Download Catalogue PDF - Artist Agent and Gallery

BEN LEWIS * RIP COOL BRITANNIA * ST. CHERYL COLE
41 - 42 Berners Street, London, W1T 3NB, UK
info@mortonmetropolis.com mortonmetropolis.com
AN EXHIBITION OF NEW
PAINTINGS BY STUART SEMPLE
JUST WHAT MAKES TODAY’S
STUART SEMPLE SO DIFFERENT,
SO APPEALING? BY BEN LEWIS
Most of the words I would like to use to
describe Stuart Semple’s paintings have
- as they say about pretty girls - already
been taken: Pop Art, Neo-Pop, Britpop
and Sub Pop. Even Pop-Up.
But Semple’s art is clearly very Pop-
something. Or something-Pop.
Semple paints Pop in a British High
Street vernacular, as if James Rosenquist,
Mel Ramos, Tom Wesselman and Robert
Rauschenberg had crammed into a Prius
and gone on a road trip around our
medium-sized towns. The occasional
open pouting lips are a frank homage
to some of that vehicle’s occupants.
Just like Rosenquist’s paintings spill over
with the glamorous imagery of American
capitalism, Semple’s are full of ’UK-world’
- printed T-shirts, Heinz tomato ketchup,
pound stores, photos from hairdressers’
windows, the squiggles of graffiti tags,
lyrics from pop songs, official acronyms,
union jack underwear, glitter and designer
trainers float in the indeterminate and
oneiric spaces of his paintings, which are
not so much a window onto the world,
as a shop window onto the world.
Semple’s paintings are based on digital
collages he has composed on photo-
shop from a collection of thousands
of images he has taken himself or
occasionally found on the internet.
This collage principle that underlays
all his work links him back to the first
Pop Art-work of them all, which took
place in London in 1956, the one that
even American art historians credit with
launching the international movement,
Richard Hamilton’s “Just What Is It That
Makes Today’s Homes So Different, So
Appealing.”
Just like Hamilton, and the movement
he launched, Semple is engaged in a
”delirious crossing of fetishisms – sexual,
commodity, technological” (Art Since
COMFORTABLY OMFORTABLY OMFORTABL N NNUMB,
UMB, Acrylic, spray paint, paint marker, charcoal & glitter on canvas, 300 x 183 cm, 2010
1900, Kraus, Buchloh, Bois, Foster, T&H
2004). Today, over fifty years and several
generations on, we can ask: ”Just what is
it that makes Pop Art so relevant today,
and still so appealing?” It’s become
one of the classic styles of modern art,
like Expressionism and Abstraction. Its
subject, consumer society continues to
spread and mutate, inviting us to look
at and analyse it over and over again.
But, above all, it’s longevity is based
on its failure. Hamilton asks a question
that has never been, surely can never
be answered. What is it that makes
the design of consumer society so
seductive, so mesmerising and hypnotic?
Semple’s paintwork jarringly combines
the hand-made and advanced
technological processes, both the
heritage of different Pop traditions
(Kippenberger vs. Warhol).
The meticulous blow-ups come from
the world of advertising, but the illogical
combinations of images and scalings
from the aesthetic of the fanzine.
28TH APRIL - 28TH MAY 2010
Ben Lewis continues on page 3
SPORT ON P.12
WHO ARE YOU? ON P.10

2
LATEST ASBO FIGURES - P.12 * OCCULT ANNIE - P.11
CONT.. FROM FRONT PAGE
The texts in his paintings are first written
on a computer and enlarged. A laser
cutter is used to make a stencil of the
texts, which is overlaid on the canvas,
and Semple paints through that in layers
of acrylic. Passages of loose ’bravura’
brushwork are interspersed within a
razor-sharp, relentlessly uninflected
graphic style. If you asked Stuart ”What
is that makes your paint so matt, so flat?”
he would tell you that he works with the
manufacturers to design the formulae for
some of his paints, with an eye for banal and
opaque hues, and a smooth consistency
which makes brushstrokes invisible.
There are other ways in which Semple
is a pop artist. His art has the feel of
pop music - and not simply because
he uses lyrics from pop songs. He sees
each exhibition as an ‘album’. He’s on
the ‘cover’ in one painting, “Would the
Real Stuart Semple Please Stand Up?”,
whose theme is also saturated with
the teenage identity angst of the Top
Twenty (the picture’s title is a quote from
Eminem’s “The Real Slim Shady”). There’s
a love song - “Killing me softly (with
He sees each exhibition
as an ‘album’. He’s on the
‘cover’ in one painting
her sound)”; a couple of tracks about
contemporary British society, including
“This land…was built for you and me”,
QUIET DESPERATION / THE ENGLISH WAY, Acrylic, charcoal, graphite, vegetable dye, paint marker & spray paint on canvas, 120 x 120 x 7 cm, 2010
HAPPY HOUSE BY SIOUXSIE AND THE BANSHEES, 1981
This is the happy house - we’re happy here in the happy house oh it’s such fun.
