The White Pube

The White Pube is the collaborative identity of writers and curators Gabrielle de la Puente and Zarina Muhammad.[1] They have been described as “one of the first truly new voices in British art criticism in the twenty-first century”.[2]

The White Pube
Named afterWhite cube galleries
Formation2015 (2015)
FoundersGabrielle de la Puente
Zarina Muhammad
FieldsArt criticism
Art grants
Websitethewhitepube.co.uk

The pair met in 2013 on the BA Fine Art Course at Central St Martins[3] and out of frustration with “white people, white walls and white wine”,[4] began to publish reviews, essays and social media posts to challenge the art world's lack of representation and accessibility and to redefine what is deemed worthy of aesthetic attention.[5] Their subjective[6] and personal approach to art writing has been labelled “embodied criticism” and incorporates emotional responses and overtly political analysis of artworks in an informal yet stylistically innovative style.[2][7]

Their curatorial work includes “Zayn Malik Zindabad”, a screening of moving image art by artists in the South Asian diaspora and “The Leaf of Pablo” at Hutt Collective, Nottingham.[4] The White Pube website hosts monthly online residencies with artists from marginalised identities.[5]

Since 2017, Muhammed and De la Puente have published their financial accounts on their website in an effort to help create transparency around industry pay.[5]

In 2020, The White Pube received media attention for alleging institutional racism at Tate, the British art museum. They published social media posts focusing on the gallery network's ongoing relationship with Anthony d’Offay[8] and the display of a mural by Rex Whistler containing imagery in one of its restaurants that they perceived as racist.[9][10][11]

Since 2020, The White Pube have run a monthly Writers Grant to support early career working class writers.[12]

In 2021, The White Pube wrote a manifesto for a fairer art world. It was displayed as a series called 'ideas for a new art world'[13] and featured on billboards across London and Liverpool. It includes suggestions such as, “Universal Basic Income and affordable housing so that everyone, including artists, can make a living” and “Curators should ask the public to see what they think galleries and museums should be used for’ and ‘dear museums, give back all stolen objects”, among others.[14][15][16]

References
  1. Ruigrok, Sophie (17 May 2018). "The White Pube are the world's freshest, funniest art critics". dazeddigital.com. Dazed. Retrieved 26 July 2020.
  2. Quaintance, Morgan (2 October 2017). "The New Conservatism: Complicity and the UK Art World's Performance of Progression". e-flux.com. e-flux. Retrieved 26 July 2020. In criticism Gabrielle de la Puente and Zarina Muhammad's website 'The White Pube' presents one of the first truly new voices in British art criticism in the twenty–first century, and most importantly its writers have risen to prominence without the help or patronage of Art Review, Art Monthly, Frieze, or any of the other publication or established platforms in the UK. Informal yet stylistically innovative, art historically rigorous without the staid academicism or florid pomposity of much established writing, the pair's mix of reviews, essays, podcasts, and social media posts are bound together with a singular critical voice grappling with contemporary issues of race, gender, sexuality, aesthetics and ethics.
  3. Goh, Katie (12 June 2018). "The White Pube: meet the emoji-using art critics who hate art criticism". The Guardian. London. Retrieved 26 July 2020.
  4. Randhawa, Simran (6 January 2017). "The White Pube: resuscitating art criticism". gal-dem.com. gal-dem. Retrieved 26 July 2020.
  5. Grady, Kitty (8 March 2020). "Meet The White Pube, The Diet Prada Of The Art World". vogue.co.uk. Vogue. Retrieved 26 July 2020.
  6. SSENSE (2018-07-30). "Art Criticism's New School: Meet the White Pube". ssense.
  7. "The Art Newspaper at 30: how has art criticism changed in the digital age?". www.theartnewspaper.com.
  8. Quinn, Bewn (26 July 2020). "Tate faces protests over impact of job cuts on BAME staff". The Guardian. London. Retrieved 26 July 2020.
  9. Brown, Kate (4 August 2020). "Tate Britain Has Responded to Backlash Over a Mural of Enslaved Children at Its Restaurant With a Statement Acknowledging Its History". artnet.com. Artnet. Retrieved 4 August 2020.
  10. "Protesters Launch Petition to Remove Tate Britain's Racist Mural". Observer. 2020-08-05.
  11. Thomson, Hugh. "The curious cancellation of the Rex Whistler restaurant". Spectator.co.uk. The Spectator. Retrieved 30 May 2021.
  12. "Apply for The White Pube & Creative Debut's Monthly Writers Grant". BRICKS Magazine.
  13. "The White Pube | ideas for a new art world". the-white-pube.
  14. Dazed. "The White Pube's billboard campaign skewers art world inequalities". Dazed.
  15. "'Remove racist paintings' and 'give back stolen objects': The White Pube takes its manifesto to the streets". www.theartnewspaper.com.
  16. Prescott, Emily (2021-01-29). "Londoner's Diary: Mental health of fellow musicians in pandemic worries me, says Arlo Parks". www.standard.co.uk.
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