Stephen Purbeck Howarth (born 23 July 1981), known as S.P., is a poet,

Stuckist Stuckism () is an international art movement founded in 1999 by Billy Childish and Charles Thomson (artist), Charles Thomson to promote Figurative art, figurative painting as opposed to conceptual art.demonstrated 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). ...

at 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 UK ...

gallery.

Life and work

Stephen Howarth was born in

Lewisham Lewisham ( ) is an area of southeast London, England, south of Charing Cross. It is the principal area of the London Borough of Lewisham, and was within the Historic counties of England, historic county of Kent until 1889. It is identified in ...

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

and educated at St Christopher School,

Letchworth Letchworth Garden City, commonly known as Letchworth, is a town in the North Hertfordshire district of Hertfordshire, England. It is noted for being the first garden city. The population at the time of the 2021 census was 33,990. Letchworth ...

. He is severely

dyslexic Dyslexia (), previously known as word blindness, is a learning disability that affects either reading or writing. Different people are affected to different degrees. Problems may include difficulties in spelling words, reading quickly, writ ...

."'Temptations of a Poet', SP Howarth"

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 The Walker Art Gallery's collection dates from 1819 ...

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

. Retrieved 24 October 2008. In 2000, he attended Camberwell College of Arts and was in the Students for

Stuckism Stuckism () is an international art movement founded in 1999 by Billy Childish and Charles Thomson (artist), Charles Thomson to promote Figurative art, figurative painting as opposed to conceptual art. In 2002, he was "expelled from the painting course for doing paintings." He said: :I was told I had been failed, because I had not done any work. When I said that I had brought my work in for assessment and that there were paintings in my space, I was told that they didn't count as work, because they didn't show development of ideas. I said that my idea was to paint spontaneously and express what I felt. I was told that this was not an acceptable idea in 'contemporary practice'. The incident was reported in ''

The Times ''The Times'' is a British Newspaper#Daily, daily Newspaper#National, national newspaper based in London. It began in 1785 under the title ''The Daily Universal Register'', adopting its modern name on 1 January 1788. ''The Times'' and its si ...

'' with the headline "Art students accuse college of failing to teach them the basics". Other students supported him and there were also letters of support in the newspaper. Howarth was then given the inaugural show at the

Stuckism International Gallery The Stuckism International Gallery was the gallery of the Stuckism, Stuckist art movement. It was open from 2002 to 2005 in Shoreditch, and was run by Charles Thomson (artist), Charles Thomson, the co-founder of Stuckism. It was launched by a p ...

in Shoreditch, with the title ''I Don't Want a Painting Degree if it Means Not Painting''. He was in the first group show at the gallery, ''The Stuckists First International'', and subsequent shows. Sarah Kent in Time Out called his painting, ''Midnight in the hotel Suburbia'', "soft porn". He responded that it was "hard porn". After college he worked in a gallery, bar and factory, and as a labourer. He founded the Balham Stuckists group and also the South London Stuckism International Centre. In 2001, he demonstrated with the Stuckists in

Trafalgar Square Trafalgar Square ( ) is a public square in the City of Westminster in Central London. It was established in the early-19th century around the area formerly known as Charing Cross. Its name commemorates the Battle of Trafalgar, the Royal Navy, ...

during the unveiling of

Rachel Whiteread Dame Rachel Whiteread (born 20 April 1963) is an English artist who primarily produces sculptures, which typically take the form of casts. She was the first woman to win the annual Turner Prize in 1993. Whiteread was one of the Young British ...

's sculpture, ''Monument'', and was in the Stuckist demonstration 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 En ...

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). ...

. In 2003, he took part in a debate on Sky News with Richard Littlejohn about the £12,000 public funding given to artist Andre Stitt, who proposed to kick an empty takeaway container along

Bedford Bedford is a market town in Bedfordshire, England. At the 2011 Census, the population was 106,940. Bedford is the county town of Bedfordshire and seat of the Borough of Bedford local government district. Bedford was founded at a ford (crossin ...

High Street. Howarth's work was part of the donation of Stuckist paintings offered to 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 UK ...

in 2005, which the Tate rejected. Group shows include ''Seven New Artists Pay Their Respects to Past Masters'' (2001) at the Fridge Gallery, Brixton; ''Umpapa'' (2001), Tap Collective, Clapham; ''Rivington Gallery Artists'' (2002), Rivington Gallery, Hoxton; ''Stuckism Group Show'' (2003), Wednesbury Museum, West Midlands; also at Black Spot, Clapham; Ace of Clubs, Clapham; Worthing Library; and Newcastle Arts Centre. He was in the first national museum show of the Stuckists, ''

The Stuckists Punk Victorian ''The Stuckists Punk Victorian'' was the first national gallery exhibition of Stuckist art.Moss, Richard"Stuckist's Punk Victorian gatecrashes Walker's Biennial Culture24, 17 September 2004. Retrieved 3 December 2009. It was held at the Walker A ...

'', at the

during the 2004

Liverpool Biennial Liverpool Biennial is the largest international contemporary art festival in the United Kingdom. Since its launch in 1998, Liverpool Biennial has commissioned over 380 new artworks and presented work by over 530 artists from around the world. ...

. Stella Vine, who was then a member of the Stuckists, bought one of his paintings at the Fridge Gallery. He commented on his work: He is not himself a violent person. Vote Stuckist 2001 Thomson and Vine

He is also a performance poet, and a Shortfuse Poetry Idol Competition winner. As well as a number of other slam titles including "Bard of Brixton." Is estimated to have performed at over a hundred venues in the U.S. and U.K. His publications of poetry are ''Poet, Painter, Pervert'' (Coffin Press) and ''Noteless Nocturnes to the Never-Ending Night'' (Coffin Press) (both, now out of print). Howarth has worked as an actor in theatre productions, including '' Midsummer Night's Dream'', '' A Comedy of Errors'', and the rock musical ''Rasputin Rocks!'', for which he was a co-writer with Andrew Hobbs, Lucyelle Cliffe and Alistair Smith. These were produced by Facsimile Productions. In the summer 2009 Howarth collaborated again with Andrew Hobbs of Facsimile Productions in writing a new play entitled ''Bacchus in Rehab''. The play made its world premiere at the Etcetera Theatre in London, with Howarth cast in the title role and Anton Shelupanov in the role of

Hades Hades (; , , later ), in the ancient Greek religion and Greek mythology, mythology, is the god of the dead and the king of the Greek underworld, underworld, with which his name became synonymous. Hades was the eldest son of Cronus and Rhea ...

. Additionally Howarth co-wrote and starred in a short film, ''An Angry Young Man'', and his poem ''A Brief History of south east England'' was used in a short film of the same name. Both can be seen on

YouTube YouTube is an American social media and online video sharing platform owned by Google. YouTube was founded on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim who were three former employees of PayPal. Headquartered in ...

. He has recently posed for a series of paintings by the artist Richard Bagguley.

Notes and references

External links

Official web siteHowarth on the Stuckist web site
* ttp://www.urban75.org/brixton/photos/windmill2.html Photo of Howarth performing poetry {{DEFAULTSORT:Howarth, Stephen Living people 20th-century English painters English male painters 21st-century English painters 21st-century English male artists Stuckism 1981 births People educated at Millfield Preparatory School People educated at St Christopher School English contemporary artists English male poets 20th-century English male artists

Life and work

See also

Notes and references

External links