michael Dickinson (Turkey), Odysseus Yakoumakis (Greece), Artista Eli (Spain), Kloot Per W (Belgium), Jaroslav Valečka (Czech Republic), Jiří Hauschka (Czech Republic), Markéta Korečková (Czech Republic), Ján Macko (Slovakia), and Pavel Lefterov (Bulgaria).
Oceania
In October 2000, Regan Tamanui established the Melbourne Stuckists in Melbourne, marking the fourth Stuckist group globally and the first outside the United Kingdom. On October 27, 2000, Tamanui organized the Real Turner Prize Show at the Dead End Gallery in his residence, an event held concurrently with three similarly titled exhibitions in England (London, Falmouth, and Dartington) and one in Germany, all protesting the Tate Gallery's Turner Prize. Additional Australian Stuckists include Godfrey Blow, whose work was featured in The Stuckists Punk Victorian. In 2005, Mike Mayhew also established the Christchurch Stuckists in New Zealand.
Former Stuckists
Co-founder Billy Childish departed the collective in 2001, yet he has affirmed his continued adherence to its foundational tenets. Sexton Ming subsequently withdrew to pursue a solo artistic career, primarily associated with the Aquarium Gallery. Wolf Howard's departure occurred in 2006, though he has continued to participate in the group's exhibitions thereafter. Jesse Richards, who previously managed the Stuckism Centre USA in New Haven, also exited the group in 2006 to dedicate his efforts to Remodernist filmmaking.
In June 2000, Stella Vine attended a lecture in London delivered by Childish and Thomson, focusing on the movements of Stuckism and Remodernism. By late May 2001, she publicly showcased her paintings for the inaugural time at the Vote Stuckist exhibition in Brixton, concurrently establishing the Westminster Stuckists collective. On June 4th, she participated in a Stuckist demonstration held in Trafalgar Square. By July 10th, she had rebranded her group as the Unstuckists. In mid-August, Thomson and Vine entered into matrimony. One of her artworks was featured in the Stuckist exhibition in Paris, which concluded in mid-November; by this point, she had disavowed the Stuckists, and her marriage had dissolved.
In February 2004, Charles Saatchi acquired a painting by Vine depicting Diana, Princess of Wales, and was subsequently credited with her "discovery." Thomson, however, asserted that the Stuckists, rather than Saatchi, were responsible for her initial recognition. By late March 2004, Thomson lodged a formal complaint against Saatchi with the Office of Fair Trading, alleging that Saatchi's prominent market position constituted a monopoly "to the detriment of smaller competitors," using Vine's case as an illustrative example. On April 15th, the OFT concluded its investigation into the matter, determining that Saatchi did not hold "a dominant position in any relevant market."
Critical Reception and Commentary
Shortly following the 1999 exhibition of My Bed and the subsequent Stuckist counter-response, Sir Nicholas Serota Makes an Acquisitions Decision, performance artists Yuan Cai and Jian Jun Xi executed an artistic intervention titled Two Naked Men Jump into Tracey's Bed during the Tate Gallery's Turner Prize event. Cai, notably, had inscribed the phrase "Anti Stuckism" on his bare back as both individuals engaged in jumping on the bed and initiating a pillow fight. Fiachra Gibbons, writing for The Guardian in 1999, posited that this incident "will be recorded in art history as the seminal moment for the nascent and hitherto unrecognized Anti-Stuckist Movement." A decade later, Jonathan Jones, also contributing to The Guardian, characterized the Stuckists as "enemies of art" and dismissed their pronouncements as "cheap slogans" and "hysterical rants."
Artist Max Podstolski articulated the necessity for a novel art manifesto within the art world, one possessing a confrontational intensity akin to Futurism or Dadaism. He described this desired manifesto as "written with a heart-felt passion capable of inspiring and rallying art world outsiders, dissenters, rebels, the neglected and disaffected," subsequently proposing that "Well now we've got it, in the form of Stuckism."
In 2006, Edward Winkleman, a New York art gallery owner, noted his prior unfamiliarity with the Stuckists, prompting him to "looked them up on Wikipedia." He further expressed being "turned off by their anti-conceptual stance, not to mention the inanity of their statement about painting, but I'm more than a bit interested in the democratization their movement represents." Thomson subsequently issued a direct response to Winkleman's observations.
Also in 2006, Colin Gleadell, contributing to The Telegraph, observed that the inaugural Stuckist exhibition in central London resulted in "multiple sales" for prominent artists within the movement, thereby prompting inquiries into their artistic proficiency in painting. He remarked, "Whatever the critics may say, buyers from the UK, the US and Japan have already taken a punt." Gleadell further detailed that "Six of Thomson's paintings have sold for between £4,000 and £5,000 each. Joe Machine, a former prisoner who paints for therapeutic reasons, has also sold six paintings for the same price."
Paul Vallely offered a defense of Sir Nicholas Serota against Stuckist campaigns, critiquing the movement's anti-conceptualism due to its perceived alignment with "forces of social reaction," exemplified by publications such as the Daily Mail. Vallely simultaneously lauded Serota as the "greatest single champion of modern art in Britain." He acknowledged that while "I did smile" at Acquisitions Decision, he equally commended Serota's "cool response to the Stuckist détournement," noting Serota's Ultimately, Serota declined an offered donation of their work, deeming it not of "sufficient quality in terms of accomplishment, innovation or originality of thought to warrant preservation in perpetuity in the national collection."
In 2009, BBC arts correspondent Lawrence Pollard asserted that the Futurist Manifesto, published on February 20, 1909, established the groundwork for various "cultural agitators," including the Stuckists, Vorticists, and Surrealists.
Gallery
Selected works by UK Stuckist artists include:
References
References
Evans, Katherine, ed. *The Stuckists*. Victoria Press, 2000. ISBN 0-907165-27-3.
- Ed. Katherine Evans, "The Stuckists", Victoria Press, 2000, ISBN 0-907165-27-3.
- Milner, Frank, ed. *The Stuckists Punk Victorian*. National Museums Liverpool, 2004. ISBN 1-902700-27-9.
- Janás, Robert. *Stuckism International: The Stuckist Decade 1999–2009*. Victoria Press, 2009. ISBN 0-907165-28-1.
- Thomson, Charles, Robert Janás, and Edward Lucie-Smith. *The Enemies of Art: The Stuckists*. Victoria Press, 2011. ISBN 0-907165-31-1.
- Lakatos, Gabriela Luciana. *Expressionism Today* (pages 13–14). University of Art and Design Cluj Napoca, 2011.
- Morató, Yolanda. *¿Qué pinto yo aquí? Stuckistas, vanguardias remodernistas y el mundo del arte contemporáneo*. Zut, 2006. ISSN 1699-7514. (This publication includes a Spanish translation of *Stuckism International* and a portfolio of Larry Dunstan's photographs.)
- Thompson, Charles. *Stuck in the Emotional Landscape: Jiri Hauschka, Jaroslav Valecka*. Victoria Press, 2011. ISBN 978-0-907165-32-3.
- Stuckism International
- Charles Thomson Interviewed about Stuckism Archived 20 November 2007 at the Wayback Machine
- Prague Stuckists
- Central Europe Stuckists Archived 31 March 2013 at the Wayback Machine