Regan Tamanui
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Regan Tamanui is an artist based in
Melbourne Melbourne ( ; Boonwurrung/Woiwurrung: ''Narrm'' or ''Naarm'') is the capital and most populous city of the Australian state of Victoria, and the second-most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Its name generally refers to a met ...
, Australia. In October 2000, he founded the Melbourne Stuckists, the fourth Stuckist of the original Stuckist groups and the first outside the
United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the European mainland, continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...
. He has also painted prolifically as a street artist under the tag name HA-HA.


Career

In October 2000, Regan Tamanui, a jazz, ska and skank fan, discovered the London Stuckist group whilst surfing the internet. He sent an email and then founded the Melbourne Stuckists. He saw "The main (point) that really stood out was the ability to wake up and paint pictures."Coslovich, Gabriella (200
"The Art of Being Stuckist"
''The Age'' 24 May 2001. Accessed on stuckism.com, 16 April 2006
This was the fourth Stuckist group to be started, and the first one outside the UK, thus launching an international movement that by 2006 counted 127 groups in 32 countries. On 27 October 2000 he staged the first Stuckist show outside the UK, when he mounted the ''Real Turner Prize Show'' at the Dead End Gallery in his home in Reno Road, Sandringham, concurrent with three shows of the same title (two in England and one in Germany) in protest against the
Tate Gallery 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 ...
's
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) ...
. Besides Tamanui, the other initial members of the Melbourne group were Justin Grub, Ben Blanchette, Malcome Mmackie and Dave Freeman Rose. A subsequent line-up was Basil Kouvelis, Justin Grubb, Ben Frost, Nigel Stein, Daniel Gorzadek, Stephen Sperling and Dennis Roper. Tamanui expressed his and the group's artistic philosophy: In May 2001, Tamanui, Stein, Grubb and Kouvelis were represented with 24 international groups in the London show ''Vote Stuckist'', so named because Stuckist co-founder,
Charles Thomson Charles Thomson (November 29, 1729 – August 16, 1824) was an Irish-born Patriot leader in Philadelphia during the American Revolution and the secretary of the Continental Congress (1774–1789) throughout its existence. As secretary, Thomson ...
, was standing as a candidate in the 2001 United Kingdom general election against the then- Culture Secretary, Chris Smith. In November 2001, the Melbourne Stuckists staged a show ''Houdini to Hofmann'' at the Chiara Goya Gallery, which included some UK Stuckist work for the first time. Kaye Blum made a short documentary on the group, ''Art Gets Unstuck''. The film is structured around the artists reading lines from the Stuckists Manifesto written by
Charles Thomson Charles Thomson (November 29, 1729 – August 16, 1824) was an Irish-born Patriot leader in Philadelphia during the American Revolution and the secretary of the Continental Congress (1774–1789) throughout its existence. As secretary, Thomson ...
and Billy Childish. It was first shown at the ''Jaffas Down the Aisle'' film festival in Melbourne in October 2001, then in 2002 at the ''International Film Festival of Fine Art'' in Hungary and the ''Asolo Arts Film Festival'' in Italy, where it was nominated for best student short. In July 2002, Tamanui, along with other Australian Stuckists was shown at ''The First Stuckist International'', the inaugural show of the Stuckism International Gallery, Shoreditch, London. The show also included
Godfrey Blow Godfrey Blow (born 6 October 1948) is an artist based in Kalamunda, Western Australia. He is the founder of the Perth Stuckists. Life and art Godfrey Blow was born in North Hykeham, Lincolnshire, England on the same day as fellow Stuckist ...
who had followed Tamanui's lead and founded a Perth Stuckists group. In October 2002, Tamanui opened the Stuckism International Centre Australia, with an ongoing exhibition of work, as well as the first international Stuckist show in Australia, ''Stuck Down South'', at the FAD Gallery. This included founding Stuckists, Thomson,
Ella Guru Ella Guru (born May 24, 1966) is an American painter and musician living in Hastings, East Sussex, England. She was a member of Mambo Taxi and the Voodoo Queens. In 1999, she became one of the founding members of the Stuckist art movement. E ...
and
Sexton Ming Sexton Ming (born 1961) is a British artist, poet and musician who was a founding member of The Medway Poets (1979) and Stuckism art movement (1999). Life and career Ming was born in Gravesend, Kent, England. In 1979 he was one of the founder me ...
. (Like the London gallery it has now ceased operating.) In March 2003, Tamanui was exhibited in ''Stuck in Wednesbury'', the Stuckists' first show in a public gallery, held in
Wednesbury Wednesbury () is a market town in Sandwell in the county of West Midlands, England. It is located near the source of the River Tame. Historically part of Staffordshire in the Hundred of Offlow, at the 2011 Census the town had a population of 3 ...
Museum and Art Gallery, England. Since 2004, Tamanui has been represented b
Criterion Gallery
in Hobart. He has made a successful transition to the commercial gallery arena, with art collectors increasingly interested in his street inspired stencilling. Tamanui's work can be found in the collection of
BHP BHP Group Limited (formerly known as BHP Billiton) is an Australian multinational mining, metals, natural gas petroleum public company that is headquartered in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. The Broken Hill Proprietary Company was founded ...
, the State Library Victoria, the City of Melbourne,
Artbank Artbank is an art rental program established in 1980 by the Australian Government. It supports contemporary Australian artists and encourages a wider appreciation of their work by buying artworks which it then rents to public and private sector ...
, and the
National Gallery of Australia The National Gallery of Australia (NGA), formerly the Australian National Gallery, is the national art museum of Australia as well as one of the largest art museums in Australia, holding more than 166,000 works of art. Located in Canberra in th ...
, who purchased a number of works for their permanent collection.


