The Romantic Anonymous Fellowship was founded by the Stuckist painter

Odysseus Yakoumakis Odysseus Yakoumakis ( el, Οδυσσέας Γιακουμάκης; born 1956) is a Stuckism, Stuckist artist, painter and illustrator, based in Athens, Greece. He is the founder of the first Greek Stuckist group, The Romantic Anonymous Fellowshi ...

on September 2004, as the first, and currently the only, Greek group of Stuckism International. It has an international membership.

History

discovered Stuckism in July, 2004, while surfing the net, and saw in it an antidote to what he deems "the ailments of the contemporary Greek 'artscape'".This issue is taken up in Yakoumis' article, "The Academic Provincialism of contemporary Greek Art and its proposed Stuckist remedy", to be presented by him at the first Stuckist international symposiu
''The Triumph of Stuckism''
in Liverpool, England He contacted

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 ...

, the London founder of Stuckism, and a few days later founded The Romantic Anonymous Fellowship. He conceived this as a "Greek version of Stuckism, an antidote to contemporary Greek art's

provincialism Parochialism is the state of mind, whereby one focuses on small sections of an issue rather than considering its wider context. More generally, it consists of being narrow in scope. In that respect, it is a synonym of " provincialism". It may, p ...

sectarianism Sectarianism is a political or cultural conflict between two groups which are often related to the form of government which they live under. Prejudice, discrimination, or hatred can arise in these conflicts, depending on the political status quo ...

and servile importation of

post-modernism Postmodernism is an intellectual stance or mode of discourseNuyen, A.T., 1992. The Role of Rhetorical Devices in Postmodernist Discourse. Philosophy & Rhetoric, pp.183–194. characterized by skepticism toward the " grand narratives" of modern ...

". He developed the concept of "Romantic Stuckism", that is of "Stuckism with a good injection of

Eleatic The Eleatics were a group of pre-Socratic philosophers in the 5th century BC centered around the ancient Italian Greek colony of Elea ( grc, Ἐλέα), located in present-day Campania in southern Italy. The primary philosophers who are associa ...

and

Platonic philosophy Platonism is the philosophy of Plato and school of thought, philosophical systems closely derived from it, though contemporary platonists do not necessarily accept all of the doctrines of Plato. Platonism had a profound effect on Western though ...

, oriented rather towards encouraging each artist to pursue his/her genuinely personal artistic vision rather, than towards pointless polemics against the reactionary official art-establishment". He published the first two Romantic Stuckist theoretical texts on the Fellowship's website. At that stage he was the Fellowship's only fellow and, as far as he knew, the only artist in Greece aware of the Stuckist movement. He contacted other fine artists in Athens, but described the reactions he got as "ranging from a tepid 'academic curiosity' to a sheer lack of interest or even, occasionally, to a politely concealed hostility." He was however contacted by artists from overseas and accepted them into the Fellowship. The first to apply wa
Ian J. Burkett
a painter living in London and founder of the Ealing Stuckists group. Shortly after, followed the painter and etche
Ilania Abileah
from Canada, and the painter and etche
Anthe
(who is of Greek descent) from the US.

Under the Cover of Romantic Anonymity

Yakoumakis determined that Stuckism should, nevertheless, be brought "in the flesh" before the eyes of the Greek fine arts community, and organised the first Stuckist event in Greece, titled ''Under the Cover of Romantic Anonymity'', announced for May 14 of 2010 at the Ash-In-Art Gallery, Athens, Greece. In parallel with the show, the new book by Odysseus Yakoumakis will be featured, titled "Leaflets from the Wilderness (a case study about the artscape in nouveau-Greece and many other lands)" (Ash-In-Art Publications). Stuckist artists taking part include:
Ilania AbileahANTHEIan J. Burkett
*Odysseus Yakoumakis Guest artists participating are:

*Lefteris Yakoumakis *Vasilis Selimas *Nickos Delijannis

Footnotes

References

Odysseus Yakoumakis, "A Romantic & Anonymous (nonetheless signed) Critique of Post Modernism"

External links

* ttp://www.stuckism.com Stuckist web site
The Romantic Anonymous Fellowship official site

Odysseus Yakoumakis official site

Ian J. Burkett's official site

Ilania Abileah's official site

ANTHE's official site
{{DEFAULTSORT:Romantic Anonymous Fellowship Greek contemporary art International artist groups and collectives Art movements Stuckism

History

Under the Cover of Romantic Anonymity

Footnotes

See also

References

External links