stuck between prague and london

5/19/2018 Stuck Between Prague and London

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between Prague and London


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Paul Harvey Ji Hauschka Edgeworth Johnstone Charles Thomson Jaroslav Valeka

between Prague and London


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Thi s b oo k w as fir st publi she d on the oc casio n o f t he exh ibi tio n,

Stuck between Prague and London , at the Nolias

11 Gallery,

56 Stamford Street, London SE1 9LX, 28 May 3 June 2013.

2013 Victoria Press, the artists and Edward Lucie-Smith

Text edi tor Th oma s Car lto n

Graphic design Tom Ryant, www.smart-point.cz

Photographs Oto Paln, Martin Polk, the ar tists

Stuckism website www.stuckism.com

Central European Stuckists website www.valecka.eu/stuckismus

The mo ral right s o f t he autho r a nd ar tis ts are as ser ted . A ll right s r ese rv ed.

No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in anymeans, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording

or any other information storage or retrevial system without permissionin writing from the publisher.

Published by Victoria Press, London 2013Website www.victoriapress.co.uk

ISBN 978 0 907165 33 0Printed in the EU


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Edward Lucie-Smith 4-5

Paul Harvey 6-43

Ji Hauschka 44-81

Edgeworth Johnstone 82-119

Charles Thomson 120-157

Jaroslav Valeka 158-195

Con

tents


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Edw

ardLucie-Smith The al li anc e b et wee n S tuck ism an d a rt ist s i n t he Cze ch Re pub lic i sunexpected (at least at first sight), and also fascinating for many reasons.

At its beginning, Stuckism - certainly a British invention - was nothing ifnot localist. It had its roots in a Medway Valley (Kentish) arts scene of themid 1970s and early 1990s that offered a parallel to the now canonicalLiverpool Scene of the 1960s. Both these British provincial culturalmovements owed at least part of their energy to an opposition to central

control from the London arts establishment. Both had strong links topopular music. The Liverpool Scene had an interface with the Liverpoolrock groups of the period, chief among them the Beatles. The Medwayscene looked back to the u psurge of punk rock, which took place inBritain in the 1970s.

While the Liverpool Scene is now remembered chiefly for its poets Adrian Henri, Roger McGough, Brian Patten it should also be noted thatthe senior figure, Adrian Henri, was a professional painter, deeply immersedin the history of the Modern Movement, but also interested in producingan accessible kind of art that would resonate with the young workingclass audience that formed the core of Liverpool Scene. He won a majorprize the John Moores competition of 1972. As Roger McGough remarked,apropos his own work The kids didnt see this as poetry with a capital p,they understood it as modern entertainment, as part o f the pop

movement. Change the word poetry to painting both in Liverpool in the1960s, and in the Medway ar ts scene later on, there were also equivalentattitudes to the visual arts.

As will be seen from the works exhibited, this commitment to the directaccessibility of the image is very much part of Stuckism, and has helpedto power its spread all over the world. To look at the Stuckist website isto be dazzled, and perhaps bemused, by the number of Stuckist groupsthere now are throughout the world. These groups essentially representa grassroots resistance to official hierarchies. They say up yours to the

official, and officially funded, powers that be. In this sense they havea paradoxical resemblance to the first wave of avant-garde art groups andmovements who created the Modern Movement at the beginning of the20th century. Paradoxical in at least two ways. The first is that Stuckistartists regularly describe themselves as Remodernist. That is, they lookbackward, at the Modernist and even at aspects of the pre-Modern past, inorder to move forward. It is symbolic of this that a recent show of British

Stuckist artists, held in Bermondsey, appropriated the press release for thePre-Raphaelite show that was taking place at Tate Britain at exactly thesame time, and were able to use it almost word for word to publicise theirown exhibition.

The Cze ch ar ti sts exh ibi ted now , i n c onj un cti on wit h t hre e lea ding Bri tis hStuckists, come from a significantly different background from that of theirindigenous colleagues here. Jaroslav Valeka (b. 1972) and Ji Hauschka(b. 1965) have both lived through two distinct phases in the history ofCzech art. Before the Velvet Revolution of 1989, Czech art underCommunism mostly adhered to a kind of lukewarm Modernism, rather thanbeing forced into the full-blown Socialist Realist style favoured in Russia.

The po et/ co llagi st Ji Ko la r, o ne of the Cze ch ar tis ts bes t k now n i n t heWest from the 1960s onwards, had a stormy relationship with the politicalauthorities. He was arrested in 1953, when mostly active as a writer, and

spent several months in prison. He was banned in 1968, following thefailure of the Prague Spring, and emigrated to Paris in 1980, returning onlyafter the fall of Communism in 1989.