We’ve come to play in the happy house.
And waste a day in the happy house - it never rains.
We’ve come to scream in the happy house we’re in a dream in the happy house.
We’re all quite sane.
photo by Jos & Hedwig
with its out-of-shape swinger and saucy
messages; there’s the rousing anthem of
“Walk Unafraid” and, finally, moments of
autobiography. ”Poundland” shows the
moment when Semple was violently
attacked, aged 17; “Quiet Desperation”
hints at another incident, when the artist
found himself surrounded by scores of
magpies, but, fortunately, was able to
escape without injury. One day, I am
convinced, the contemporary art world
will resemble the culture of pop music.
There will be a lot more of it about. You’ll
donwload it on your mobile. Artists will
have images like bands. Best of all, it
won’t have to be weighed down with
the excessive theoretical baggage,
which it seems obliged to carry today.
(In fact, I would prefer it my text were
viewed not as a catalogue essay but as
sleeve notes)
The pictures have a new mood, different
from the work Semple was making two
year ago. Then, Semple was swept up
on the giant wave of the contemporary
art boom. He sold pictures from Berlin to
Hong Kong. He had assistants. He flew
first class. He flew his friends first class.
He hired a publicist. His galleries wanted
to send his pictures to auction, to boost
his prices. He declined the offer.
Today Semple and most of the rest of
us live in a different world - yet not one
that is defined one-dimensionally by
economic collapse. If you asked Stuart,
”What is that makes today’s Britain so
different, so melancholic?” he would tell
you that it was the sensation of change
of circumstances but not of attitudes, of
emotions disconnected from events, of
after as before. In ”Comfortably Numb”
we are in a permanent
and pleasurable state of
experiencing the loss of
our innocence
there’s a graveyard in the bottom part of
the paintings with crosses adorned with
memories and losses, not only the very
recent ‘Our Price’ and ‘Borders’ and “Last
Orders”, but somewhat older stuff - the
VHS tape, ‘Cool Britannia’ and, curiously
the Belgrano, the Argentine warship that
we sank in the Falklands War in 1982, with
the loss of 368 lives, allegedly as it was
steaming away from the war zone.
The question is not so much what do
these diverse events, technologies and
brands have in common, but what is
the effect of bringing them together?
Semple creates a calculatedly diffuse
and illogical mood of nostalgia, fusing
the demise of Thatcherite jingoism and
a puritanical Britain (the Falklands War
and end of pub closing times) and the
implosion of capitalism (indicated with
great banality by defunct high street
chains). He invokes a world of instant,
This is the happy house - we’re happy here there’s room for you if you say “i do”.
But don’t say no or you’ll have to go. We’ve done no wrong with our blinkers on it’s
safe and calm if you sing along.
This is the happy house - we’re happy here in the happy house.
To forget ourselves - and pretend all’s well there is no hell.

artificial nostalgia, where technology
moves so fast, that the only permanent
sensation we have is of a melancholy for
the past.
The counterpart of the modern narrative
of rapid technological progress and
permanent cultural innovation - of news
(the new) on the quarter hour, every hour
- is that anything more than 15 minutes
old is history, in the form of repeats or
archive. The media are already organising
how they will repackage today as
yesterday tomorrrow. That yesterday is
always quaint, backward, simple. Today
we are in a permanent and pleasurable
state of experiencing the loss of our
innocence. We love being told and sold
that sensation - the documentaries on
BBC4 with their archive footage histories
of women, lefties and folk music are
archetypes. It is, in the words of an old
cliché ’the warm bath of nostalgia,’ but a
nostalgia that is accelerating towards our
present, surely in danger of overtaking it.
Above the graveyard of ”Comfortably
Numb”, a female figure stands proudly,
paradoxically, hands aloft, wearing
boxing gloves, in a posture of victory.
Cartoon eyes, surely from a Nickelodeon
series, dot the pictures, and the horizon
is marked by the skyline silhouettes of
typical terraced houses. Semple has
scrawled a line from a song ”Nothing
It’s Semple’s ability
to describe this
contemporary moment
which makes his Pop Art
so different, so appealing
ever happens” above the huge skewed
word ”Happy.” It’s about a world where
everything has changed and nothing
THIS LAND... WAS BUILT FOR YOU AND ME, Acrylic, charcoal, paint marker & diamond dust on canvas, 120 x 120 x 7 cm, 2010
has changed at the same time. There’s
still glamorous models and a sprinkling
of diamond dust in Semple’s paintings
- but this time they are surrounded by
images of recession. Like the T-shirt in
his multiple-self-portrait says, ”Gordon
Gecko was wrong.” We are at the
moment before impact. Roadrunner is
still running as hard as he can, but he
hasn’t noticed he’s gone way out over
the end of the cliff. Similarly our mindset
and moods have not yet registered
the bad news we have been watching
and listening to. It’s as if everyday we
are reading our own obituary in the
newspaper. It is Semple’s ability to
describe this contemporary moment
which makes his Pop Art so different, so
appealing today.
