Sir Nicholas Serota Makes an Acquisitions Decision

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Sir Nicholas Serota Makes an Acquisitions Decision, 2000, painting by Charles Thomson

Sir Nicholas Serota Makes an Acquisitions Decision is the best known painting to come out of the Stuckism art movement and stands for the movement's goal of opposing conceptual art. It was painted by the Stuckism co-founder Charles Thomson.

The Guardian wrote "If the stuckists go down in art history, and the jury is still out as to whether they will, Sir Nicholas Serota Makes an Acquisitions Decision by stuckist co-founder Charles Thomson may well become their signature piece."^[1]

Thomson says, "My painting of Serota has become an icon of the Stuckist movement because it states our position in art. "We are for new figurative painting and anti stale, old conceptual art."^[2]

Sir Nicholas is a curator and the current Director of the Tate Gallery, the United Kingdom's national gallery of modern and British art. He was the driving force behind the creation of Tate Modern.

1 First Show
2 General Election 2001
3 Liverpool Biennale 2004
4 Spectrum London in 2006
5 Stuckist demonstrations
6 Serota doorstepped
7 Stella Vine
8 Critical evaluation
9 See also
10 Notes and references
11 External links

[edit] First Show

The painting was first shown in 2000 at Joe Crompton's Gallery 108, Leonard Street, Shoreditch in the show "The Resignation of Sir Nicholas Serota." (the third Stuckist show), where there was a special display of a wall of paintings about Nicholas Serota. It was painted over a few days and in a final 24 hour non stop stint. It was mentioned by Nigel Reynolds and a small black and white image appeared in the Daily Telegraph.^[3]

[edit] General Election 2001

In 2001 Thomson stood in the General Election as the Stuckist Candidate. HIs opponent was Chris Smith the Minister of Culture. Thomson adopted the painting of Sir Nicholas Serota and the knickers as the official logo of his party. He said "I can't see how the Electoral Commission would find it offensive," "The real thing is on display at Tate Modern. What's more her knickers were funded by Chris Smith using public money." ^[4]

[edit] Liverpool Biennale 2004

The painting was also shown at the Liverpool Biennial in [[The Stuckists Punk Victorian]] show at the Walker Art Gallery. Serota went to the show and saw the painting there. His comment on the show was that it was 'lively'^[5] John Russell Taylor started his review of the Bienniale in the Times, "SAY what you will about the Stuckists, they certainly know what they don’t like. In the eccentric British group’s latest show the most explicit target is clearly the Turner Prize: the attitude can be summed up in one painting, Charles Thomson’s Sir Nicholas Serota Makes an Acquisitions Decision".^[6]

[edit] Spectrum London in 2006

The painting was shown at Spectrum London gallery in September 2006 in the Go West exhibition and priced at £30,000. It shows Sir Nicholas Serota the director of the Tate gallery. He is smiling behind a big pair of red knickers on a washing line, and saying "is it a genuine Emin (£10,000)" and thinking in a bubble "or a worthless fake?". This is an attack on Tracey Emin's My Bed, literally a display of her (dishevelled) bed with detritus which included a pair of her knickers, shown in the 1999 Turner Prize at Tate Britain. The show at Spectrum London was their first ever commercial show in the West End of London and this painting was the centre piece of it.^[7] The Spectrum London director Royden Prior said people shouldn't just look at the politics but should look beyond them because "These artists are good, and are part of art history," ^[8]

The Evening Standard said some people would see the display of the painting as revenge against Serota who had rejected the donation of 175 paintings by the Stuckists to the Tate gallery; it also mentioned that the Stuckists had first drawn attention to the Tate's purchase of The Upper Room by Chris Ofili, a Tate trustee, which had led to the Tate being censured by the Charity Commission.^[9], and that there was still an ongoing feud with the Tate. The painting had been part of the donation of paintings offered to the Tate and may have been a reason the work was turned down, when Serota said, " "We do not feel the work is of sufficient quality in terms of accomplishment, innovation or originality of thought to warrant preservation in perpetuity in the national collection."^[10]

Stuckist protest against the Turner Prize, Tate Britain, in 2004, enlisting Charles Saatchi's name

[edit] Stuckist demonstrations

You can often see the painting of Serota and the knickers on display on posters in Stuckist demonstrations which are held outside the Turner Prize since 2000. Photographs such as the one shown are used on their web site to promote the demonstration.

Sir Nicholas Serota holds up a postcard of the painting Sir Nicholas Serota Makes an Acquisitions Decision by Charles Thomson

[edit] Serota doorstepped

In December 2006, during their demonstration outside Tate Britain against the Turner Prize, Charles Thomson handed Serota a leaflet with the painting on it.^[11] This incident was caught on video, which was put on the Stuckism web site, along with the still image from it shown here. Serota stood on the steps of the Tate and held up the postcard, saying, "Can't you make another image?"^[12]

[edit] Stella Vine

Stella Vine's Hi Paul Can You Come Over, portrait of Princess Diana, bought by Charles Saatchi

Thomson has claimed that this painting was the idea that Stella Vine used for her painting of Princess Diana bought by Charles Saatchi in 2004 that launched her to fame. She had earlier been Thomson's wife for a short time in 2001 and also a member of the Stuckists group. Thomson said: "Her painting of Princess Diana was based on the same idea as my painting "Sir Nicholas Serota Makes an Acquisitions Decision" – namely to imagine what a famous person is thinking and write the words next to a portrait of them. She has made an intelligent, innovative and personal interpretation of influences to form her own identity, which is what all artists do. It is only fair and honest to acknowledge there was this help and there has been an influence."^[13]

[edit] Critical evaluation

It has been reviewed:

“

Thomson has painted what must be the masterpiece of Stuckism so far: Sir Nicholas Serota Makes an Acquisitions Decision. Here the slick handling and smartass irony of Britart are turned on its champion to make a very funny point and a rather good portrait. This is an example of what the Situationists called detournement, using your enemies' own weapons against him.^[14]

”

However, Sarah Kent (a staunch advocate of Britart) was less impressed with the satire: "One might forgive his puerile humour if Thomson didn't consider it a serious weapon ... cut the ranting and Thomson could be a reasonable painter."^[15] Thomson pointed out in response, "it's reality. A few weeks after I did the painting, Tracey Emin was shown on TV getting very angry about an installation because someone had substituted another pair of knickers for hers ... That makes it a bit sad."^[16]