When Communism fell, the cultural bureaucracy it supported fell with it.It was replaced by intellectuals and artists who had been the supporters,under Communism, not of the regime, but of its most effective internalopponent: the dissident playwright Vaclav Havel, who became the ninthand last president of Czechoslovakia (1989-1992) and the first presidentof the Czech Republic (1993-2003). The moment of change coincided with

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the high tide of Conceptual Art, particularly favoured in Eastern Europe assymbolic of resistance to o rthodox Communist aesthetics. The result wasto create a new generation of ar tists who found themselves once againoutside the official structures. Jaroslav Valeka and Jiri Hauschka essentiallybelong to this group. Valeka joined the Prague Stuckists in 2004, Hauschka

jo ine d t he fol lo win g y ear. H au sch ka has s aid, Stu ck ism is an ans wer tothe official trend. I found many of its ideas similar with how I see the art

world these days. As the French proverb has it: Plus que a change, plusque cest la mme chose. The more things change, the more they tendto remain the same.

British Stuckism, as this show also demonstrates, has some direct points ofstylistic contact with Czech art. Paul Harvey, for example, is obviously anadmirer of the Art Nouveau painter and poster designer Alphonse Mucha,who remains the best known of all Czech-born artists internationally.Other influences are more international, and linked to the history of earlyModernism. It is easy, for instance, to see Edgeworth Johnstones links withearly 20th century Expressionism.

Thi s E xpr ess io nis t i nfl uen ce is ba lance d, as the Cze ch cri tic an dphotographer Robert Jans has pointed out, by the planar style espousedby one of Stuckisms founders, Charles Thomson, where figurative images

are deliberately reduced to flat shapes. This impulse, too, can be traced tothe work of certain important early Modernist artists. One encounters it, forexample, in figurative works by Miro. The adjective Remodernist justifiesitself in all three cases. Their origins, in all three cases, are impeccablyorthodox, and there is no political resonance as such.

The Bri tis h S tuck ist mov eme nt has no t s uf fer ed fro m p ol iti cal per sec uti on ,at least in the generally understood sense of that phrase. It has, however,waged a long drawn o ut and notably persistent war with the officialstructures that still govern the presentation of contemporary art in Britain.

If one looks at Hauschkas list of recent solo exhibitions, for instance, it isdifficult to match it with anything equivalent in the biography of anyBritish Stuckist ar tist. British Stuckism remains outside to a perhaps greaterdegree than Czech Stuckism.

Partly, I think, this is due to the fact that British Stuckists tend to relishtheir now established role as nay-sayers. They dont want to join the Tate

playgroup (or, for that matter, the Serpentine Gallery or the Hayward orthe Whitechapel playgroup). Theyd rather have one of their own. The hugeextent and international outreach of the vast Stuckist website, much of itundoubtedly due to the unrelenting energy of Charles Thomson, certainlyoffer challenges to the web-offerings devoted to the official version ofcontemporary art. The site may well receive nearly as many hits as thoseof official competitors. Stuckism is coming close to proposing a completealternative art universe a fourth dimension of contemporary art. It isamusing, to put it mildly, that the established commentators find thisrather hard to deal with.

Edward Lucie-Smith

May 2013


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PaulHarve

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Swiss Holiday, 2013, acrylic on canvas, 24 x 36


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Paul Harvey, born 1960, Burton-upon-Trent, Staffordshire, England. He gained a B.A. (Hons) in Design at NorthStaffordshire Polytechnic, 197982, and M.A. with distinction in Fine Art Practice at University of Nor thumbria,200305. He completed a practice-based Ph.D entitled Stuckism, Punk Attitude and Fine Art Practice: parallelsand similaritiesat the University of Northumbria in 2012.

From 1977, he played in punk and post punk bands including Chaos, The Two Way Mirrors, The Crazy Quiltsand Happy Refugees, and from 1985 with Pauline Murray, including the re-formed Penetration with whomhe occasionally still plays. In 1982, he founded Mauretania Comics with Chris Reynolds. From 1986, he haslectured in Art & Design at Tyne Metropolitan College. In the 1990s, he wrote for Record Collectorandpublished the easy/exotica fanzine Ali ve & L ove ly. He is currently working on his final significant musicproject, entitled A Garage Operawith his band Nancy Bone, a story about a couple who try to live a garagelifestyle and fail. He is also currently recording a second album with Happy Refugees, 30 years af ter the firstone. In 2011 he went over to New York with the rest of the band to play two gigs in Manhattan and Brooklynto celebrate the re-issue of their first album Last Chance Saloonby Acute Records.

