Factual Nonsense: The Art and Death of Joshua Compston

The publication launch is accompanied by an exhibition at the Paul Stolper Gallery, 31 Museum Street, London WC1A 1LH.  20 June 2013 6-8pm, with the exhibition running from 21 June – 21 August 2013

 

Factual Nonsense – The Art and Death of Joshua Compston is both a biography and an alternative portrait of the 1990’s art scene in London’s East End. It is also a guide to living fast and dying young in the contemporary art world; Joshua Compston made Hoxton hip and Shoreditch sexy. The list of the fifty or so interviewees in the book reads like a who’s who of the contemporary art world, with contributions from the likes of Jessica Voorsanger, Jay Jopling, Damien Hirst, Sarah Lucas, Sam Taylor-Wood, Gary Hume, Gavin Turk, Maureen Paley, and Sir Peter Blake.

Seen by some as the romantic martyr of his generation, by others as a prankster sending up the art establishment, Compston was a driving force that helped turn the East End of London into the cultural hub that it is today. He was determined to change the world through art. His gallery, Factual Nonsense (FN), was quite unlike any other. Called a ‘crazy powerhouse of ideas’, Factual Nonsense was a cultural think-tank located in a then run-down area of the East End.