Stuckism and Punk Philosophy:controversialism in the fine art environment

In December 1976, I heard ‘Anarchy in the UK’ for the first time and my life changed forever. I became a provincial punk.

In 1985 I met Pauline Murray and Robert Blamire from the punk group Penetration, and played on and off with them for the next

20 years.

In 2000 I read an article on Stuckism, and my life

changed again

There was an immediate identification within the ideas expressed and the work accompanying it, that had as

great an impact on me as the day I heard The Sex Pistols for the first time.

This led to me contacting them, declaring I was probably a Stuckist, and asking what I should do next.

Rachel JordonTurnerprize Hotel

What is Stuckism?

Recording session for The Medway Poets LP, Rochester Adult Education Centre

11 December 1987

Charles Thomson

Billy Childish

The Stuckists are “pro-contemporary figurative painting with ideas and anti conceptual art, mainly

because of its poverty of concepts.”

(Milner, F. 2004 dust jacket).

Mark DShed Boat Shed Shed

Charles ThomsonIs my shoe art?

What is punk philosophy?(this is a very difficult question to answer)

What is punk attitude?(still quite difficult)

Muggleton, (2000) quotes one of his “informers”, who talks of punk being:  

“what you make it. Paradoxically, this is the essence of punk, and only ‘true’ punks realize this” (p.2).

however…

Methodology:

what have I been doing since 1977?

looking in the right place

looking in the right way

talk to the practitioner

working without a map (no agenda)

“Truth is what it is, regardless of what we want it to be” 

Pocket Guide to Stuckism, Charles Thomson, March 2004

As practitioners, we all share similar issues(if we are authentic in what we do)

I wanted to document what I do anyway- that is:

talk about, argue about, and get excited about art and ideas

with other practitioners.

narrative enquiry:

The dynamic between the researcher and the subject can create barriers, as there is an implicit agreement that there

is a power asymmetry, that of the ‘academic’ and the subject.

This is not in fact the reality, as the researcher is often not professional within the role of an interlocutor. Neither are they necessarily experts when discussing life stories with

the subject.

As Czarniawska states, what a researcher can offer in this situation is “respectful and interested attention.”

obsessional tendencies (vital)

the part time option

Controversialism

W H Smith record counter June 1977

Recent letter from Thomson to the Independent:

Michael Glover (“The best artist on the shortlist presents judges with a problem”, 5 May 2011) has surely underestimated the Tate by suggesting that there is anything dubious about a jury including Godfrey Worsdale, the director of the Baltic, nominating George Shaw, an artist currently exhibiting at the Baltic, for the Turner Prize to be held at the Baltic.  The Tate will no doubt ensure that its ethically watertight conflict of interest management policy will be enforced with customary rigour and Worsdale will promptly leave the room every time the nominees are discussed. 

Charles ThomsonCo-founder, The Stuckists

The ‘practice’ bit

Paul HarveyHenry Williamson sitting outside his writing hut reflecting on his role as a father

Stuckism and PunkA Clarification

Helping to get art back on its feet

Wolf HowardEl Toro

Damien HirstThe Physical Impossibility of Death in the Mind of Someone Living

why bother?

Painting is mysterious. It creates worlds within

worlds, giving access to the unseen psychological

realities that we inhabit.