In 2001, he founded The Newcastle Stuckists; he was in later major UK Stuckist shows, including theStuckism International Gallery shows, 20022004; The Stuckists Punk Victorian , 2004 (for which his paintingof the same name was used as the promotional image); and Go West, 2006. He curated Stuck in Newcastle,Newcastle Arts Centre, 2002; and co-curated with Hiroko Oshima Members Only: the Artists Group in Japan andBritainat Bailiffgate Museum, 2004. He was a speaker at The Triumph of Stuckismsymposium, Liverpool JohnMoores University, 2006; and at Shared Resonance, AHRC Block Grant Partnership Conference, NorthumbriaUniversity and University of Sunderland, National Glass Centre, Sunderland, 2010. He is a member of the PunkScholars Network, and has recently been a speaker at Reading University as part of a conference entitledPunk In Other Places: Transmission and Transmutation.

Solo shows include Dreaming of a World Without Irony, Opus Gallery, Newcastle upon Tyne, 2006; OriginalDoubles, Wanted Gallery (now GG Gallery), London, 2009. In 2008, he was commissioned by Job cigarettepapers to produce a series of posters as the successor to Alphonse Muchas 19th century designs for the firm.Collectors of his work include Mark Herron, Kathy Bacovitch, and Wendi Surtees-Smith. He names Giotto,Vermeer, Van Gogh and Wolf Howard as favourite artists, who should have equal prominence.

He said, I paint what I want to thats a lot harder than it sounds. I paint pictures about what its like to bea human being in my world thats also a lot harder than it sounds. Some of the imagery is secondary, butmuch of it is from primary sources including photos, drawings and memories. I like to put a lot of disparate

stuff together to make sense. Im a romantic I cant help it. Punk attitude informs my work it may not lookpunk, but it is.

Website: www.paulharveypaintings.com

Paul Harvey


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An Ann unc iat ion , 2 003 , a cry li c o n c anv as, 70 x 4 4


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Olympic Sailing in Weymouth, 2012, acrylic on canvas, 30 x 24


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Ar t a nd Lei sur e, 201 1, acr yli c o n c anv as, 42 x 7 2


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Modernism with Ice Cream, 2011, acrylic on canvas, 24 x 18


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Mauretania, 2007, acrylic on canvas, 48 x 48


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Valerie and Her Week of Wonders, 2009, acrylic on canvas, 58 x 41


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The Stranglers, 2012, acrylic on canvas, 47 x 33.5


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Punk vs. Fundamentalism (Julie 1982), 2012, acrylic on canvas, 20 x 16


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Punk Victorian, 2004, acrylic and gold leaf on canvas, 24 x 24


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Dreaming (of a World without Irony), 2006, acrylic on canvas, 46 x 84


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Modern Masterpieces, 2011, acrylic on canvas, 24 x 30


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Reclining Nude, 2003, acrylic on canvas, 30 x 40


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Untitled, 2009, acrylic on canvas, 30 x 24


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Czech Landscape with Jaroslav Valeka and Karel Teige Elements, 2013, acrylic on canvas, 30 x 24


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Dance Night, 2012, acrylic on canvas, 36 x 60


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Pompeii (The Grand Tour), 2012, acrylic on canvas, 36 x 60


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Henry Williamson Sits outside His Writing Hut Reflecting on His Role as a Father, 2010, acrylic on canvas, 24 x 36


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Girl and Olive Tree, 2011, acrylic on canvas, 24 x 36


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Italian Holiday, 2008, acrylic on canvas, 33 x 56


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Eriba Holiday, 2012, acrylic on canvas, 24 x 36


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Innsbruck, 2013, acrylic on canvas, 30 x 24


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Sunbathing by the Glacier (Instamatic), 2009, acrylic on canvas, 31.5 x 31.5


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Grand Pier, 2013, acrylic on canvas, 30 x 24


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Hotel Evropa, Prague (with Pavel Brazda Elements), 2013, acrylic on canvas, 30 x 24


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Brno Girl in Prague, 2011, acrylic on canvas, 30 x 24


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Charles Bridge (with Pavel Brazda Elements), 2009, acrylic on canvas, 30 x 24


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Girl Putting on Makeup, 2010, acrylic on canvas, 30 x 24


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Girl Sitting on Bed (Prague 2003), 2003, acrylic on canvas, 32 x 28


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Salad Days, 2011, acrylic on canvas, 31.5 x 31.5


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Nigella Lawson, 2006, acrylic on canvas, 39.5 x 39.5


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Charles Saatchi, 2007, acrylic on canvas, 72 x 24 Madonna, 2002, acrylic on canvas, 72 x 24


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Charlotte Church, 2006, acrylic on canvas, 72 x 24Self Portrait with Radio On, 2009, acrylic on canvas, 72 x 24


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Kino V, 2003, acrylic on canvas, 20 x 16


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Kino VIII, 2003, acrylic on canvas, 20 x 16


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Portrait of William Bell Scott, 2011, acrylic on canvas, 20 x 16


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Emmanual Kant with Flowers, 2004, acrylic on canvas, 30 x 24


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Stand up Daddy, 2013, acrylic on canvas, 40 x 48

JiriHausch

ka


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Ji Hauschka, born 1965, Sumperk, Czech Republic, lived a conventional family life with a wife and son in

Sumperk, a small town in Moravia, and worked in a hospital in charge of transporting corpses to and from

the autopsy room. In 1991, he walked out on both work and family, and travelled with a friend, pennilessand often starving, around Italy for a year. During this journey he wrote a book of poetryAim at Not hin g,

published in 2005. On his return to the Czech Republic, he gave up his house to his ex-wife and moved to

Prague, where he worked for advertising agencies. There he married an actress and started another family.He spent as much time as he could painting.

