Category: Uncategorized

A painting exhibition from Afghanistan, Britain, Greece, Iran, South Africa, Spain & USA
Faramooshi Café, Tehran, Sohrevardi Jonubi, Uraman, corner of Islami alley

23rd Oct – 18th Nov
Opening at 5pm
Curators: Hamed Dehnavi, Adel Heravian, Hani Najm

Mahfam Bahrami, Mohammad Jahed, Atoosa Joveini, Aydin Chali, Hamid Hemayatian, Rashed Rahmani, Tahereh Zahmatkesh, Hamed Dehnavi, Ahmadreza Sadeghi, Bahram Najm, Hani Najm, Adel Heravian, Atoosa Joveini.

Michele Bledsoe, Richard Bledsoe, John Bourne, Kari Dehnavi, Andrew Galbraith, Duncan Grant, Ella Guru, Paul Harvey, Jacqueline Jones, Bill Lewis, Dan Mayzee, Rémy Noë, Emma Paugmire, Justin Piperger, Eli Plater-Shaw, Tony Sandy, Ron Throop & Odysseus Yakoumakis

Artworks below by Aydin Chali, Bahram Najm, Hamid Hemayatian, Hani Najm, Jahed, Joobchiha, lapsking, Mahfam Bahrami, and Tahere Zahmatkesh

Tehran School of Miniature Manifesto
1. You can make better money from a business than from painting.
2. No matter how famous a painter you are, you still don’t have as many followers as the chicks of Shemroon.
3. If you don’t know what you’ve painted, don’t expect others to understand what you’ve painted.
4. Beyond the concept, painting should be spiritual to comfort the soul.
5. Painting is essentially two-dimensional and will remain two-dimensional, for the mystery of painting lies in its two-dimensionality.
6. Painting was a wild horse that eventually evolved into a kicking mule in the late 20th century; but must become a wild horse again. The anonymous, prehistoric cave-dwelling painters were more truly painters than most 21st-century painters.
7. In the digital age, we whisper with a brush in our hands: Artificial intelligence naturally produces only artificial images and renaming it to super intelligence doesn’t change anything.
8. Does the value of a work depend on its size? Even if we paint small, we sell at a price. This practice of selling by dimensions is one of the malignancies introduced by talentless, pseudo-artistic merchants.
9. We are not yet so saturated with beauty that we feel compelled to paint ugly. Even if there is ugliness, we render it with beauty.
10. Ambiguity is an artistic element, but unbridledness of meaning holds no artistic value. “Let everyone interpret as they please” is an admission that, fundamentally, there is no meaning to be interpreted.
11. In the universe, color possesses no intrinsic value or existence. A skilled painter effectively harnesses this illusion, which is generated by the visual system.
12. We are not afraid to contradict ourselves, if necessary.
13. God drank a cup of tea on Friday morning before creating the universe and asked itself, “What shall I create now?”

3 July 2026. It’s come to my attention that due to a technical issue, information about availability is not showing under my images. I’m going to share paintings that I have in my possession in Hastings, East Sussex UK. This is by no means exhaustive. I have a selected of older, smaller works not pictured. If you would like we can arrange a studio visit.

I also have six paintings in London available.

Also I will be doing Hastings Coastal Currents this year at Maslow, 5 Harold Place, Hastings TN34 1JA, for the open studio weekends of 5/6 and 12/13 September 2026.

Some of my older paintings have recently become available again. They are currently at a private residence in London. I’m going to share the pictures, but as they are not in a public gallery, I will only be able to take enquiries from people genuinely interested. I will be going to London some time this summer.

1. Party Dress (Jeannie Marie 2003)
2. Lil Ruby (2004)
3. Blowtorch (2007)
4. Immodesty Blaize (2008)
5. The Forcibly Bewitched (2004)
6. The End of the World (c 2005)
   
   There have been no prices set, so, feel free to make me an offer.

“Gerascophobia”

Oil on canvas

60 x 100 cm

Gerascophobia: The abnormal and persistent fear of ageing or growing old.

Finished last summer, this was my first completely unrestricted painting after 7 large commissions. It is a self portrait showing decades of partying in the top three windows. As if one exists as the same person forever — until suddenly they don’t. The bottom left is a snapshot of my studio, quiet and pensive. The last window is my ambition to be an ornamental skull; whether or not the decorations happen, the skull is inevitable.

Window number 5, the last to be painted, depicts fear, a very old person trying to stretch a young mask over her face. It shows old age as a prison. I thought about trying to make a positive vision of my future. But instead, I used this as a way to exorcise my demon, to get this phobia out of my head, in order to move on to a better frame of mind. I have to say it worked.

This will be included in the exhibition Persona, at the Crypt Gallery, St Pancras Church, 2 Dukes Road, London, WC1H 9AB 24-29 April 2026. There are over 40 artists in the show, and the pv will be very limited, but there will be activities, performances and artists present over the entire week.

‘Stuckism after 25 years: reflections on time and distance’

When I painted the Stuckists Last Supper in 2009, the 13 founding members all lived in either London or Medway. It was quite easy for me to travel around taking reference pictures of everyone.

But now we are all quite scattered, across different towns, counties and countries.

For various reasons, travel has been difficult over the last few years. This year it was to do with Sexton’s heart surgery. It wasn’t possible for me to travel around the country to photograph everyone in the same lighting to make it look like they were all sitting for a group portrait in the same room.

By the time I could’ve gone somewhere, I only had about three days. So I went to York, on a whim and a wish from a long lost and found dear friend. I already had the idea that I would paint the Stuckists in separate windows, and there is something compelling about the bleakness of Northern England.

I’ve realised that it takes me a long time to process things. During the lockdown I had enough of a backlog of ideas for paintings that I just did lots of painting. When in a group zoom ‘pub’ in 2020, someone asked if I was going to start painting people in squares because we were all locked at home. I was horrified by the idea.