On the large bottle of tomato ketchup
in ”Quiet Desperation” Semple has
replaced the Heinz logo with another
word: Wait. Yes, folks, just wait.
Ben Lewis is an award-winning documentary-
film-maker, author and art critic. His most recent
documentary “The Great Contemporary Art Bubble”
was shown on the BBC, Arté, ABC-Australia and
numerous other TV channels across the world, and
screened at film festivals in Montreal, Vancouver,
San Francisco, Tel Aviv, Copenhagen and Derry.
Ben’s other film credits include the mutli-award-
winning series “Art Safari”, and the documentaries
“Hammer and Tickle” and “The King of Communism.”
Ben writes a monthly column on art for Prospect
and contributes art criticism to the Evening
Standard, the German magazine ‘Monopol’, the
Sunday Telegraph, Times, Sunday Times and FT.
His first book “Hammer and Tickle: the story of a
political system which was (almost) laughed out of
existence” will be published in May this year.
41 - 42 Berners Street, London, W1T 3NB, UK info@mortonmetropolis.com mortonmetropolis.com 5

POPULAR
CULTURE
& THE
AESTHETIC
DISCOURSE
CHERIE FREDERICO & STUART SEMPLE IN CONVERSATION
Contemporary image-making is rife with critical debate. It always has been, in fact,
that’s part of its definition, but combine that with an overarching analysis of popular
culture, and the consequences of the recent recession, and this result is a new
compelling sense of urgency. Following in the footsteps of Andy Warhol, Barbara
Kruger and Jeff Koons, Stuart Semple (b. 1980) turns popular culture on its head by
critiquing it through its own vernacular, and so themes of disillusionment serve to
deconstruct the very world in which we live, producing a series of metanarratives
that attempt to redefine our comfort zone. Semple is a pro; he joins aesthetic
discourse with the acidic residue of consumerism, which is not only thought
provoking, but also serves as an acute reminder to the current state of play.
Semple’s latest offering, The Happy House, inspired from Siouxsie & The Banshees’
song of the same name (1981) will open at one of London’s newest galleries, Morton
Metropolis, this April. In his first UK solo exhibition in three years, Semple returns
to the city where he first became recognised for his politically charged witticisms,
presenting his most personal collection to date. The Happy House offers a glimpse
into the artist’s past and a much-longed return to his natural colour-fuelled style.
Semple’s latest series also signals a new era, as he reveals provocatively illustrated
works in which his wry social and political observations are entwined on each
canvas.
In the aftermath of tumultuous recession and with the general elections looming
in Britain, Semple commands the undivided attention of his audience, removing
the veil of conformity from the eyes of an idle and meek society. Semple forces
viewers to question the extent to which contemporary culture can impact upon
everyday lives. In Comfortably Numb there’s a sense of sadness, as we say R.I.P to
Borders, Cool Britannia, and even the mixed tape, but there’s more to it than that.
Ultimately, it’s a re-evaluation of our value systems and disengaging appropriated
meaning. Semple subverts these systems through a distinct juxtaposition of colour,
image and text.
Semple is making images with a purpose; undercutting current trends to engage with
the wider social context. Lifting the lid on the state of Britain today, Semple pushes
the manipulation of image-making to the extreme; revealing the empowering effect
of pictorial demonstrations in an active stand against the “middle of the road”
attitude prevalent in today’s society and perpetuated through modern media. With
programmes like X-Factor propagating the McDonaldisation of popular culture,
it’s no surprise that Semple is angry about the complacency erupting in every cul-
de-sac in Britain. His work shouts loudly and fluently in the language of a young
media-soaked generation, depicting a world that is absorbing and exciting, yet
precariously underpinned by the concave cycle of daily tabloids, Hollywood
films, Facebook, and a little bird called Twitter. From the macro to the micro, the
cultures of consumerism operate on many levels; they are almost omnipotent.
For Semple, it is crucial that his work speaks to audiences on an emotional level,
inspiring a response that transcends the limits of the work itself and encourages
a critical re-evaluation of daily life. In The Happy House the homogenisation of
culture is the backdrop for the exhibition. At once, we must question the artifice of
the image, and how it intervenes with globalisation and interrogates the associated
power structures. Semple does not create work to be consumed along with
popular culture but reverses and redefines the power of these memes to reveal a
narrative of deeper human interaction.
At Morton Metropolis, Semple’s compilation of 11 large-scale paintings will flow
like tracks on the bygone mixed-tape. Alive with intense imagery and a direct
humour they make no attempt to obscure meaning.