In 2005, he joined The Prague Stuckists. He said, Stuckism is an answer to the current official trend ... I foundthat many of its ideas are similar with how I see the art world these days. He spent a year living in England,

where he took part in the Stuckist demonstration against the Turner Prize at Tate Britain, 2005; he was

exhibited with The Brighton Stuckists; in Painting Pictures Is What Matters , Arthouse Gallery Cafe, 2006; he hada solo show, Emotional Landscapes , at The Residence Gallery, London, 2006. He was in the Prague Stuckist

shows Stuck in the Middle of November, 2007; Stuck in the Middle of November ll, 2008; with other Stuckists inthe show The Enemies of Art, 2011; and Stuckists: Elizabethan Avant-Garde, 2012 in London.

Other solo shows have been Town Hall Gallery Prachatice, Czech Republic, 2005; Hellge Gallery Passaum,Gemany, 2005; Gallery Dolmen, Prague, 2008; G allery XXL, Louny, Czech Republic, 2008; and Gallery Kotelna,

Ricany u Prahy, Czech Republic, 2010; 21st Century Gallery, Prague, 2011, Red G ate Gallery, London 2011.

During his show in 21st Century Gallery one of his painting was offered by the gallery to the National CzechGallery as a donation. The National Gallery Director chose and accepted the painting in person.

Hauschka titled his solo shows Na ceste (On the Way) . He said, I am like a fascinated pilgrim and painting isthe best way to show what the world of my pilgrimage looks like. My paintings before my UK journey were on

the border between abstract and realistic art, but, after, my works began to be more figurative and realistic.I paint the world which surrounds me, joined by a kind of liquid energy which goes through all matter.

Dr. Robert Jans, Stuckism International, said, Ji Hauschka finds a balance between abstraction and realisticpainting. In his paintings, Neo-expressionism is joined with a strong feeling for composition, based on large

areas limited by accentuated contours, and colours used symbolically with a liquidity of form. Rukhsana

Yasmin, CEN magazine, UK, said, His experiences helped form his exhibition Emotional Landscapes , a series ofpaintings using strong colour and fluid lines that are barely tangible yet just hint at the real form behind it.

Website: www.jirihauschka.com

Ji Hauschka


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Waiting, 2011, acrylic on canvas, 40 x 60


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Black and White, 2012, acrylic on canvas, 40 x 60


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House beside a River, 2011, acrylic on canvas, 20 x 28


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House to Hire, 2011, acrylic on canvas, 20 x 24


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Invisible Accident, 2013, acrylic on canvas, 20 x 28


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Acci den t, 201 0, acr yl ic on can vas, 36 x 8 0


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White Bridge, 2011, acrylic on canvas, 36 x 80


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White Highway, 2011, acrylic on canvas, 60 x 40


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There Is Snow for a Long Time in the Valley, 2013, acrylic on canvas, 40 x 28


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There Is Always Snow in the Valley, 2013, acrylic on canvas, 32 x 24


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Thickets, 2013, acrylic on canvas, 60 x 46


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This Must Be the Place, 2013, acrylic on canvas, 36 x 24


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Cage, 2009, acrylic on canvas, 40 x 48


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Fireplace, 2011, acrylic on canvas, 40 x 60


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At Dus k, 201 2, acr yli c o n c anv as, 40 x 6 0


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Beside a Cottage, 2010, acrylic on canvas, 40 x 48


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Brothers, 2012, acrylic on canvas, 60 x 40


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School, 2011, acrylic on canvas, 20 x 28


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Road from the Forest, 2013, acrylic on canvas, 28 x 40


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Road, 2010, acrylic on canvas, 40 x 28


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Standing on Legs, 2011, acrylic on canvas, 40 x 40


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Seekers, 2010, acrylic on canvas, 40 x 40


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Someone Is Living there, 2011, acrylic on canvas, 40 x 48


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Tree of Life, 2011, acrylic on canvas, 40 x 48


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The View through, 2010, acrylic on canvas, 40 x 40


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Waiting for Rain, 2012, acrylic on canvas, 40 x 60


