Stuckism – A Painters’ Movement of the Internet Age

In 1999 the London painters Billy Childish and Charles Thompson founded a new art movement Stuckism. Its main aim was to strive for painting to regain its position on the British art scene, lost due to the sharp entry of conceptual art during the 90s. The art movement came into existence at the turn of the millennium. In the spirit of turn-of-the-century tradition it came into the public eye with an extensive manifesto, defining its principles and aims,whilst in the spirit of the rising century the Stuckists established their web page, due to which they may be the fastest developing art movement of the present day.

Hardly any country can boast of having such a distinctive painting tradition as Great Britain. The notorious conservatism and traditionalism turned the island into a fortress that more or less successfully resisted the impact of the avant-garde in the 20th century. For an average Briton the idea of modern art was represented by classical painting and sculpture. Such terms as conceptual art or multimedia remained suppressed. Not until the 80s - owing especially to the collector Charles Saatchi - did British art begin to reveal the developments in art introduced by the 20th century, and to realise that the history of art does not end with World War I. Conceptual Brit Art rapidly took control of the contemporary British art scene and, especially in the eyes of the critics, gained the hallmark of progressive art, which represented the current development of trends. Painting quite soon gained the label of a conservative visual art style, which had its established place in society, but whose developing perspectives in the future were practically dried up.