PAUL
MYNERS
Charles
Thomson recounts:
When
I arrived for the start of the demo outside Tate Britain, I
gave one of the security attendants a copy of The Stuckists
Punk Victorian book to pass on to Sir Nicholas Serota.
A
bit later in the morning, I was standing with other Stuckists
on the demo at the foot of the steps in front of the museum,
when a businessman walked by and climbed the first few steps.
I started to apologise on behalf of the Tate for the lack of
art in the Turner Prize or some such, when he spoke to me, not
looking at all pleased, and said, "I've seen your show
at Liverpool. It's a travesty." I was slightly caught off
guard, firstly because I was surprised he had seen the show,
and secondly because I'm used to Tate visitors expressing their
wholehearted agreement with our demo. I assumed the work of
ours he had seen wasn't traditional enough for him, so I mounted
some response along the lines of there being trained artists
including from the Royal Academy etc. in our group, but it turned
out he was as unimpressed with the Royal Academy as he was with
the Stuckists, adding what was obviously intended to be a show-stopper:
"Painting is the medium of yesterday." I responded,
"And of tomorrow".
I
was then approached by a taxi driver, presumably the one who
had driven the businessman to the Tate, and was informed by
him that the man I had spoken to was the boss. When I pressed
him on what that meant, he said it was the Chairman or some
such thing. I must confess it didn't mean much to me. I had
no idea how the Tate was organised and what role the boss-type
Chairman played in it, though I did recall he was probably the
same person who had accompanied Sir Nicholas Serota to The
Stuckists Punk Victorian Show at the Walker Art Gallery
a few weeks previously.
An
hour or so later, the businessman, who I later confirmed was
Paul Myners, Chairman of the Board of Trustees, re-appeared
from the front door and, catching my glance, gave a cheery wave.