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Highway, 2010, acrylic on canvas, 36 x 80


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Underworld, 2011, acrylic on canvas, 32 x 48


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Beam, 2011, acrylic on canvas, 48 x 32


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Before, 2012, acrylic on canvas, 40 x 60


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Inside and Outside, 2010, acrylic on canvas, 40 x 48


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Night Watch, 2013, acrylic on canvas, 32 x 24


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Balcony Scene, 2013, acrylic on canvas, 20 x 20


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Downpour, 2011, acrylic on canvas, 40 x 40


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Somewhere in front of London, 2011, acrylic on canvas, 28 x 20


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Over there outside, 2012, acrylic on canvas, 40 x 40

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Fifties Film, 2006, oil on canvas, 36 x 36

Edg

eworthJoh

nstone

Edgeworth Johnstone


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Edgeworth Johnstone is British, born 1977, Brussels, Belgium, and spent most of his childhood drawing whilst

his family moved between Belgium, France and the UK. H is earliest memory is of drawing Father Christmas in

Paris when he was almost three. In 1991, aged 14, he started playing guitar, which he has been addicted toever since. He attended East Berkshire College at Windsor, UK, 199395 but left after failing three A-Levels.

He worked in pubs, shops, and university administration, 19902009.

Around 2005, he decided to give up alcohol, which he saw as preventing him from doing anything

productive. Soon after, he began painting and finding musicians to play on his first studio album, which

was completed in 2008 with the band 2 out of 3 Rule. 2006, he founded The Other Muswell Hill Stuckists,of which his wife, Shelley Li, is also a member. Li and Johnstone comprise the lo-fi alternative band, Elbow

Sisters. Together, they distributed literature for National Art Hate Week in 2009, and authored Stuck Near Tate

Modern ( Victoria Press: London, 2010). Johnstone names his favourite artists as Picasso, Van Gogh, Klee,Kirchner, Beckmann, Miro, Munch, Cezanne and Gauguin.

He was in Under the Cover of Romantic Anonymity, 2010; An Ant ido te to the Gha stl y Tu rne r P riz e, 2008 and 2010;

Stuckist Clowns Doing Their Dirty Work, 2010; and Stuckists: Elizabethan Avant-Garde, 2012. He co-curated five

Stuckist shows, including Not the Groucho Club , 2009. From 2008, he took part in Stuckist Turner Prizedemonstrations. He is editor of The Other Muswell Hill Stuckistnewspaper. He has co-written eight manifestos

for The Other Muswell Hill Stuckists, including The Founding, Manifesto and Rules of The Other Muswell Hill

Stuckists, which was included in Penguin Modern Classics 100 Artists Manifestos: From the Futurists to the

Stuckists, edited by Professor Alex Danchev. Group shows include Exhibition #2 , Tate Modern, 2010.

Collections include Tim Clark and The Museum of Everything.

He said, I heard about Stuckism from seeing Billy Childishs monthly gigs at the Dirty Water Club in Tufnell

Park, shortly after I started painting in 2005. In my paintings, I try and show people as being the same in a lotof ways, and human connections with animals. I like the vagueness of painting. My ar t is strongly connected

to my music, and I see them as virtually the same thing. Musicians like Kurt Cobain and Jimi Hendrix are as

inspiring and influential to my painting as any visual artist, and vice versa. I am influenced by my favourite

Stuckist painters. We have a shared approach to, and view of, art. Our work is stylistically different, butconnected on a deeper level. This connection distinguishes Stuckism from what else Ive seen of

contemporary art. I also get a perverse pleasure being part of a group that is so hated and opposed by an ar tworld that is so sterile, business-driven and soull ess.

Hugh Muir, The Guardian, said, Is a wind of change blowing through the art world after the age of Tracey andDamien? ... Stuckist artist Edgeworth Johnstones work was placed on display in the Tate Modern Turbine Hall.

Website: www.edgeworthjohnstone.co.uk

g


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Beach Crowd, 2012, oil on canvas, 60 x 48


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Orchestra, 2012, oil on canvas, 72 x 60


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Night Scientist, 2012, oil on canvas, 30 x 24


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Dream in a Bedroom, 2006, oil on canvas, 32 x 40


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Couple behind a Circus, 2013, acrylic on paper, 24 x 17


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Girl in Pink, 2011, acrylic on canvas, 24 x 18


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Girl and Dog on Pig, 2013, acrylic on canvas, 30 x 20


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Family Portrait, 2012, acrylic on canvas, 10 x 8


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Old Hotel Scene, 2011, oil on canvas, 24 x 18


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Performing Princess, 2011, oil on canvas, 30 x 24


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Girl in White Dress, 2012, acrylic on paper, 7 x 4


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Old Woman, Bird and Sunflower, 2010, acrylic on paper, 14 x 11


