Rachel Jordan | |
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![]() Photo of Rachel Jordan by Charles Thomson | |
Born | |
Education | University of Sheffield, City Literary Institute |
Known for | Painting |
Movement | Stuckism |
Rachel Jordan (born 8 May 1968) is a British artist and has been a frequent guest exhibitor with the Stuckists. [1] For Stuckist shows she created satirical figurative paintings; however, her main body of work is abstract paintings and drawings, alluding to cellular forms.
Rachel Jordan was born in Maldon, Essex, England, and attended the University of Sheffield (1986–90), where she obtained Dual Honours in French and Hispanic Studies, then worked in office jobs until 1999, while also attending a fine art course 1995–98 at the City Literary Institute, London, where her final show, The Princess Project, consisted of paintings about Princess Diana. [1] In 2000, she started work as a picture researcher for BBC Books. [1] The same year, she exhibited in the Stuckist show, The Resignation of Sir Nicholas Serota and took part, dressed as a Pierrot, in the first Stuckist demonstration against the Turner Prize outside Tate Britain. [1]
In 2001, she moved from London to Chatham to live with Stuckist artist Wolf Howard, with whom she shared a studio for three years. In 2003–04, she ran children's art workshops in Medway galleries and schools, then for Colchester Borough Council and firstsite Gallery in 2005–06, and in Oxford in 2007. [1] In 2004, she was included in the Stuckists' show The Stuckists Punk Victorian , at the Walker Art Gallery during the Liverpool Biennial. [1] She said that she is 95% recovered from ME, from which she suffered. [1]
She was a friend of Miriam Hyman, who was killed in the 7 July 2005 London bombings. [2]
Jordan has painted work satirising the Tate gallery and the Turner Prize, including one painting based on Martin Creed's illuminated lettering The Whole World – The Work = The Whole World, which at one time was displayed on the portico of Tate Britain (it is now in Tate Modern). Jordan's painting shows the installation at Tate Britain, but with substituted words and is called The Whole World – The Turner Prize = A Better World. She said:
Her main body of work consists of abstract paintings and drawings in acrylic, watercolour and charcoal using repeated patterns based on circles and squares. She said:
She describes these abstracts as suggestive of "cellular life", citing influences from Paul Klee and Edward Hopper, as well as Roman mosaics, Islamic patterns, Egyptian hieroglyphics and the shapes revealed in aerial photography. [4]
Stuckism is an international art movement founded in 1999 by Billy Childish and Charles Thomson to promote figurative painting as opposed to conceptual art. By May 2017 the initial group of 13 British artists had expanded to 236 groups in 52 countries.
The Turner Prize, named after the English painter J. M. W. Turner, is an annual prize presented to a British visual artist. Between 1991 and 2016, only artists under the age of 50 were eligible. The prize is awarded at Tate Britain every other year, with various venues outside of London being used in alternate years. Since its beginnings in 1984 it has become the UK's most publicised art award. The award represents all media.
Charles Thomson is an English artist, poet and photographer. In the early 1980s he was a member of The Medway Poets. In 1999 he named and co-founded the Stuckists art movement with Billy Childish. He has curated Stuckist shows, organised demonstrations against the Turner Prize, run an art gallery, stood for parliament and reported Charles Saatchi to the OFT. He is frequently quoted in the media as an opponent of conceptual art. He was briefly married to artist Stella Vine.
Philip Absolon is a British artist and a founder member of the Stuckists art group, exhibiting in the group shows, including The Stuckists Punk Victorian at the Walker Art Gallery in 2004, and taking part in Stuckist demonstrations against the Turner Prize. He has had long-term unemployment problems, depicted in his work with imagery of skeletons; his other main subject is cats, which he studies and depicts in motion.
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The Stuckists Punk Victorian was the first national gallery exhibition of Stuckist art. It was held at the Walker Art Gallery and Lady Lever Art Gallery in Liverpool from 18 September 2004 to 20 February 2005 and was part of the 2004 Liverpool Biennial.
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Stuckism is an art movement that began in London, England, in 1999. In 2000, Melbourne artist Regan Tamanui started the first international branch of the movement. As of 2010, there are seven Australian Stuckist groups, who have held shows—sometimes concurrently with UK activities—received coverage in the Australian press and on TV, and also been represented in UK shows. The Stuckists take a strong pro-painting and anti-conceptual art stance, and were co-founded by Charles Thomson and Billy Childish.
Stuckist demonstrations since 2000 have been a key part of the Stuckist art group's activities and have succeeded in giving them a high-profile both in Britain and abroad. Their primary agenda is the promotion of painting and opposition to conceptual art.
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Sir Nicholas Serota Makes an Acquisitions Decision is one of the paintings that was made as a part of the Stuckism art movement, and is recognized as a "signature piece" for the movement, It was painted by the Stuckism co-founder Charles Thomson in 2000, and has been exhibited in a number of shows since, as well as being featured on placards during Stuckist demonstrations against the Turner Prize.
Tate Britain, known from 1897 to 1932 as the National Gallery of British Art and from 1932 to 2000 as the Tate Gallery, is an art museum on Millbank in the City of Westminster in London, England. It is part of the Tate network of galleries in England, with Tate Modern, Tate Liverpool and Tate St Ives. It is the oldest gallery in the network, having opened in 1897. It houses a substantial collection of the art of the United Kingdom since Tudor times, and in particular has large holdings of the works of J. M. W. Turner, who bequeathed all his own collection to the nation. It is one of the largest museums in the country. The museum had 525,144 visitors in 2021, an increase of 34 percent from 2020 but still well below pre- COVID-19 pandemic levels. In 2021 it ranked 50th on the list of most-visited art museums in the world.