Oof (stylised as OOF) is an

art Art is a diverse range of human activity, and resulting product, that involves creative or imaginative talent expressive of technical proficiency, beauty, emotional power, or conceptual ideas. There is no generally agreed definition of wha ...

and

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...

magazine, and an associated

art gallery An art gallery is a room or a building in which visual art is displayed. In Western cultures from the mid-15th century, a gallery was any long, narrow covered passage along a wall, first used in the sense of a place for art in the 1590s. The lon ...

. The magazine launched in 2018 and is published twice a year. The gallery opened in 2021, and is located at the

Tottenham Hotspur Stadium Tottenham Hotspur Stadium is the home of Premier League club Tottenham Hotspur in north London, replacing the club's previous ground, White Hart Lane. With a seating capacity of 62,850, it is the third-largest football stadium in England and the ...

. The magazine and gallery both showcase football-related visual art.

Magazine

Issue one of ''Oof'' magazine was published in February 2018 by ''

Time Out London ''Time Out'' is a global magazine published by Time Out Group. ''Time Out'' started as a London-only publication in 1968 and has expanded its editorial recommendations to 328 cities in 58 countries worldwide. In 2012, the London edition becam ...

'' art critic Eddy Frankel and gallerists Jennie and Justin Hammond. Frankel says that he had tried to keep his passions for art and football separate, until he realised that there were more people in the art world with an interest in football than he had expected. The first issue included an interview with

Rose Wylie Rose Wylie (born 14 October 1934) is a British painter. She is an artist known for creating large paintings on unprimed canvas.Salle, David (12 May 2022). "Going on Her Nerve". ''The New York Review of Books'' 69 (8): 32–34. Life and work She ...

and features on

Chris Ofili Christopher Ofili, (born 10 October 1968) is a British Turner Prize-winning painter who is best known for his paintings incorporating elephant dung. He was one of the Young British Artists. Since 2005, Ofili has been living and working in Trin ...

and

Leo Fitzmaurice Leo Fitzmaurice (born 1963 in Shropshire, England) is a British artist. Biography Fitzmaurice was born in Shropshire, England, in 1963. He studied painting at Leicester Polytechnic, Liverpool Polytechnic and Manchester Metropolitan University. ...

. The magazine is published biannually, and aims to use art to explore some of the meaning behind football. ''Oof'' has collaborated with other organisations in the world of art and design. In 2019, ''Oof'' organised a

five-a-side football Five-a-side football is a version of minifootball, in which each team fields five players (four outfield players and a goalkeeper). Other differences from football include a smaller pitch, smaller goals, and a reduced game duration. Matches are ...

tournament between teams from arts organisations including

Lisson Gallery Lisson Gallery is a contemporary art gallery with locations in London and New York, founded by Nicholas Logsdail in 1967. The gallery represents over 50 artists such as Art & Language, Ryan Gander, Carmen Herrera, Richard Long, John Latham, Sol ...

Christie's Christie's is a British auction house founded in 1766 by James Christie (auctioneer), James Christie. Its main premises are on King Street, St James's in London, at Rockefeller Center in New York City and at Alexandra House in Hong Kong. It is ...

and

Tate Tate is an institution that houses, in a network of four art galleries, the United Kingdom's national collection of British art, and international modern and contemporary art. It is not a government institution, but its main sponsor is the U ...

. In 2021, ''Oof'' partnered with

Umbro Umbro is an English sports equipment manufacturer founded in 1924 in Wilmslow, Cheshire and based in Manchester. They specialise in football and rugby sportswear featuring their ''Double Diamond'' logo. Umbro products are marketed in over 100 c ...

to produce limited edition artist-designed football shirts with

Juno Calypso Juno Calypso (born 1989) is a British photographer. Her self-portraits are personal works about feminism, isolation, loneliness and being self-sufficient. Working alone, Calypso has made highly stylised photographs of herself whilst dressed as a f ...

and Rhys Coren.

Gallery

In the years after the magazine's launch, ''Oof'' organised exhibitions of football-related art at venues around London. In 2021 Frankel and Jennie and Justin Hammond opened a permanent exhibition space. Oof Gallery is located in Warmington House, a building entered via the Tottenham Hotspur club shop at the team's London stadium. Tottenham Hotspur have no curatorial say in the gallery's activities. The gallery aims to be accessible to all. ''Creative Review'' described the gallery as "an unpretentious entry point into contemporary art, a world all-too-often shrouded in exclusivity." The gallery's inaugural exhibition was called ''Balls'' and featured works by a range of artists, including new pieces from young artists as well as older work from some of the

Young British Artists The Young British Artists, or YBAs—also referred to as Brit artists and Britart—is a loose group of visual artists who first began to exhibit together in London in 1988. Many of the YBA artists graduated from the BA Fine Art course at Goldsm ...

. ''Apollo'' described the art in the exhibition as "terrific", while ''The New York Times'' quoted one visitor describing what he saw as a "load of rubbish". In 2022 the gallery hosted an exhibition of work by photographer

Martin Parr Martin Parr (born 23 May 1952) is a British documentary photographer, photojournalist and photobook collector. He is known for his photographic projects that take an intimate, satirical and anthropological look at aspects of modern life, in p ...

and multidisciplinary artist

Corbin Shaw Corbin may refer to: People * Corbin (given name) * Corbin (surname) * Corbin (musician), American singer Buildings * Corbin Building, a historic building located at 192 Broadway in New York, US * Corbin Cabin, a log structure in Shenandoah Na ...

, with works themed around the experiences of football fandom. It is a commercial gallery, with works of art on sale from $10 to $120,000.

References

Football Magazines established in 2018 2018 establishments in England 2021 establishments in England Art galleries established in 2021 Tourist attractions in London Art museums and galleries in London {{coord missing, London