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Girl Holding Bull, 2008, oil on canvas, 32 x 40


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A B aby Pai nti ng, 201 2, acr yli c o n l ine n, 16 x 1 6


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The First Child, 2009, oil on canvas, 24 x 30


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In a Restaurant, 2007, oil on canvas, 32 x 40


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A C ul t, 201 0, oil and acr yli c o n c anv as, 30 x 2 4


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A V ica r, 2 005 , o il and acr yl ic on can vas , 3 0 x 2 4


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Crusaders Battle, 2008, oil and acrylic on canvas, 24 x 30


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Man Being Attacked, 2006, oil and acrylic on canvas, 30 x 24


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In a Womb, 2006, oil and household paint on canvas, 32 x 40


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Transsexual, 2012, acrylic on linen, 16 x 16


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A M an and a K ang aro o, 200 7, oil on can vas, 24 x 3 0


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Sahara, 2006, oil and acrylic on canvas, 32 x 40


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Afr ica n S cen e, 200 7, oil on can vas , 2 4 x 3 0


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Looking After the King, 2010, oil on canvas, 32 x 40


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Night Rider, 2008, oil and acrylic on canvas, 24 x 30


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Beach Scene, 2005, oil on canvas, 30 x 40


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Self-Portrait with Animals by a River, 2008, oil on canvas, 32 x 40


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Man with Animals by a River, 2009, oil and acrylic on canvas, 24 x 30


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Farmers Field, 2008, oil on canvas, 32 x 40


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Noahs Ark, 2006, oil and acrylic on canvas, 30 x 40


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Cat in a Garden, 2005, oil and acrylic on canvas, 40 x 32


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Gassed Rabbit, 2007, oil and acrylic on canvas, 30 x 24


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Basquiat, 2009, oil on canvas, 30 x 24


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Klee, 2009, oil on canvas, 30 x 24

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Cat, Mask and Plant Woman, 2013, acrylic on canvas, 23.6 x 31.5

CharlesTho

mson

Charles Thomson was born 1953, Romford, Essex, England In 1969, age 16, he launched the Havering Arts

Charles Thomson


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Charles Thomson was born 1953, Romford, Essex, England. In 1969, age 16, he launched the Havering Arts

Lab for mixed media events. In 1971 he stood as a Dwarf candidate in the Havering council elections, and

co-ordinated anti-pollution protests. He distributed underground magazines, including OZ, in London. Hestudied Foundation Art at Thurrock Technical College, 197375; and B.A. Fine Art, 197579, at Maidstone

College of Art, where he was the first person in ten years to fail the painting degree. 1979, he was a member

of The Medway Poets. 197987 he worked as a telephonist and receptionist at Kent County Ophthalmic and

Aural Hospital. 198799 he was a full-time poet, with work in over 100 anthologies, including Poems of theDecade (Forward: London, 2001).

In 1999, he coined the term Stuckism and initiated the co-founding of the group with Billy Childish. He took

part in and co-curated Stuck! Stuck! Stuck!, 1999, and most major UK Stuckist shows, including The Stuckists

Punk Victorian(Walker Art Gallery), 2004, and Go West, 2006. He led the Stuckist Turner Prize demonstration in2000 and later years. In 2000, he painted Sir Nicholas Serota Makes an Acquisitions Decision , which has become

a Stuckist icon. 2001, he stood in the General Election as a Stuckist candidate; he promoted the art of, andbriefly married, Stella Vine. 200205, he ran the Stuckism International Gallery, Shoreditch, London. 2005, he

campaigned over the purchase of its trustee Chris Ofilis work, The Upper Room , by the Tate gallery, which was

subsequently censured by the Charity Commission.

He is frequently quoted in the media on art subjects, and appears on radio and television. He writes for

Counterpunch , 3:AM Magazine, and The Jackdaw. Collections include the David Roberts Foundation andDeutsche Bank.

He said, I paint things that affect me or interest me, often from life, but aim to take personal experience toanother level where it gains a wider relevance through encapsulating different levels of experience

material, conceptual, emotional and spiritual.

Dr. Robert Jans, in Stuckism International, said, Expressionism represented only one of the two pillars of early

Stuckism. The second one was, in fact, an antipodal style, best illustrated by Charles Thomson, whose work isbased on a sophisticated planary feeling for painting ... Thomsons paintings interpret his personal

experiences ... not achieved by crude expressivity and immediate attack, but by the overall effect,

characterised by a harmonious balance, although one achieved by combining potent details, which are oftenenergised by elements of exaggeration.

