Nicholas Watson
Encyclopedia
Stuckism
Stuckism is an international art movement founded in 1999 by Billy Childish and Charles Thomson to promote figurative painting in opposition to conceptual art...
art group.
Life and Art
Nicholas Watson has worked on films with Jesse RichardsJesse Richards
Jesse Richards is a painter, filmmaker and photographer from New Haven, Connecticut and was affiliated with the international movement Stuckism.-Early life:...
since 1997. In 2001, Watson co-founded the New Haven, Connecticut
New Haven, Connecticut
New Haven is the second-largest city in Connecticut and the sixth-largest in New England. According to the 2010 Census, New Haven's population increased by 5.0% between 2000 and 2010, a rate higher than that of the State of Connecticut, and higher than that of the state's five largest cities, and...
chapter of the Stuckism
Stuckism
Stuckism is an international art movement founded in 1999 by Billy Childish and Charles Thomson to promote figurative painting in opposition to conceptual art...
art movement with Richards. Stuckism
Stuckism
Stuckism is an international art movement founded in 1999 by Billy Childish and Charles Thomson to promote figurative painting in opposition to conceptual art...
was started in Britain by Billy Childish
Billy Childish
Billy Childish is an English artist, painter, author, poet, photographer, film maker, singer and guitarist...
and Charles Thomson
Charles Thomson (artist)
Charles Thomson is an English artist, painter, poet and photographer. In the early 1980s he was a member of The Medway Poets. In 1999 he named and co-founded the Stuckists art movement with Billy Childish. He has curated Stuckist shows, organised demonstrations against the Turner Prize, run an art...
in 1999. Watson said, "We create art in order to create an emotional connection. There's such a rampant element of falseness in [conceptual] artwork. I'm very comfortable saying most of it is not for real."
He was part of the group that founded and ran the Stuckism International Centre USA, an art gallery in New Haven. He said the organization attracted popular support, but had been unable to gain official backing. His film with Richards, Blackout, was premiered at the event Stuck Films at the New Haven Stuckism International Center in 2002. In 2003, he co-organized the Stuckism International Protest Show against the Iraq War, though the theme concentrated not so much on anti-war images as international artistic co-operation with works from the United States, Germany, Brazil and England. One work showed a bust of President George W. Bush
George W. Bush
George Walker Bush is an American politician who served as the 43rd President of the United States, from 2001 to 2009. Before that, he was the 46th Governor of Texas, having served from 1995 to 2000....
with a swastika
Swastika
The swastika is an equilateral cross with its arms bent at right angles, in either right-facing form in counter clock motion or its mirrored left-facing form in clock motion. Earliest archaeological evidence of swastika-shaped ornaments dates back to the Indus Valley Civilization of Ancient...
behind it.
On March 21, 2003, the Stuckists held a "clown trial of President Bush" on the steps of the U.S. District courthouse, Church Street, New Haven. Watson issued a press release for the event, stating that the event was because the double talk of leaders had made clowns out of people, and that a dummy of the President in chains wearing an orange Camp X jumpsuit would be tried by a clown prosecutor, a clown defense and a clown judge. Watson said, "Charges include planning crimes against humanity outside the sanction of international law. Our leader has reduced himself to the same level as those whose terrorist actions he condemns."
Remodernist Film
Remodernist film developed in the United States and the United Kingdom in the early 21st century with ideas related to those of the international art movement Stuckism and its manifesto, Remodernism...
group. His film Shooting at the Moon, co-directed with Stuckist and Remodernist photographer and filmmaker Jesse Richards
Jesse Richards
Jesse Richards is a painter, filmmaker and photographer from New Haven, Connecticut and was affiliated with the international movement Stuckism.-Early life:...
is one of the first works of Remodernist film. Shooting at the Moon premiered at the New York International Independent Film and Video Festival
New York International Independent Film and Video Festival
New York International Independent Film and Video Festival is a film screening event in various American cities. It was founded in 1993, and its website claims it has been recognized by the film and entertainment industry as one of the leading film events on the independent festival circuit...
in November 2003. On March 8, 2008 the film made its London premiere at Horse Hospital
Horse Hospital
The Horse Hospital is an arts venue in central London, England, which caters for literary and spoken word events, underground film and avantgarde media screenings, and visual art exhibitions...
during their Flixation Underground Cinema event.
Watson lives and works in Brooklyn, New York. He is the bassist for South Brooklyn Art Rock band Battle of the Camel and a Member of the Glue Stick Collective, a group of artists associated with Clean and Humble Recordings.
Filmography
- Shooting at the Moon 1998 -re-edit- 2003
- "King of the CrownKing of the CrownKing of the Crown is an American reality television series that debuted on TLC in 2009. The show follows the life of pageant coach Cyrus Frakes and his assistants of Gowns and Crowns as they prepare beauty pageant contestants to compete....
" 1999 - "At the Last Minute" 2000
See also
- Stuckism in AmericaStuckism in AmericaThe Stuckism art movement was started in London in 1999 to promote figurative painting and oppose conceptual art. This was mentioned in the United States media, but the first Stuckist presence in US was not until the following year, when former installation artist, Susan Constanse, founded a...
- Remodernist FilmRemodernist FilmRemodernist film developed in the United States and the United Kingdom in the early 21st century with ideas related to those of the international art movement Stuckism and its manifesto, Remodernism...
- Shooting at the Moon, directed by Jesse Richards & Nicholas Watson
- Jesse RichardsJesse RichardsJesse Richards is a painter, filmmaker and photographer from New Haven, Connecticut and was affiliated with the international movement Stuckism.-Early life:...