Cherie Frederico originally conducted the following interview with Stuart for
the May issue of Aesthetica Magazine.
CF: Your work has been received with great acclaim over the past five years with
Fake Plastic Love (2007) and Everlasting Nothing Less (2009) gaining widespread
attention, can you tell me how it all began?
SS: I suppose the attention started at the Fake Plastic Love show, which was pretty
frightening, putting on a show of that scale would be hard not to notice. I still can’t
get my head around the fact that 10,000 people came. But it really started in 2000.
I started making a lot of work and I wanted to get it out there, so I put it anywhere
that would take it – bookshops and cafés. Most of the time nobody bought one.
While I was at university (in the Yorkshire Y Sculpture Park) I got really ill and nearly
died – after that the work just kept coming. I started selling these works on eBay,
remember in 2000 it was the bare bones of the web; we were still paying by the
minute for dial up. Every night I sold three and people would tune in at the same
time every night, and before I knew it there was a fledgling online community. I
made and sold about 3000 pieces during that time, mostly they sold for £20 - £30,
so I wasn’t rolling round like an art-star, but the landlord was off my back.
Much of your work is an analysis of popular culture, yet you critique it through its
own language, can you tell me more about this decision?
When I think about pop-culture, I think primarily about images, moving images and
static images. That’s the language I’m fluent in, and while English is a language for
me, I think pop is another one; it might even be my first. So it’s natural to use that
for me. The beauty is that it’s a shared language so it’s quite efficient at relaying a
concept, more so I think than more abstract ways of saying something. The point
is that most of that pop-culture world, and the images that surface from it do a
really good job of pretending that they reference reality. The fact is that they are
manufactured, normally with a goal focused purely on consumption, either of the
image itself, a product or lifestyle choice. We start to become what we see, and we
assume this environment. We camouflage ourselves to fit in. It’s self-fulfilling. The
point is that I’m trying to make a definite contribution to image-making, but I’m also
trying to be truthful and critical.
4 41 - 42 Berners Street, London, W1T 3NB, UK info@mortonmetropolis.com mortonmetropolis.com
Cherie Frederico
photo by Jos & Hedwig

What are your main concerns about today’s society and how does your work define
and explore these anxieties?
My main fear at the moment is one of alienation and a type of ghettoisation, one
in which there’s a sort of bland, homogenised, middle-class with super safe
aspirations. This is what we’re told we should be, this is what’s perpetuated. Where
the fringes are reduced, where we’ll all be okay as long as we adopt a certain
ideology. Fundamentally it doesn’t work like that, we still have a huge amount of
poverty in this country, we still have a working class, we are part of a bright and
varied community but a lot of it doesn’t conform to the ideal, so it’s hidden. I like
the idea of a glossy West End gallery exhibiting an image of Poundland, and I can
show something where people wouldn’t normally expect it. I’m so lucky with the
gallery actually; they are probably the first I’ve found that really understands what
needs to happen. They are brave; they are as much for the artist and the culture as
they are for the collector. You Y don’t normally see that. The art world couldn’t be
further away from what I’m talking about. The works are about the majority of our
population, so it’s like the camera angle changes and I hope you see how limited
that frame has been for so long. So in the show you see suburbia, where I was
bought up, and you see me getting beaten up outside Poundland.
Your work transcends art, as you move between divides in contemporary visual
culture, most notably fashion and art, can you tell me more about the fusion of
these two worlds?
I can’t see a difference anymore. For me, it’s about finding a route to voice something,
it’s still art for me if it’s critical. There’s no grand plan, so if I need to learn a new skill
or jump over a barrier into a neighbouring discipline in order to carry on that’s what
I do, and I find myself almost organically stepping back. I decided a long time ago
that I would do whatever the work needed from me. One day I’ll be on my hands
and knees with a tiny paint brush for 16 hours and the next I’ll be photographing a
rock star or going on a mission to a paint lab to get a formula to do what the work
requires. I could even have to learn new software or painting techniques. I’m not
running the thing; it’s totally running me.
I am very interested in finding out more about who your influences are and
where your draw your inspiration from?
There are so many and I surround myself with them, in books and music and film. In
the past great painters like Van Gogh or Caravaggio, the Pop Art guys: Rauschenberg
is a big one, Warhol of course and the Polke. Equally people like Lawrence Weiner
PHAGOPHOBIA / PANIC ATTACK, Acrylic, charcoal, paint marker & glitter on canvas, 240 x 170 x 7 cm, 2010
or Jenny Holzer for what they do with language. With regards to contemporaries,
I get as much inspiration from artists that I don’t want to be like, as I do with those
I do. I don’t like art that’s driven by money, I don’t like art that’s not critical so
perhaps in that way my biggest inspirations are Hirst or Murakami, in as much as
I think they could say more. But the big one is always the music because music
can change the way I feel, it’s like a tap into my emotions. Right now I’m listening
to a lot of Blur again and the new Eminem album. Actually I think Eminem is really
important. I think he might be the greatest, most critical pop artist we’ve had yet.
