Stuckism International Gallery

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A Dead Shark Isn't Art, Stuckism International 2003
A Dead Shark Isn't Art, Stuckism International 2003

The Stuckism International Gallery was the flagship for the Stuckist art movement. It was open in Shoreditch from 2002 to 2005 in the heartland of Britart and conceptual art, only a stone's throw from The White Cube gallery, which represents Tracey Emin and Damian Hirst. It was run by Charles Thomson, the co-founder of Stuckism, in his home and open to the public most of the time during that period.

Contents

[edit] The History Of The Gallery

The Stuckism International Gallery was opened in early 2002 at 3 Charlotte Road, Shoreditch, 70 yards away from the White Cube gallery.

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."[1][2] He was given a special preliminary show at the gallery, with the title I Don't Want a Painting Degree if it Means Not Painting.

Stuckist artists leave a coffin, marked "The death of conceptual art", outside the White Cube gallery in Shoreditch, July 25, 2002.
Stuckist artists leave a coffin, marked "The death of conceptual art", outside the White Cube gallery in Shoreditch, July 25, 2002.

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". This event also launched the first formal group show at the gallery which was the The Stuckists First International, and subsequent shows. Sarah Kent in Time Out said of the Stuckists' gallery: "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."[3]

The First Stuckist International had Stuckist art from around the world including Melbourne, Pittsburgh and the Ivory Coast. It ran till October 2002.[4]

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." [5]

In December 2002 the gallery staged "The Real Turner Prize Show" again to protest that the prize should be for paintings. Four artists were shown at the gallery in this, Ella Guru, Mandy McCartin, Paul Harvey and Charles Williams. They shared the honours equally.[6]


A success was when Charles Saatchi opened his new gallery in County Hall with a display of Damian Hirst's work, including his shark pickled in a glass case. The Stuckism gallery showed a stuffed shark in their window, effectively satirising the Hirst one. Further more the Stuckist shark was caught by a local electrician 2 years before Hirst did his and it was exhibited in the electrician's shop. The Stuckists reckon Hirst might have seen it and got the idea for his and that the electrician Eddie Saunders is therefore the better artist out of the two, and the original genius.[7]

Charles Thomson said, "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."[8]

At the end of the year, the scheduled show "The Real Turner Prize Show" was cancelled because of a dispute with Gina Bold, one of the exhibiting artists over how it should be promoted.[9] Although she then left the movement, the last show at the Gallery in July 2004 was a solo show of her work called "Hysterical Shock", which she did not attend.[10]

When Thomson moved in 2005 the premises became La Viande Gallery.

[edit] Comments

Arty magazine edited by Cathy Lomax (who runs the 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."

[edit] List of shows

[edit] Group Shows

[edit] 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

[edit] Other

  • 3am Magazine GOOD SEX PRIZE presented by the renowned Madame Tytania (with whip)

[edit] Notes and References

  1. ^ Buckman, David: "Dictionary of Artists in Britain since 1945", page 775. Art Dictionaries, 2006
  2. ^ Alberge, Dalya. "Art students accuse college of failing to teach them the basics" (Reprint), The Times, 2002-07-08. Retrieved on March 4, 2007.
  3. ^ Kent, Sarah "The Stuckists" Time Out. Accessed from stuckism.com
  4. ^ Prudames, David. "Britart Beware The First Stuckist International Is Here", 24hr museum, 2002-08-12. Retrieved on March 4, 2007.
  5. ^ "Bizarre bet on Saatchi" (Reprint), Evening Standard, 2002-10-31. Retrieved on March 28, 2007.
  6. ^ "The Real Turner Prize 2002 - The Stuckists Alternative Award", 24hr museum, 2002-12-06. Retrieved on March 4, 2007.
  7. ^ Shakespeare, Sebastian. "The real Jaws comes to town Bushy tales" (Reprint), Evening Standard, 2003-04-11. Retrieved on March 4, 2007.
  8. ^ "Shark" (Reprint), The Times, 2003-04-10. Retrieved on March 4, 2007.
  9. ^ A Stuckist on Stuckism online essay from the Stuckists Punk Victorian Book published by National Museums Liverpool
  10. ^ Stuckism Gina Bold

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

[edit] External links

Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org../../../s/t/u/Stuckism_International_Gallery_502d.html"