Website: www.stuckism.com/thomson


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Orange Balloon, 2013, acrylic on canvas, 31.5 x 23.6


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Orange Balloon with Floating Red Paper, 2013, acrylic on canvas, 31.5 x 23.6


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People on a Hill, 2013, acrylic on canvas, 23.6 x 31.5


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Reclining Person, 2013, acrylic on canvas, 23.6 x 31.5


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Person Walking in the Rain, 2013, acrylic on canvas, 23.6 x 31.5


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Person Walking in the Town, 2013, acrylic on canvas, 23.6 x 31.5


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Person Walking with a Stick, 2013, acrylic on canvas, 31.5 x 23.6


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Posting a Letter, 2013, acrylic on canvas, 23.6 x 31.5


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Clown, 2013, acrylic on canvas, 23.6 x 31.5


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Painter, 2013, acrylic on canvas, 23.6 x 31.5


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Still Life with Green Bottle and Red Mug 5, 2013, acrylic on canvas, 23.6 x 31.5


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Cottage, 2013, acrylic on canvas, 23.6 x 31.5


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Woman Asleep, 2013, acrylic on canvas, 23.6 x 31.5


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Woman with Brown Hair and Floating Colours, 2013, acrylic on canvas, 23.6 x 31.5


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Woman with Stockings 1, 2013, acrylic on canvas, 31.5 x 23.6


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Woman with Phone Camera, 2013, acrylic on canvas, 31.5 x 23.6


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Red Aeroplane, 2013, acrylic on canvas, 23.6 x 31.5


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Three People in a Boat, 2013, acrylic on canvas, 23.6 x 31.5


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Tank Plant (after an idea by Jasmine Maddock) , 2013, acrylic on canvas, 31.5 x 23.6


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Plant Woman, 2013, acrylic on canvas, 31.5 x 23.6


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Plant Woman, Mask and Cat, 2013, acrylic on canvas, 23.6 x 31.5


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Green Bottle, Mask and Cat, 2013, acrylic on canvas, 23.6 x 31.5


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Red Bottle, Mask and Cat, 2013, acrylic on canvas, 23.6 x 31.5


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Flowers and Red Bottle, 2013, acrylic on canvas, 23.6 x 31.5


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Cat, Flowers and Pink Pole, 2013, acrylic on canvas, 23.6 x 31.5


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Lamp, Candle and Cat, 2013, acrylic on canvas, 23.6 x 31.5


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Lamp, Mask and Pink Pole, 2013, acrylic on canvas, 23.6 x 31.5


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Red Plant Woman, Mask and Cat, 2013, acrylic on canvas, 23.6 x 31.5


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Lamp, Mask, Flowers and Green Bottle, 2013, acrylic on canvas, 23.6 x 31.5


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Lamp, Clock and Flowers, 2013, acrylic on canvas, 23.6 x 31.5


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Arr ow, Towe r a nd Cat , 2 013 , a cry lic on can vas, 23. 6 x 3 1.5


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Woman with Bow and Arrow, and Man with Arrow in Head, 2013, acrylic on canvas, 23.6 x 31.5


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Floating Faces, 2013, acrylic on canvas, 23.6 x 31.5


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Woman, Man with Anchor, and Three Aeroplanes, 2013, acrylic on canvas, 23.6 x 31.5


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Woman with Phone Camera and Axe, and Painter, 2013, acrylic on canvas, 23.6 x 31.5


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Vein Woman and Plane Old Man, 2013, acrylic on canvas, 23.6 x 31.5

ka


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A L ong Way Hom e, 201 2, oil on can vas , 3 6 x 4 8

JaroslavVa

le

Jaroslav Valeka, born 1972, Prague, Czech Republic, grew up in Liska, a village of 50 inhabitants in North

Bohemia, an area characterised by lakes and mountains. His mother was a doctor and his father a geologist.

As a young boy he loved the painting, The Reader of Dostoyevsky, by Emil Filla. His youth was during

Jaroslav Valeka


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Communist rule, a period of fear and censorship, which has left a lasting influence on him. He gained his

MGA. Painting, Academy of Fine Arts, Prague, 199198, worked as a teacher till 2006, and has since supported

himself through his art.

He joined The Prague Stuckists in 2004. He was in Stuckist shows, Stuck in the Middle of November, 2007; Stuck

at the National Gallery, 2010; The Enemies of Art, 2011; Stuckists: Elizabethan Avant-Garde, and Stuckists Tarot

Show, 2012. In 2012 he founded another Stuckist group: Central Europe Stuckists. Other group shows include

Swiss Bank Corporation Competition, London, 1993;Aus tel lun g d er Sti pen di ant en , Lichthalle K arlsruhe,

Germany, 1995; Perfect Tense, Prague Castle Riding Hall, Prague, 2003; All abo ut Prag ue , White Box Galler y,Munich, Germany, 2008; Transfer, Czech Centre, New York, 2009; DYS, National G allery Prague, 2011. He has

had 41 solo shows since 1998, including Paintings , Gallery of Youth Brno, Czech Republic, 2002; Paintings ,Galerie Pintner, Frankfurt am Main, Germany, 2009; Carnet des voyages , Chateau Chateugiron, France, 2009;

Paintings , esk Pojiovna Gallery, Prague, 2009; Paintings , Alova South Bohemian G allery, esk Budjovice,

Czech Republic, 2010; STUCK in the Emotional Landscape , Red Gate Gallery, London, UK, 2011.

