Stephen Purbeck Howarth (born 23 July 1981), known as S.P., is a poet, Stuckist artist and actor. He was expelled from college for his paintings. He has 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 U ...

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 i ...

London London is the capital and 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 down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

and educated at

St Christopher School, Letchworth St Christopher School is a boarding and day co-educational independent school in Letchworth Garden City, Hertfordshire, England. Established in 1915, shortly after Ebenezer Howard founded Letchworth Garden City, the school is a long-time prop ...

. He is severely

dyslexic Dyslexia, also known until the 1960s as word blindness, is a disorder characterized by reading below the expected level for one's age. Different people are affected to different degrees. Problems may include difficulties in spelling words, r ...

."'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 of the Gallery The Walker Art Gallery's collection ...

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 ...

. Retrieved 24 October 2008. In 2000, he attended

Camberwell College of Arts Camberwell College of Arts is a public tertiary art school in Camberwell, in London, England. It is one of the six constituent colleges of the University of the Arts London. It offers further and higher education programmes, including postgra ...

and was in the Students for

Stuckism Stuckism () is an international art movement founded in 1999 by Billy Childish and Charles Thomson to promote 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 daily national newspaper based in London. It began in 1785 under the title ''The Daily Universal Register'', adopting its current name on 1 January 1788. ''The Times'' and its sister paper ''The Sunday Times'' (fou ...

'' 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. 2002 I Don't Want a Painting Degree

Howarth was then given the inaugural show at the Stuckism International Gallery 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. Stephen Howarth

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, Central London, laid out in the early 19th century around the area formerly known as Charing Cross. At its centre is a high column bearing a statue of Admiral Nelson commemo ...

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 Ar ...

'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 ...

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 André Stitt (born 1958 in Belfast, Northern Ireland) is an artist currently based in Cardiff, Wales, where he is a Professor of Fine Art at the Cardiff School of Art & Design. Background Stitt's family moved from Belfast in the 1960s an ...

, who proposed to kick an empty takeaway container along

Bedford Bedford is a market town in Bedfordshire, England. At the 2011 Census, the population of the Bedford built-up area (including Biddenham and Kempston) was 106,940, making it the second-largest settlement in Bedfordshire, behind Luton, whilst ...

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 U ...

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. Every two years, the city of Liverpool hosts an extensive range of artworks, projects, and a programme of events. The biennial commissions leading ...

Stella Vine Stella Vine (born Melissa Jane Robson, 1969) is an English artist, who lives and works in London. Her work is figurative painting, with subjects drawn from personal life, as well as from rock stars, royalty, and other celebrities. In 2001, she ...

, 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 Midsummer Night's Dream'' is a comedy written by William Shakespeare 1595 or 1596. The play is set in Athens, and consists of several subplots that revolve around the marriage of Theseus and Hippolyta. One subplot involves a conflict amon ...

'', ''

A Comedy of Errors ''The Comedy of Errors'' is one of William Shakespeare's early plays. It is his shortest and one of his most farcical comedies, with a major part of the humour coming from slapstick and mistaken identity, in addition to puns and word play. ...

'', 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 The Etcetera Theatre is a fringe venue for theatre and comedy. It was founded in 1986 and is situated above The Oxford Arms pub in Camden Town, in the London Borough of Camden. The Theatre won the ''1996 Guinness Ingenuity Award for Pub Theatr ...

in London, with Howarth cast in the title role and Anton Shelupanov in the role of

Hades Hades (; grc-gre, ᾍδης, Háidēs; ), in the ancient Greek religion and myth, is the god of the dead and the king of the underworld, with which his name became synonymous. Hades was the eldest son of Cronus and Rhea, although this also ...

. 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 a global online video platform, online video sharing and social media, social media platform headquartered in San Bruno, California. It was launched on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim. It is owned by ...

. 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 English contemporary artists English male poets 20th-century English male artists

Life and work

See also

Notes and references

External links