Rachel Jordan (born 8 May 1968) is a British artist and has been a frequent guest exhibitor with the Stuckists.Milner, Frank ed. ''The Stuckists Punk Victorian'', p. 126,

National Museums Liverpool National Museums Liverpool, formerly National Museums and Galleries on Merseyside, comprises several museums and art galleries in and around Liverpool, England. All the museums and galleries in the group have free admission. The museum is a non ...

2004, For Stuckist shows she created satirical figurative paintings; however, her main body of work is abstract paintings and drawings, alluding to cellular forms.

Life and career

Rachel Jordan was born in

Maldon Maldon (, locally ) is a town and civil parish on the Blackwater estuary in Essex, England. It is the seat of the Maldon District and starting point of the Chelmer and Blackwater Navigation. It is known for Maldon Sea Salt which is produced ...

Essex Essex () is a county in the East of England. One of the home counties, it borders Suffolk and Cambridgeshire to the north, the North Sea to the east, Hertfordshire to the west, Kent across the estuary of the River Thames to the south, and Grea ...

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

, and attended the

University of Sheffield , mottoeng = To discover the causes of things , established = – University of SheffieldPredecessor institutions: – Sheffield Medical School – Firth College – Sheffield Technical School – University College of Sheffield , type = Pu ...

(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 City Lit is an adult education college in Holborn, central London, founded by the London County Council in 1919, which has charitable status. It offers part-time courses across four schools and five "centres of expertise", covering humanities an ...

London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...

, where her final show, ''The Princess Project'', consisted of paintings about

Princess Diana Diana, Princess of Wales (born Diana Frances Spencer; 1 July 1961 – 31 August 1997) was a member of the British royal family. She was the first wife of King Charles III (then Prince of Wales) and mother of Princes William and Harry. Her ac ...

. In 2000, she started work as a picture researcher for BBC Books. The same year, she exhibited in the Stuckist show, ''The Resignation of Sir Nicholas Serota'' and took part, dressed as a

Pierrot Pierrot ( , , ) is a stock character of pantomime and '' commedia dell'arte'', whose origins are in the late seventeenth-century Italian troupe of players performing in Paris and known as the Comédie-Italienne. The name is a diminutive of ''Pi ...

, in the first Stuckist demonstration against the

Turner Prize 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 (this restriction was removed for the 2017 award) ...

outside

Tate Britain 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 ...

. In 2001, she moved from London to Chatham to live with Stuckist artist

Wolf Howard Wolf Howard (born 7 April 1968)Evans, p.36. is an English artist, poet and filmmaker living in Rochester, Kent and was a founder member of the Stuckists art group.Milner, p.80. He is also a drummer who has played in garage and punk bands, cu ...

, 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 Firstsite is a visual arts organisation based in Colchester, Essex, which opened in 2011. It was the national Art Fund's Museum of the Year in 2021. The building Firstsite occupy as tenants was designed by Rafael Viñoly and the freehold is r ...

Gallery in 2005–06, and in Oxford in 2007. In 2004, she was included in the Stuckists' show '' The Stuckists Punk Victorian'', at the

Walker Art Gallery The Walker Art Gallery is an art gallery in Liverpool, which houses one of the largest art collections in England outside London. It is part of the National Museums Liverpool group. History of the Gallery The Walker Art Gallery's collection ...

during the

Liverpool Biennial Liverpool Biennial is the largest international contemporary art festival in the United Kingdom. Every two years, the city of Liverpool hosts an extensive range of artworks, projects, and a programme of events. The biennial commissions leading ...

. She said that she is 95% recovered from ME, from which she suffered. She was a friend of Miriam Hyman, who was killed in the

7 July 2005 London bombings The 7 July 2005 London bombings, often referred to as 7/7, were a series of four coordinated suicide attacks carried out by Islamic terrorists in London that targeted commuters travelling on the city's public transport system during the mo ...

.Jordan, Rache
"Miriam Hyman"
stuckism.com. Retrieved 31 March 2007.

Art

Jordan has painted work satirising the

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 ...

gallery and the

, including one painting based on

Martin Creed Martin Creed (born 21 October 1968) is a British artist, composer and performer. He won the Turner Prize in 2001 for exhibitions during the preceding year, with the jury praising his audacity for exhibiting a single installation, ''Work No. 22 ...

's illuminated lettering ''The Whole World – The Work = The Whole World'', which at one time was displayed on the portico of

(it is now in

Tate Modern Tate Modern is an art gallery located in London. It houses the United Kingdom's national collection of international modern and contemporary art, and forms part of the Tate group together with Tate Britain, Tate Liverpool and Tate St Ives. It ...

). 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: :I felt incensed by Martin Creed's light going on and off in Tate Britain, but was unable to do a satirical painting of it because there was nothing there, so I did this one instead. Her main body of work consists of

abstract painting Abstract art uses visual language of shape, form, color and line to create a composition which may exist with a degree of independence from visual references in the world. Western art had been, from the Renaissance up to the middle of the 19t ...

s and drawings in acrylic, watercolour and charcoal using repeated patterns based on circles and squares. She said: :I think I still have a lot of expression coming through because I use water colours, and that can be very variable in how strong or weak the colour is on the paper. I don’t try to keep the colour that consistent when I apply it. Also, I don’t use a ruler. So, if I’m doing a hexagon I don’t try to make it a totally perfect mathematical hexagon. I’m just drawing by hand, so I still regard my paintings as full and free expression. What is also unlimited is the amount and combination of colours and forms that you can have.Campbell, Aida
"Interview – Rachel Jordan"
culturewars.com, January 2004. Retrieved 31 March 2007. She describes these abstracts as suggestive of "cellular life", citing influences from

Paul Klee Paul Klee (; 18 December 1879 – 29 June 1940) was a Swiss-born German artist. His highly individual style was influenced by movements in art that included expressionism, cubism, and surrealism. Klee was a natural draftsman who experimented ...

and

Edward Hopper Edward Hopper (July 22, 1882 – May 15, 1967) was an American realist painter and printmaker. While he is widely known for his oil paintings, he was equally proficient as a watercolorist and printmaker in etching. Hopper created subdued drama ...

, as well as Roman

mosaic A mosaic is a pattern or image made of small regular or irregular pieces of colored stone, glass or ceramic, held in place by plaster/mortar, and covering a surface. Mosaics are often used as floor and wall decoration, and were particularly pop ...

s, Islamic patterns, Egyptian

hieroglyph A hieroglyph ( Greek for "sacred carvings") was a character of the ancient Egyptian writing system. Logographic scripts that are pictographic in form in a way reminiscent of ancient Egyptian are also sometimes called "hieroglyphs". In Neoplatoni ...

ics and the shapes revealed in

aerial photography Aerial photography (or airborne imagery) is the taking of photographs from an aircraft or other airborne platforms. When taking motion pictures, it is also known as aerial videography. Platforms for aerial photography include fixed-wing airc ...

."This cellular life – Rachel Jordan"
BBC online, 5 October 2005. Retrieved 18 June 2007.

Notes and references

External links

Rachel Jordan on the Walker Gallery web siteImage gallery on BBC site

killed in the

{{DEFAULTSORT:Jordan, Rachel 1968 births Living people People with chronic fatigue syndrome 20th-century English painters 21st-century English painters Stuckism People from Maldon, Essex English contemporary artists

Life and career

Art

See also

Notes and references

External links