Stella Vine

Stella Vine (born 1969) is an English painter and former stripper, who found success when Charles Saatchi bought a controversial painting by her of Princess Diana in 2004. She owned the Rosy Wilde gallery in London.

Quotes

 * Even in the most horrendous situations there is always something to smile about.
 * Mansfield, Karl. "The 5-Minute Interview: Stella Vine: 'There have been a few times", The Independent, (2005-11-28)
 * On her philosophy for life.


 * This is a dark painting with a bit of violence because I was very affected by Diana's death. I cried all day because I liked her, warts and all. Most of all I liked the way that she wanted to be loved and didn't mind admitting it.
 * Richard Alleyen, "First blood to Saatchi as a star is born", The Daily Telegraph, (2004-02-24)
 * On Hi Paul Can You Come Over, her painting of Princess Diana.


 * I’ve lived on my own since I was 13 and not been to school and brought a son up who’s now 18 and run theatre companies and bought a butcher’s shop, learnt guitar by myself, taught myself to sing and that sort of stuff.
 * Billen, Andrew. "I Made More Money As A Stripper...", (2004-06-15)
 * On teaching herself to paint.


 * I didn't think anyone really liked what I was doing and I literally have the bailiffs at my door.
 * Richard Alleyen, "First blood to Saatchi as a star is born", The Daily Telegraph, (2004-02-24)
 * On her situation before Saatchi's purchase.


 * I identify with people like Diana who just want to be loved by everybody. If somebody doesn’t like me I find that very upsetting.
 * Catherine Deveney, "Stripped bare", The Scotsman, (2004-03-14)


 * I heard Postgate's Desert Island Discs last year and I was very impressed by him as a man, and thoroughly enjoyed his choice of "When the Saints Come Marching In". Listening to a creative visionary, one's life suddenly feels exciting again - you just want to get making, and doing. Thank God for people like Oliver Postgate - when you discover them, life takes on a whole new meaning. What an incredible man.
 * Nicole Jackson and Aida Edemariam. "Homespun Genius", (2008-12-10).
 * Oliver Postgate was the co-creator of Bagpuss.


 * No, it doesn’t mean anything, does it? People occasionally ask for your autograph or say, ‘I saw you in the paper’, but that doesn’t mean anything at all.
 * Billen, Andrew. "I Made More Money As A Stripper...", (2004-06-15)
 * On fame.


 * I do have a very, very big problem with someone who saw me coming and exploited me as a mascot.
 * Billen, Andrew. "I Made More Money As A Stripper...", (2004-06-15)
 * On her time with The Stuckists.


 * My background has been pretty abusive, nothing extreme, mainly psychological. There have been a few times when I have been slapped by partners and I have slapped back. I have enormous sympathy for those affected by violence. We need to progress beyond violence towards women and not cancel it out by saying women are also violent towards men.
 * Mansfield, Karl. "The 5-Minute Interview: Stella Vine: 'There have been a few times", The Independent, (2005-11-28)
 * On backing the Amnesty International charity.


 * All those people who derided me did me a favour, because now I don't care what anyone says about me. I feel I am now able to be a really powerful painter, to take on the mantle of the US male expressionist.
 * Eyre, Hermione. "Completing my new show was the only thing that saved me from suicide", The Independent, (2007-07-15)
 * On criticism.


 * I always wanted her to say, "I love you, I’ll stand by you, you are very important to me," but she never did. She loved me inside, but I didn’t feel it.
 * Catherine Deveney, "Stripped bare", The Scotsman, (2004-03-14)
 * On her mother.


 * You’re very vulnerable when you’re naked. The psychology is a bit weird. It’s all in the eyes between the two people so you’ve got to be confident. You’ve really got to pretend you are enjoying it. I tended to have lots of conversations with lonely old men and to meet lots of nutters as well. I have incredible tolerance for darkness. I can take on board quite a lot of damaged people, but it takes its toll psychologically.
 * Catherine Deveney, "Stripped bare", The Scotsman, (2004-03-14)
 * On stripping.