But this Stuckist painting reflects not only that time, but how difficult it has been to return to a normal life. No one seems to talk about that. I am just not the same person I was five years ago.

Time is passing. This is something I’m acutely aware of at the moment. I notice it in crumbling buildings where nature is slowly taking over again.

The first window shows my friend Mary von Stockhausen, the first Stuckist outside the UK, when she went to see my self portrait when it was showing in Czechia last year. That self portrait was the first painting I did during lockdown. I had already planned every detail. It was also a documentation of that last year of life as we knew it. I had to portray myself like that rather than take a picture of how I am now, living the quiet life and mostly wearing sweatpants rather than fancy frocks. (if the man’s head carved on the left resembles Sexton Ming, it’s purely coicidental, unless he time travelled back several centuries to pose for this church in Leeds.)

Moving across the top row there is Paul Harvey at the end. The Moet refers to when Paul and I crashed an opening at the Mall Galleries where waiters were doling out champagne.

The next row shows Joe Machine as a holy man, referring to his paintings. Then there is Charles Thompson as Jonathan Yeo’s 2024 portrait of Charles III (and red knickers from Charles Thomson’s most famous painting ), then Wolf Howard with skulls, referring to his paintings, and finally Elsa Dax, with whom I did the Stuckist Tarot project in 2012, and who has been a constant in my artistic life throughout the years.

The crumbling facade is mainly from the 12th century House of Trembling Madness in York, along with details from Sark, Kirkstall Abbey, and York Minster.

Beyond all the decay, behind Elsa in the bottom right, is a round window showing a sunny day in the Yorkshire Dales, a bright spark of hope and an intention to spend more time embracing nature as times passes. Despite all the decay and destruction it’s important to notice the simple beauty of a country walk. (and yes another family sneaked in, our dear cat Brup, who was born in Elsa’s house over 13 years ago, and still lives on. Although he is now blind, Brup still rules the roost.)

New Children’s Book by Trisha Richardson, illustrated by Ella Guru, November 2023. Taking a break from my usual bizarreness, a delightful children’s tale of a little lost rabbit who meets the elementals of the forest. On sale now in my online shop. (*NOTE: My shop is an external, and completely secure site.) The book was published in time for Christmas but we will also have an official book launch in Spring 2024.

Now in my online shop! Lots of prints and mugs, Trisha’s Little Rabbit book, and Sexton Ming poetry book and new satirical zine ‘Nudist’. Shop link is external and completely secure.

“Cheetah”, oil on canvas, 150 x 100 cm. Finished at the end of last summer; only just got around to editing for social media. The models were photographed at a manor house near Robertsbridge. My dog stood in for the cheetah (you can’t hire big cats in the UK), along with some stock photography. I’ve added a list of locations below. I got further than Asda and local parks in 2021. Some summer memories to keep us going until it warms up again.

Locations

1. Alexandra Park, Hastings
2. Cottage: mix of stock photos and cottages near Fletcher Moss Botanical Gardens, Manchester
3. Cherry tree: Virginia, USA, family walk (photo from 2019)
4. Hastings (various public gardens)
5. Field near Falaise gym, Hastings
6. Our garden and neighbours’ gardens at home (St Leonards)
7. Marie Louise Gardens, Manchester
8. Fletcher Moss Botanical Gardens, Manchester
9. Trisha’s Badger, near Pevensey Road, St Leonards on Sea
10. Warrior Square, St Leonards on Sea
11. Marie Louise Gardens, Manchester
12. Clissold Park, London
13. Shopping Mall, Leeds city centre (columns)
14. Ivy – combination Hastings Old Town and stock photos
15. Near Fletcher Moss Botanical Gardens, Manchester
16. Roundabout near Asda, Hastings (red hot poker flowers)
17. Wall outside my house
18. Colour of wall partially based on Kirskstall Abbey, Leeds
19. Flower beds, Alexandra Park, Hastings
20. Purple flowers, Mandy’s yarden, Leeds

The witches dancing in the background are from a vintage photograph (photographer unknown), though they unintentionally resemble the Mediæval Bæbes.

New painting: “Day: Witches Sabbath (after Ferdinand Holder)” , oil on canvas, 36” x 54”

Loaded with symbolism representing female power, energy, rebirth, and wisdom. Models: Missy Macabre, Joni Belaruski, Leticia Molera Vasquez, Amanda Steele and Lily Kim. Pentagram: Trisha Richardson. 

Three reviews from the exhibition at Susan Diamond

22 King’s Road
St Leonards-on-Sea
East Sussex TN37 6DU

4 Dec 2014 – 5 Jan 2015

Rude Magazine story by Nicci Talbot:

http://www.rudemagazine.co.uk/features/ella-gurus-nightlife-paintings.php

Hastings Online article by Erica Smith:

http://hastingsonlinetimes.co.uk/arts-culture/visual-arts/ella-guru-at-susan-diamond

Laurence Poole’s blog:

http://laurencepoole.wordpress.com/2014/12/03/the-ella-guru-tarot-at-susan-diamond-st-leonards/

 

And the Facebook event page with photos from the opening party:

https://www.facebook.com/events/1529433437299163/?pnref=story

Stuck in a Jewel – Chris Yates’ pv at Nucleus Gallery Chatham. Chris put on a stellar show. I was happy to be a guest artist in this exhibition. Much wine was consumed, so, for now, all I can say is great work, Chris. And to the rest of the public – the show is on until 14 August. Go and see it!

Stuck in a Jewel
Group show curated by Chris Yates, Bury Stuckist
1-14 August 2014

Nucleus Arts
272 High Street, ME4 4BP Chatham, Medway
www.nucleusarts.com