Louisa Buck is a British art critic and contemporary art correspondent for The Art Newspaper. She was a jurist for the 2005 Turner Prize. The Turner Prize is an annual prize given to a British visual artist under 50, named after the painter J.M.W. Turner. ...

Life

Louisa Buck is the only daughter of the late Sir Antony Buck QC (1926–2003) by his first wife, Judy Grant, from whom he was divorced after 34 years. His marriage to his second wife, Spanish fashion designer, Bienvenida Perez-Bianco, who was 30 years younger than him, ended in scandal, when she admitted adultery with Sir Peter Harding, the Chief Of Defence Staff and sold her story to the News of the World for £150,000. Prior to this Sir Antony had seemed "the epitome of middle-ranking orthodox Tory establishment achievement": he was Conservative MP for Colchester for 30 years, and under Edward Heath parliamentary under-secretary of state for defence (Royal Navy) (1972–74). ^[1] QC can stand for: Quantum City, the title of a book by Ayssar Arida relating urban design and scientific worldviews, see www. ... Marshal of the Royal Air Force Sir Peter Harding GCB DSc FRAeS CBIM was British Chief of the Air Staff, and subsequently Chief of Defence Staff from January 1, 1993 until March 13, 1994. ... The Chief of the Defence Staff (CDS) is the professional head of the British Armed Forces. ... The News of the World is a British tabloid newspaper published every Sunday. ... Conservatism or political conservatism is any of several historically related political philosophies or political ideologies. ... MP or mp may refer to: Northern Mariana Islands Member of Parliament Military Police Modus ponens Madhya Pradesh, a state in India Mathematical Physics Microprocessor Machine Pistol Multi-platform Mission Possible, a Christian based childrens ministry Mission Praise, a Christian hymn book Mana Points or Magic points, a measure... Colchester is a town and is the main settlement of the Essex borough of Colchester in the East of England. ... Sir Edward Richard George Heath, KG , MBE (July 9, 1916 – July 17, 2005), soldier and politician, was Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1970 to 1974 and leader of the Conservative Party from 1965 to 1975. ...

Louisa Buck said at her father's remembrance service that he had a "lifelong loathing of pomposity, wicked irreverence and dogged loyalty, even when it was against his own interests." ^[2]

Career

She writes on contemporary art for a number of different journals, as well as making television appearances.

She is the author of Moving Targets 2,.^[3] the updated edition of Moving Targets (which she also wrote). This book, published by the Tate Gallery, gives profiles of the artists, curators, collectors, critics and galleries who contribute to the "best and most challenging art that is being made in Britain". Profiles of artists include Damien Hirst, Tracey Emin, Chris Ofili and Cornelia Parker; critics include Adrian Searle, curators, Sir Nicholas Serota and dealers, Jay Jopling of the White Cube gallery. She comments that these "make up only part of the contemporary art world in Britain. Just as there are artists who choose not to respond to the edgy spirit of the times, so there are a great many dealers, curators and critics who do not venture out of their appointed places. However, the subject of this book is the art that sets out to make us look at the world—and ourselves—with new eyes, along with the infrastructure that supports it." The Tate Gallery in the United Kingdom is a network of four galleries: Tate Britain (opened 1897), Tate Liverpool (1988), Tate St Ives (1993), Tate Modern (2000), with a complementary website Tate Online (1998). ... LSD by Damien Hirst Damien Hirst (born June 7, 1965) is a British artist and the leading artist of the group that has been dubbed Young British Artists (or YBAs). ... Tracey Emin (born 3 July 1963) is an English artist of Turkish Cypriot origin, one of the so-called Young British Artists (YBAs). ... Chris Ofili (born 1968) is an English painter noted for works referencing aspects of his African background. ... Adrian Searle is the chief art critic of The Guardian newspaper in Britain, and has been writing for the paper since 1996. ... Nicholas Serota Sir Nicholas Serota (born 1946) is a curator, and is currently Director of the Tate Gallery, the United Kingdoms national gallery of modern and British art. ... Jay Jopling (born 1963) is a British contemporary art dealer and gallerist. ... White Cube is a contemporary art venue in Hoxton in the East End of London. ...

She praises Richard Cork (art critic for The Times at the time of the book) for being among the "rare species" who search out the latest developments in contemporary art, in contrast to the conventional outlook of many of his colleagues, who "still feel that art should know its place, which is firmly on a plinth or in a frame." Cork was art critic for The Evening Standard (1969–83), until "on a black day for contemporary art, he was succeeded by the fulminating Brian Sewell." The Times is a national newspaper published daily in the United Kingdom. ... Headlines of the Evening Standard on the day of London bombing on July 7, 2005, in Waterloo Station The Evening Standard is a London tabloid newspaper published and sold in London and surrounding areas, and is technically a local paper, although it carries considerable influence. ... Brian Sewell is an influential English art critic. ...

In 2000 she criticised the Stuckists artists, "I saw the last Stuckists exhibition and some of the work was just plain cack ... There may be a lot of boring conceptual work but to have a grumpy reactionary movement against it is just daft."^[4] The Stuckists Punk Victorian show at the Walker Art Gallery, Liverpool, 2004 Stuckism is a British art movement founded in 1999 by Billy Childish and Charles Thomson to promote figurative painting in opposition to conceptual art. ...

In 2004 she compiled a report for the Arts Council, Market Matters: The dynamics of the contemporary art market. She quoted Thomas Hoving, former Director of The Metropolitan Museum of Art, "Art is sexy! Art is money-sexy! Art is money-sexy-social-climbing-fantastic!", a description she elsewhere says has "never ... seemed more apt"^[5] The Arts Council of Great Britain was a Quango dedicated to the promotion of the fine arts in Britain. ... Thomas P.F. Hoving (born January 15, 1931), is an American museum executive and consultant and the former director of the Metropolitan Museum of Art. ... There is also the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA), located in Manhattan. ...

In 2005 she was a member of the Turner Prize jury, which awarded the prize to Simon Starling, whose main exhibit Shedboatshed was a wooden shed he had converted into a boat, sailed down the River Rhine and then turned back into the original shed.^[6] Simon Starling (born 1967 in Epsom, Surrey) is a conceptual artist. ...

References

1. ↑ "Sir Antony Buck", The Guardian, October 11, 2003 Retrieved March 21, 2006
2. ↑ "Long Serving Essex MP Remembered", East Anglia Daily Times, April 3, 2004 Retrieved March 21, 2006
3. ↑ Buck, Louisa (2000). Moving Targets 2: A User's Guide to British Art Now. Tate Gallery Publishing. ISBN 1854373161
4. ↑ Stuckism Press Cuttings Retrieved March 21, 2006]
5. ↑ Evening Standard ES Magazine, p.15, June 2, 2000
6. ↑ "One Man and His Boat Shed Sail into a Storm over the Turner", The Times, December 6, 2005 Retrieved March 27, 2006

External links

• Market Matters: The dynamics of the contemporary art market by Louisa Buck