Dylan, Conor Oberst. Van Gogh has influenced my painting more than anyone else,
but I don’t think you can see that in my pictures.
We’re definitely “recessioned out”, it has pretty much consumed our daily lives
for nearly two years, so how do you feel this event has impacted on your artistic
practice?
The art market has undeniably gone through one of its darkest moments, and things
have been corrected I think. My practice has changed but not because of the
economy, I’m still here doing my thing, plodding on. Perhaps a bit, I’m more aware
of economic systems that I was before; I think I took that for granted. The work has
interacted with some of those ideas, like the HappyCloud performance from Tate
Modern, which was directly about recession. I think artists who had a really big
elaborate production line work going on will have been changed more. It was a
tough time for everyone; it was like the whole thing was put on pause for a while
and nobody, not even the biggest artists and galleries, knew if they’d ever sell work
for the prices they did before. I just decided to get my teeth into these pictures
and keep going the best I could.
For newcomers to your work, what would you want them to experience; essentially
what would you like them to take away?
I don’t know, in a perfect world, where I’d really pulled it off. I’d like them to
remember the images; I think at least one or two. For me, the sign of a good picture
is one I can remember. I can remember seeing a Van Gogh 21 years ago, vividly.
There you go, that’s a thing to aim for isn’t it? A picture someone might remember
20 years later.
Aesthetica Magazine is a UK-based arts and culture publication. Exploring the varied
nature of the arts and recognising the dynamics of contemporary culture, Aesthetica
pushes the boundaries and evokes debate around today’s most important topics
on both the national and international forum.
41 - 42 Berners Street, London, W1T 3NB, UK info@mortonmetropolis.com mortonmetropolis.com 5

COMFORTABLY NUMB, Acrylic, spray paint, paint marker, charcoal & glitter on canvas, 300 x 183 cm, 2010
PICTURES CAME AND BROKE YOUR HEART, Acrylic, paint marker and charcoal on canvas, 120 x 120 x 7 cm, 2010 KILLING ME SOFTLY (with her sound), Acrylic, charcoal, paint marker & glitter on canvas, 120 x 120 x 7 cm, 2010
A POUNDING OUTSIDE POUNDLAND (or how my nose got it’s wonk), Acrylic & charcoal on canvas, 240 x 170 cm, 2010
6 41 - 42 Berners Street, London, W1T 3NB, UK info@mortonmetropolis.com mortonmetropolis.com
QUIET DESPERATION / THE ENGLISH WAY, Acrylic, charcoal, graphite,
vegetable dye, paint marker & spray paint on canvas, 120 x 120 x 7 cm, 2010

THE REAL STUART SEMPLE, Acrylic, charcoal & paint marker on canvas, 170 x 240 x 7 cm, 2010
41 - 42 Berners Street, London, W1T 3NB, UK
info@mortonmetropolis.com mortonmetropolis.com
28TH APRIL - 28TH MAY 2010
THIS LAND... WAS BUILT FOR YOU AND ME, Acrylic, charcoal, paint marker & diamond dust on canvas, 120 x 120 x 7 cm, 2010
HAPPY HAPPY HOUSE
HOUSE
AFTER THE FALL, Acrylic, charcoal & paint marker on canvas, 120 x 120 x 7 cm, 2010 WALK UNAFRAID, Acrylic, charcoal & paint marker on canvas, 240 x 170 x 7 cm, 2010
PHAGOPHOBIA / PANIC ATTACK, Acrylic, charcoal, paint marker & glitter on canvas, 240 x 170 x 7 cm, 2010 NUT JOB, Acrylic, charcoal & glitter on canvas, 120 x 120 x 7 cm, 2010
41 - 42 Berners Street, London, W1T 3NB, UK info@mortonmetropolis.com mortonmetropolis.com 7

THE REAL STUART SEMPLE, Acrylic, charcoal & paint marker on canvas, 170 x 240 x 7 cm, 2010

ALBUM REVIEW BY EMMA EDMONDSON
LIFE IN BRITAIN’S BEEN A
BIT OF A BITCH LATELY. . .
A crippled empire hunched under a
recession cloud. Once just a misty,
historical noun now that ‘r’ word has
taken on the form of a very present day,
distinctly sewer tasting, expletitive.
Mentioned in every media breath
it’s impossible to get away from the
apparent decay of our people and the
England they occupy.
Enter Stuart Semple. As British as fish and chips, and as sentimental and mushy about
the country as the peas that go with it, every track on Semple’s new album is part of
a series of social commentings that will be recognised by anyone who’s experienced
the financial, and emotional, wrath of the past few years. Yep, Y that’s you that is.