Art

Tamanui takes his lead from Picasso and American pop artist
Shag Shag, or Shagged, or Shagger, or Shagging, or Shags may refer to: Animals * Shag or cormorant, a bird family ** European shag, a specific species of the shag or cormorant family ** Great cormorant another species of the family People Pseudonym ...
. His work is "large, vibrantly colored, pop-art style paintings", often showing several figures interacting. Since 2001 he has exhibited his work in both a solo and group capacity in Hobart,
Melbourne Melbourne ( ; Boonwurrung/Woiwurrung: ''Narrm'' or ''Naarm'') is the capital and most populous city of the Australian state of Victoria, and the second-most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Its name generally refers to a met ...
,
Adelaide Adelaide ( ) is the capital city of South Australia, the state's largest city and the fifth-most populous city in Australia. "Adelaide" may refer to either Greater Adelaide (including the Adelaide Hills) or the Adelaide city centre. The dem ...
, Sydney,
New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island count ...
,
United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...
and
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 ...
.


Media coverage

The Australian presence (Tamanui's group) was first noted in an article on the Stuckists in the UK ''Observer'' Sunday newspaper in May 2000. The participation of the Australian Stuckists in the London ''Vote Stuckist'' show in 2001 occasioned a double page spread in the leading Melbourne paper ''
The Age ''The Age'' is a daily newspaper in Melbourne, Australia, that has been published since 1854. Owned and published by Nine Entertainment, ''The Age'' primarily serves Victoria, but copies also sell in Tasmania, the Australian Capital Territory ...
''. Tamanui's initiative in speaking out provoked a similar range of reactions to the ones the UK group had received in Britain. Melbourne painter David Larwill said, "It's the best thing I've heard in ages." Max Delaney, director of public gallery 200 Gertrude Street, accused the Melbourne group of "revisionism" and "publicity and marketing". Su Baker, head of the School of Art,
Victorian College of the Arts The Victorian College of the Arts (VCA) is the arts school at the University of Melbourne in Australia. It is part of the university's Faculty of Fine Arts and Music. It is located near the Melbourne city centre on the Southbank campus of the ...
, wrote it off as "a cheap shot" (the same accusation which Sir
Nicholas Serota Sir Nicholas Andrew Serota, (born 27 April 1946) is an English art historian and curator, who served as the Director of the Tate from 1988 to 2017. He is currently Chair of Arts Council England, a role which he has held since February 2017. ...
had levelled at Thomson in
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 ...
. Melbourne curator, Juliana Engberg, said, "They are an aberrant version of conceptualism by default, using the same devices to promote something that's very conservative." Four years later, in April 2005 ''The Age'' ran a reprise of Stuckism and observed: :Stuckists have been dismissed by many as 'rebels without a cause', but their influence is, well, sticking... The Stuckists have not beaten Saatchi, but he may be joining them.Cooke, Richard (200
"A Beginner's Guide to the Modern World: Stuckists"
''The Age'', 16 April 2005. Accessed on stuckism.com 16 April 2006


Stuckism

The Stuckists are a radical pro-painting group and are anti-
conceptual art Conceptual art, also referred to as conceptualism, is art in which the concept(s) or idea(s) involved in the work take precedence over traditional aesthetic, technical, and material concerns. Some works of conceptual art, sometimes called insta ...
. The movement was started by
Charles Thomson Charles Thomson (November 29, 1729 – August 16, 1824) was an Irish-born Patriot leader in Philadelphia during the American Revolution and the secretary of the Continental Congress (1774–1789) throughout its existence. As secretary, Thomson ...
and Billy Childish (who has since left) in the United Kingdom in 1999 with eleven other artists and is now an international movement. They are noted for their "
Agitprop Agitprop (; from rus, агитпроп, r=agitpróp, portmanteau of ''agitatsiya'', "agitation" and ''propaganda'', " propaganda") refers to an intentional, vigorous promulgation of ideas. The term originated in Soviet Russia where it referred ...
" 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) ...
and Britart.


See also

* Stuckism in Australia *
Godfrey Blow Godfrey Blow (born 6 October 1948) is an artist based in Kalamunda, Western Australia. He is the founder of the Perth Stuckists. Life and art Godfrey Blow was born in North Hykeham, Lincolnshire, England on the same day as fellow Stuckist ...


Notes and references


Books

*Ed. Frank Milner (2004) "The Stuckists Punk Victorian", National Museum Liverpool,


External links


Regan TamanuiGadfly GalleryCriterion GalleryMelbourne StuckistsStuckism international web siteKaye Blum (Screenworks Directory)
{{DEFAULTSORT:Tamanui, Regan Australian painters Living people Modern painters Stuckism Artists from Melbourne Year of birth missing (living people)