Mark D and The Stuckists vs Tracey Emin and Damien Hirst at The Art Organisation Gallery, 21 Station Street, Nottingham (29 April - 7 May) There’s that famous scientific law which states that for every action there is an equal and opposite reaction. The Stuckist art group, recently featured at an exhibition at Nottingham’s new Art Organisation, seems to have defined itself in reaction to the established art world. | "A show of work by artists who react against the set way of doing things is apt for the Art Organisation Gallery." | | Camilla Zajac |
The exhibition suggests how the two worlds actually coexist in some weird form of anti-partnership. Coming full circle, the Stuckists have started to become accepted and even feted in the world they oppose. Stuckists A show of work by artists who react against the set way of doing things is apt for the Art Organisation Gallery, housed in a previously derelict building on Station Street. There is both a real risk and a real freedom in doing things your own way. Stuckist works like Mark D’s Sir Peter Blake, King of Pop Art, (showing the respected artist cavorting in a union jack teddy!), illustrate the established art world as peopled by pantomime characters. Some of these visual satires on well known figures, like artist Chris Offili and Tate Gallery Director Nicholas Serota, reminded me a little of old political cartoons. For this self-styled art group, taking the proverbial playfully is a deadly serious way of underlining the issues. The sometimes rough style of painting has the directness of the child questioning what others won’t admit, in true Emperor’s-New-Clothes style. This scrutiny extends to themselves – the exhibition details the history of the Stuckists, including Mark D’s images of Tracey Emin, whose insult to her then-boyfriend, Billy Childish (now an ex-member of the group) gave the group its name. The exhibition also includes press cuttings about the group’s annual tradition of protesting outside the venue for the presentation of the Turner Prize – sometimes in clown suits. The story that the exhibition tells also includes the later chapters, with growing interest in the group from Charles Saatchi, once a pillar of the white walled gallery-temple that the Stuckists mock. The Art Organisation Of course, recognition from the establishment doesn’t mean having to change sides. There are always new ways of doing things, as the exhibition suggests. Alternative approaches have also shaped the Art Organisation.
 | | Window of the Art Organisation |
The site in Nottingham continues 10 years’ hard work by Director Rob Smith and his colleagues to turn derelict, ignored spaces into living, breathing places for art, ideas and interaction. With its clear layout and decor created from reclaimed objects, its sense of openness to all comers and all kinds of activities, the place is the opposite of the white gallery space so mocked by the Stuckists. Nice mint tea, too. As Director Rob Smith says, “There is a hunger” in Nottingham for initiatives that offer something alternative and alive to artists, audiences, performers and practitioners of all kinds. This is just the beginning for the Art Organisation in Nottingham. Watch this art-performance-work-social-space. | 