But fret not, it’s not all doom and gloom in Sempleland. Signature pop sounds
weave into an otherwise melancholy sincerity adding a uniquely jovial aesthetic
that elbows its influences back to the lyrical, yet cutting, wit of Damon Albarn and
co. This undeniably British flavoured focus runs through each song. With Stuart even
referencing Blur’s lyrics to Stereotypes, off that great British album The Great Escape,
in “This land…Was built for you and me”. A technicolour, surround sound comment
on the decay of British society, Stuart may knowingly elbow those Brit-poppers, who
summed up life as a twenty-something in London so well almost two decades ago,
but he injects that idea’s vein with a finely tuned serum of modernity.
Nodding towards the fast food instamatic lifestyle that so many of us lead today it
reeks of TV dinner sex and suburbia. Tongue in cheek lyrics hover over semi-detached
houses whilst, behind a curvy Lisa Minnelli-masked lady clad in a union jack bikini,
Semple’s to-the-point shopping list prose of pizza, burger, fellatio and chips spells
out a familiar convenience soup that so many of us dine on each day.
THE T
HAPPY HOUSE BY STUART SEMPLE
Much like his Brit-pop musical counterparts Semple again cheekily
pokes fun at our British ‘shut up and carry on’ attitude in standout track
‘Quiet desperation / the English way’. A surreal and colourful chequered
landscape of Rayban sporting Magpies is the orchestral backdrop for a
classic English gent’s profile. This sullen character with his eyes looking to
the floor reminds us what really lies beneath that silence.
There are multi-faceted references to the pill-popping mentality of
generation now, alongside Stuart’s own experiences of life’s fragility,
in ‘Nut job’. A hollow cheeked Brett Anderson-alike in grey hues is
overtaken by the screaming vocals; “Nut job”. Surrounded by a splattering
of candy coloured pills here Semple gets personal, retracing his near-
death experience after a severe nut allergy. Now suffering from an anxiety
disorder after the trauma Stuart shrugs not only at the alphabet of recreational drugs
readily used by many a person but reminds us how today everybody’s in therapy,
on anti-depressants. Everyone’s damaged goods, labelled with a mental illness and
seeking a quick cure. A sign, possibly, of what this over-stimulated culture is slowly
doing to us all. A smattering of space oddity glitter adds a sad glamorama to this track
with Stuart whispering from the sidelines; watch out, this party’s going to end, and it’s
going to be over soon.
In ‘After the Fall’ Semple’s signature scantily clad supermodel skinny-girl returns to
the record’s catwalk. A towering, laser eyed Barbarella, wearing Minnie Mouse ears
and clutching a Lidl bag, she’s a powerful consumerist figure glaring out from the
soundscape. A fitting finale for the album she looks straight into the future from her
static stance while Semple asks her, and us, “Where do we go from here?”
An important question indeed. And although Stuart may not have the definitive
answer, solution or cure for the Britain he so skilfully illustrates, one thing’s for sure -
whichever way we do end up going he’ll have an ipod of anthems at the ready, all
itching to say something insightful and intriguing about it.
Photographs by Rosie Hallam
WALK W ALK UNAFRAID, U UNAFRAID,
Acrylic, charcoal & paint marker on canvas, 240 x 170 x 7 cm, 2010
41 - 42 Berners Street, London, W1T 3NB, UK info@mortonmetropolis.com mortonmetropolis.com 9

PICTURES CAME AND BROKE YOUR HEART,
Acrylic, paint marker and charcoal on canvas,
120 x 120 x 7 cm, 2010
CONTINUED FROM BACK PAGE
New technologies can help to break
down these distinctions and differences.
Mass consumption is continuing
as before but now there is a new
element. Technology has brought with
it new techniques of distribution. Images
become global in an instant: You Y don’t
have to wait. The actual production of
art might remain the same, oil on canvas,
chisel on marble and stencils on design;
the old and new fuse. Images need
not be dumbed down. We can have
access to our own personal galleries on
our laptops. That’s a really hopeful and
exciting prospect. So mass culture need
not numb us to the realities of life it can
make us want to pass images on, talk
about their complexities, it’s not about
KILLING ME SOFTLY (with her sound), Acrylic, charcoal, paint marker & glitter on canvas, 120 x 120 x 7 cm, 2010
owning the object as the blogosphere is
open to all. Ideas, through images, can
be consumed and they can generate a
dialogue. Yes Y – some say the very idea
of ideas is passe; I say, a good idea can
change the world and can make us want
to act on our world.