Collections include: National Gallery Prague, Czech Republic; Alova South Bohemian Gallery, Czech Republic;Credit Mutuel de Bretagne, France; Festung Koenigstein, Germany; Foundation de Bourgogne, France; Galleryof Modern Art, Roudnice nad Labem, Czech Republic; Gallery o f City Chrudim, Czech Republic, Collection of

State Department of Czech Republic.

He names his main influence as Expressionism, particularly Edward Munch, and Czech artists, Zrzavy, Vachal,

Kremlika, and Preisler. He said, A vast majority of my paintings have a real model: either they proceed froma concrete reminiscence, or an experience. I spent my childhood in North of Czechia, in the region of Luick

hory. It is rough and balladic landscape has shaped me a lot. The Communist regime systematically destroyed

churches, monasteries and cemeteries. Near my village, around 20 churches were destroyed during thisperiod. As a child I experienced this beautiful, dark landscape, full of ruined houses and burned-out churches,

with an array of uprooted people and a slightly depressive atmosphere. All that is changing now.

Rea Michalov, National Gallery Prague curator, said: Jaroslav Valekas name has become synonymous with

high artistic standard, creative industriousness and professional meticulousness. His paintings tell the story

of muffled landscape dramas, but also of the waves, currents and whirls of life. He gives codified symbols anew and crushing significance. In his work, Jaroslav Valeka manages to uncover the delicate web of human

psyche, in which emotional response to reality enacted in the sub consciousness play a more important role

than rational decisions.

Website: www.valecka.eu


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A B ig Win ter, 201 3, oil on can vas , 4 4 x 7 6


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Abo ve the Cit y, 2 012 , o il on can vas , 4 1 x 8 2


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The Station, 2013, oil on canvas, 40 x 60


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The Tarps, 2013, oil on canvas, 38 x 60


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The Hanged Man, 2012, oil on canvas, 47 x 52


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The Shadow, 2012, oil on canvas, 56 x 44


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In the Water, 2012, oil on canvas, 48 x 52


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The Fire, 2012, oil on canvas, 52 x 56


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The Camp, 2011, oil on canvas, 32 x 66


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A V iol et Eve nin g, 201 2, oil on can vas, 42 x 6 0


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The Kittens, 2012, oil on canvas, 60 x 28Hanging Kid, 2012, oil on canvas, 60 x 32


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The Embryo, 2011, oil on canvas, 52 x 32The Painter, 2012, oil on canvas, 64 x 22


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The Explosion, 2011, oil on canvas, 40 x 63


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The Hanged Men, 2011, oil on canvas, 40 x 63


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The Ballerinas, 2011, oil on canvas, 38 x 42


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In the Forest, 2012, oil on canvas, 51 x 41


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The Palrna house, 2012, oil on canvas, 42 x 38


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The Maskaras, 2012, oil on canvas, 60 x 48


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The Queen of Beauty, 2011, oil on canvas, 28 x 28The Silence, 2011, oil on canvas, 36 x 30


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The Cue, 2012, oil on canvas, 32 x 16 The Raptor, 2011, oil on canvas, 32 x 36


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The Village, 2012, oil on canvas, 44 x 72


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The Flags, 2012, oil on canvas, 49 x 61


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A S ilv est er Nig ht, 201 1, oil on can vas , 4 4 x 8 4


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The Celebration, 2012, oil on canvas, 33 x 80


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The Gun Barrel, 2012, oil on canvas, 52 x 44


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Dead Men, 2012, oil on canvas, 56 x 40


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The Rats, 2013, oil on canvas, 40 x 68


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Saint Anton Pilgrimage, 2012, oil on canvas, 50 x 80


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The Yard, 2012, oil on canvas, 44 x 60


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The Glass Coffin, 2012, oil on canvas, 38 x 38


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The Hens, 2013, oil on canvas, 38 x 38


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The Yard, 2012, oil on canvas, 60 x 44


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The Storm, 2012, oil on canvas, 56 x 60


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House of My Love, 2012, oil on canvas, 52 x 50


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The Vertigo, 2012, oil on canvas, 52 x 60


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The Castle, 2011, oil on canvas, 60 x 48


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stuck between prague and london

Documents

london se1

london arts establishment

core of liverpool scene

canonicalliverpool scene

rt ist s i n t

thi s b oo

medway ar ts scene

mo ral right s o f t