White Cube is one of the most prominent contemporary commercial art galleries in the world,
In 1999, the Stuckists art group declared themselves "opposed to the sterility of the white wall gallery system", and opened their own gallery (with coloured walls) in an adjoining street..
On another occasion in 2002, while dressed as clowns, they deposited a coffin marked "The Death of Conceptual Art" outside the White Cube's door...
In 2003, Charles Saatchi launched an attack on the concept of the white wall gallery, calling it "antiseptic" and a "time warp ... dictated by museum fashion".
Their group manifesto places great importance on the value of painting as a medium, as well as the use of it for communication and the expression of emotion and experience - as opposed to what they see as the superficial novelty, nihilism and irony of conceptual art and postmodernism.
The most contentious statement in their manifesto is: "Artists who don't paint aren't artists".
In 2000 they gained attention by staging 'The Real Turner Prize Show' at the same time as the Tate Gallery's official version.