Now more than ever we seem to be calling
out for a transparent, honest and truthful
world. The artist and art, generally, can
help here. Don’t get me wrong; I’m not
proposing that art should be wholly doom
and gloom. On the contrary, humour is a
great tool to get people engaged and
the wit that underlines some art is on par
with the best that satire can offer. Much
art can only ever be decorative and that’s
AFTER THE FALL,
Acrylic, charcoal & paint marker on canvas,
120 x 120 x 7 cm, 2010
completely legitimate. Aesthetics and
emotions are closely linked and we can
view beauty for beauties sake and pick
up a huge emotional resonance from
that. However, an artist that produces
an object that works at many levels has,
indeed, created a very interesting piece
of art. For an artist to not only have the
ability to produce a decorative item that
at the top level is pleasing to the eye,
but also has the ability to write a layered
narrative on the canvas that produces a
range of emotions and makes us question
and – yes – even laugh at our everyday
existence, is indeed the producer of
authentic art. The artist is inviting the
viewer not to be passive but to do some
10 41 - 42 Berners Street, London, W1T 3NB, UK info@mortonmetropolis.com mortonmetropolis.com
work, to become an archaeologist by
gently brushing away the layers to reveal
the hidden treasures. Then, and only
then, will the whole object be visible.
Oppositions will become clear and
paradoxes unearthed.
NUT JOB,
Acrylic, charcoal & glitter on canvas,
120 x 120 x 7 cm, 2010
To be able to define an object as a
work of art is a powerful thing, but as
boundaries between distinctions and
difference break down, due to new
technologies, the power to define
becomes democratic. So, art itself is not
necessarily changing: The changes are
in the way it’s consumed. Here lies the
hope of transformation, criticism is alive
and well and change is afoot.

TIME FOR
ANOTHER
COFFEE COFFEE COFFEE COFFEE COFFEE BREAK BREAK BREAK BREAK BREAK
WILL THE REAL
UK CITIZEN ZEN EN PLEASE
STAND UP? UP UP? BY FAYANN F SMITH S SMITH
IS IT GETTING HARDER TO BE
YOU EVERYDAY? CAN’T TAKE
THE WORK-OUTS OR THE
DRESSING DOWNS, THE SLOW
RESENTFUL MEALS IN STYLISH
ROOMS IN EXPENSIVE, NOW
DEPRECIATING HOMES?
Mr and Mrs B.N.P, C.J.D, O.C.D the
silent white minority, who are you? Are
you terror struck in commuter town,
or fearing the black face in the white
hoody bluetoothing broken dreams via
mobile data streams with no time to look
where he is going? Who is tending your
bloodstained flag that once screamed
Empire but now whispers “spare change
please” to the iPoded and zoned out
passers by; a rag wrenched up by a
threadbare monarchy to a lukewarm
reception, a tired crowd, vaguely
nostalgic, twitchy and bored?
Are you the Khakis hordes on their way
to purchase LCD wide screens and potter
vacantly through miles of car parking and
bright Muzak convenience? Who is your
team? Who do you support? Are your
dreams in full colour featuring lip gloss
sticky girls from the pages of the Sunday
Sport spread out and sensual, almost
too young, almost nude? Almost yours,
but not really there. Do you rejoice in
your St Cheryl X factor morality knowing
that your X tube secrets could catch
up with you - who’s that dogging in
Grantham serenaded by a wet and
miserable Sunday evening, just another
way to spice things up and now you
can’t look her in the eyes. Where is your
truth? It’s written in a language you won’t
recognise, talked about in rooms you
don’t know and you’ll never have access
to, it is mahogany panelled, suited and
titled, a secret ceremony of boys club
control. Do you sit sweating in the dark
waiting for a grimy hand to break your
window locks, whilst the white-collar
criminal has your password, confidence
and handshake? Are you stopped and
searched, tagged and DNA tested,
young, black and suspect? Are you that
loathsome single mum, benefits cheat,
immigrant, all gold teeth and
grabbing hands scourge of
the Daily Mail outranged, we
fought the war, we pay our
taxes! Are you dreadlocked
and dropped out, drugged
up and dead-eyed, angry
and on the frontline of a
culture war you’ll never
win; this is not your society,
you can’t afford a voice
Swampy. This is your Nation,
humane, but confused,
ailing but growing. Centre of
an old world, a relic, broke,
rebranding and channel
changing, afraid but with
eyes fixed on the future.
OCCULT
ANNIE
PISCES Feb 20 - Mar 20
Your existence might seem mundane, but you will surprise those
around you with an unexpected naughty streak. The colours red,
white and blue have meaning. A cheeky romp is on the cards.
ARIES Mar 21 - Apr 20
Walk a different path. Excitement lies ahead, and the death of things
you know provides new opportunities. Fiery Mars revs up your sign
so dreams come true. Treat yourself to new shoes.
TAURUS Apr 21 - May 21
The old saying, “Life is just a parade of lips and dreams” couldn’t be
truer. An old favour is repaid in a generous way.
GEMINI May 22 - June 22
This month you will find you have more than one spiritual twin. In
fact, you may count up to nine of them. Mars and Saturn can help
you in practical ways, such as mowing your lawn. Single? It doesn’t
matter. Your alter-egos will keep you entertained.
