Damien Hirst, Skull with Ashtray and Lemon. © the artist
Damien Hirst's return to conventional painting may have been condemned by critics for being "adolescent" and "boring", but in a surprise move a group of artists who previously dismissed his work have leapt to his defence.
The Stuckists, an anti-conceptual art group favouring traditional artistic mediums such as painting, have even gone so far as to declare on their website that "in art historical terms, Damien Hirst is a Stuckist".
The group are famous for their yearly protests outside The Turner Prize. In 2003, they protested against Hirsts' formaldehyde-preserved shark, "The Physical Impossibility of Death in The Mind of Someone Living", by displaying their own one in the window of their headquarters, and putting it on sale for £1 million.
In reaction to Hirsts' latest work, however, The Stuckists have made an about-turn. Charles Thomson, who leads the group, has even called the paintings "remarkable for their depth".
His praise comes in sharp contrast to the reviews of many critics, who admired Hirsts' conceptual work but have slammed his paintings for being amateurish. Thomson has accused such complaints of being "stuck in fossilised values, which Hirst has outgrown".
The series of paintings, titled "No Love Lost, Blue Paintings", is on display at The Wallace Collection in London until January 24 2010.
A different series of Hirst's paintings, entitled "Nothing Matters", will be on display at the White Cube gallery in London from November 25.
Find out more about the Stuckists at www.stuckism.com.