 * A common misperception of me is that I am a victim. I am not a victim. I am just honest about how things affect me.
 * Mansfield, Karl. "The 5-Minute Interview: Stella Vine: 'There have been a few times", The Independent, (2005-11-28)
 * On a common misperception about her.


 * I have always been ambitious, no doubt about that. I always felt like I had to reach the dizzy heights of fame and success or whatever the heights are of a number of given professions I have dabbled in, to prove myself, "Stripper of the year" a bafta or whatever, for me it was by creating something interesting and entertaining or moving, but not by compromising the thing I was creating, that thing had to reach those heights, I guess it's about being accepted and loved a bit or a lot.
 * Stella Vine blog, 2006-03-11
 * On ambition and creative drive.


 * The art world is really exactly the same as the sex industry: you have to be completely on guard, you will get shafted, fucked over left, right and centre. And you will also meet charming, wonderful people like a rainbow at the end of the day.
 * In: David Smith, "Art? It's like the sex trade", The Observer, (2006-04-23) : On the art world.


 * I like to watch old films. Meet Me in St Louis, Cul-de-Sac and Buffalo 66 are some of my favourites.
 * Williams-Akoto. "My Home: Stella Vine, artist", The Independent, (2005-11-30)
 * On her favourite films.


 * I hope that whoever stole it, stole it because they loved it, and not because of all the hype.
 * Lomax, Cathy. Lost Kitten, Retrieved 29 January 2009.
 * On the painting Kitten (2004) which was stolen from Vine's solo exhibition Prozac and Private Views at Transition Gallery, London in July 2004.

vulnerability as well as her strength, and the close relationship she had with her sons.
 * I have always been drawn to the beauty and the tragedy of Diana’s life which I hope I’ve captured in this new series of paintings. I wanted to show her
 * Kallaway, Stella Vine's Latest Exhibition Modern Art Oxford, (2007-07-14).
 * On her connection to Diana, Princess of Wales.


 * The freedom is far more important than the money. The endgame is to be an extremely famous artist in lots of museums all around the world so lots of people can see my work for free. I know what I'm making, I know it's good. I will reserve the right to paint the [bombed] bus or anything that is shocking in life. If someone wants to come and shoot me because they find that offensive, they can. As an artist, if you can't take that freedom, you're a wanker.
 * Smith, David. "Art? It's like the sex trade", The Observer, (2006-04-23)
 * On artistic freedom.


 * Books are my one luxury.
 * Williams-Akoto. "My Home: Stella Vine, artist", The Independent, (2005-11-30)
 * On reading.


 * I wanted my work to be seen for free in a public space, I want to be up there with Pollock and de Kooning, one of the big boys.
 * Kennedy, Maev. "Will these tragic celebs bring art a new audience?", "The Guardian" (2007-07-14)


 * I think there is a total equality for me between painting a literary figure or Kate Moss or my Mum or a dog or a bird. To me, they are all absolutely equal.
 * Honigman, Ana Finel. "Stella Vine in conversation with Ana Finel Honigman", Saatchi Gallery (2007-07-25).
 * On the subjects she paints.


 * I like strong/vulnerable interesting women, and then sometimes I like painting beautiful men, like Kurt Cobain, or Mr Darcy.
 * "Stella Vine's The Waltz at Museum of New Art", Detroit Museum of New Art, (2006-09-15.
 * On the subjects she paints.


 * I had been painting Kate Moss for a long time, both before the time of her crisis and during it. I felt very strongly for her - she's a hard-working mum and it seemed as if suddenly the world turned against her. Holy water cannot help you now is painted in very warm pretty colours...
 * Williams-Akoto. "My Home: Stella Vine, artist", The Independent, (2005-11-30)
 * On painting Kate Moss.


 * I'm looking forward to being old, to be able to accept what I am and become self-sufficient. Mid-forties is a good age and it's not too far away.
 * Mansfield, Karl. "The 5-Minute Interview: Stella Vine: 'There have been a few times", The Independent, (2005-11-28)
 * On age.