CANCER June 23 - July 23
Just crossing the road could be eventful. Contemplate the very
bones of things and suddenly you, and those around you, will
understand. Luck and love link to the colour red.
LEO July 24 - Aug 23
Amazonian women stalk your life. Think carefully about rainbows,
they mean more to you than you know. Triangles and pyramids will
also have a bearing, according to the retrograde Neptune.
VIRGO Aug 24 - Sep 23
Beware a visit to the cheap side of town. A tall dark stranger means
you no good. On the upside, it’s a good time to plant potatoes, and
Mercury ensures your creative juices will be flowing.
LIBRA Sep 24 - Oct 23
One day’s events will have far reaching consequences. Avoid the
colour lavender. Certain facts could be difficult to swallow, be sure
to eat the right things this week and look to your family for support.
SCORPIO Oct 24 - Nov 22
Months of being quiet and tucked away are going to be worth it this
month. Wait a little longer, and what you wish for will come. Ignore
the naysayers. Beware apocalyptical magpies crossing your path.
SAGITTARIUS Nov 23 - Dec 21
Images, perhaps linked to your childhood, will scoop prizes. The
way that you see things will change, but your dreams will not. Take
on a challenge and you will win, your lucky colour is green.
CAPRICORN Dec 22 - Jan 20
Look for inspiration in happy symbols. Cake is good, too. Bullish Mars
will clear the way to expressing yourself in ways that matter most,
but be careful not to override the opinions of those you hold dear.
A bear will bring you joy. joy
AQUARIUS Jan 21 - Feb 19
A goodbye is just the thing to clear your head. A beautiful woman,
and the colours red, blue, pink, black and yellow are in danger, but
all will be well. You will have the strength to shine at work.
COMPETITION
WIN A PAIR
OF THESE
SNAZZY
SNEAKERS,
JUST TELL
US WHOSE
THEY ARE?
Answers to:
Jimmy Saville
Jim-l-fixit,
PO BOX 109
London, W1N 4DJ

SPORT
THE ART OF
CRITICISM BY DR MOO
WE HAVE A LONG AND NOBLE
TRADITION OF CRITICISM IN THIS
COUNTRY. NOTHING IS SACRED.
Everyday critics from political pundits
to moralists and even the 3 am girls
question the structures and institutions
we construct. That’s why we have the
ability to change governments and
rework our laws and why we can alter
the way we organise our society. In other
words, the acceptance of ‘authority’ is
not carried out unquestionably. Social
critics are in society: They are part of the
social fabric and some artists fall within
this framework.
The ‘cultural industry’ has been heavily
critiqued and critics have been very
pessimistic about the impact of art on
our society. The argument goes that
Auratic or Autonomous (authentic) art is
innovative, represents the ‘truth’ of society
and has great transformative potential.
However this form of art is rare to see
as individual creativity is made invisible
This one goes out to Ari & Lotte, with thanks to - Serena Morton, Raye Costbert & Zara Stallwood at Morton Metropolis, My Family,
James Robinson at Jalloro, Stuart Hillcock at Footprint, Ben Lewis, Will, Rachel & Monique at Paget Baker, Rosie Hallam, Everyone at
John Jones, Diane at Lloyds TSB, Richard Kuttner, Lydia Honeybone, Genevieve Jones & Liat Chen
by the industrial, mass production of art.
What you get is the commodification of
art whereas auratic art is the hope of a
damaged world. We know how counter-
cultures have been incorporated into
industry. For instance, take the angst and
anarchy of the Punks. Why continue to rip
up your jeans when you can buy a ready
made torn version from the high street
and make a fashion statement at the same
time? Oh how the power was lost: Oh
how the image became mainstream: Oh
how some set judgements on the public
making viewing art an uncomfortable affair.
Why should this be? Well, consumption is
not an uncomplicated activity. To be able
to consume we need to learn differing
sets of cultural symbols and values. So
culture is embedded within a system of
signs and symbols and, most importantly,
boundaries, which create distinctions
between groups. Likewise, consumption
is a set of social and cultural practices that
establishes differences between groups.
This pessimistic paradigm is now on the
wan and hope is on the ascent.
continued on Page 10
A POUNDING OUTSIDE POUNDLAND (or how my nose got it’s wonk), Acrylic & charcoal on canvas, 240 x 170 cm, 2010
DAILY
ASBO-METER
% ASBO’s Issued in 2009:
1. Hackney
2. Birmingham
3. Liverpool
4. Southampton
5. Sheffield
6. Oxford
7. Plymouth
8. Carlisle
9. Norwich
10. Newcastle
11. Coventry
12. Cardiff
data supplied by data.gov.uk
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OUR OUR LEADERBOARD EADERBOARD OF OF
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