Coulrophobia is the scientific name for the ‘fear of clowns’
It’s a miserably damp Monday morning. I am at Tate Britain with my friend Ruth Dudley Edwards to see the Stuckists demonstrate outside the 2012 Turner Prize exhibition.
Ruth is about to publish her latest crime fiction novel, a keenly-anticipated satire on the contemporary British art scene (Killing the Emperors, 26 November). We’re intrigued to discover what happens when the Art Establishment comes face-to-face with some of its most impassioned critics.
But, today anyway, it seems the drizzle and low grey skies have put a dampener on things. With visitors to the gallery more concerned to get out of the rain than argue about the nature of Art, the mood is low-key.
Ruth and I congratulate the Stuckists on their resilience and head for shelter and coffee.
More on the Stickies I mean STUCKISTS: http://blogs.telegraph.co.uk/news/ruthdudleyedwards/100183322/the-market-in-modern-art-is-rotten-to-its-core/#disqus_thread
More on Ruth’s book, as the US version is published today: http://www.poisonedpenpress.com/killing-the-emperors/