 * I will look through 200 photographs of Kate Moss and there will be just one that I connect with for some reason, maybe because of the composition or something in the eye... Something touches me and I know I have to paint it, in the way a child knows it wants something.
 * Eyre, Hermione. "Stars in her eyes", The Independent on Sunday (2007-07-15), retrieved from findarticles.com
 * On Kate Moss.


 * I was making very aggressive provocative paintings. Whether the Rachel paintings, or the Diana paintings, I've sensed over the three or four years that I've been in getting press attention, I've sensed that it has not been that long since the woman painter was not allowed in the Royal Academy, and not allowed to paint nude men, and thee is such a huge body of work that men have made, versus the small body of work made by women, that I am not surprised to get this response.
 * Honigman, Ana Finel. "Stella Vine in conversation with Ana Finel Honigman", Saatchi Gallery (2007-07-25).
 * On being a female artist.


 * I would never ever amount to anything without him. That’s what he told me.
 * Billen, Andrew. "I Made More Money As A Stripper...", (2004-06-15)
 * On her ex-husband Charles Thomson.


 * I felt like a social worker a lot of the time.
 * "Debt, Diana and homesickness" The Journal, (2004-06-08)
 * On stripping.


 * I felt I didn't belong to either family.
 * "Debt, Diana and homesickness" The Journal, (2004-06-08)
 * On changing her name to Stella Vine.


 * Perhaps the people I choose to paint are often objects of derision celebrity is a bit of a put-down term, isn't it? But to me they are my world.
 * Eyre, Hermione. "Completing my new show was the only thing that saved me from suicide", The Independent, (2007-07-15)
 * On the celebrities she paints.


 * I was just falling in love right, left and centre with these gorgeous young artists who came in the gallery. They’d see this fat old stripper, this nutter who runs a butcher’s shop that she thinks is an art gallery, and who thinks she’s some artist but hasn’t even been to art school... They probably thought, "Christ, who is this woman who’s texting me 20 times a day?"
 * Catherine Deveney, "Stripped bare", The Scotsman, (2004-03-14)
 * On her life running the Rosy Wilde gallery after her mother's death in 2003.


 * (I) imagined the princess, too scared to use the phone at the palace because she knew it was bugged. So she decides to go out, still wearing her best princess dress, and with her make-up smudged because she’d put it on in a hurry. And I thought she’d have gone to the shops and used a public phone. There’s a whole string of Asian newsagents at that particular place. It’s all very vivid… ‘Hi Paul, can you come over.’
 * Januszczak, Waldemar. "The Paint Stripper", (2007-06-10)
 * On getting into character to paint Princess Diana in the work 'Hi Paul, can you come over...'.


 * When Alexander McQueen bought the Kate Moss painting, she was really being persecuted. I can't remember the exact timing, but I think it was before the cocaine, when she was just having a hard time with Peter. I think that was when he bought that. I was really pleased because he was such a huge supporter of her. It was so terrible what was happening to her.
 * Honigman, Ana Finel. "Stella Vine in conversation with Ana Finel Honigman", Saatchi Gallery (2007-07-25)
 * On her Kate Moss painting bought by fashion designer Alexander McQueen.


 * My working hours are not that conventional. I often get up about two in the morning and do a painting, and then I'll have a bath, and then I often feel very hungry around 4am, so I'll go into Soho and have a meal somewhere like Balans. That's what I love about living here - there's always life around me.
 * Williams-Akoto. "My Home: Stella Vine, artist", The Independent, (2005-11-30)
 * On working in London.


 * On Christmas Day I'll head off for a couple of laps around the Serpentine, or a trek around the whole of Hyde Park. Or I'll walk right across town, with Curtis, my son Jamie's bull mastiff
 * "My Christmas", The Guardian, (2008-12-08).
 * On how she spends Christmas Day.