Artist thrown out of studio for not being there often enough

Angry: artist Madeleine Strindberg in the Bow studio she is being made to leave
12 April 2012

An award-winning artist has been evicted from the studio where she has worked for 25 years after trustees claimed she didn't spend enough time there.

Madeleine Strindberg, who is in her fifties, was forced to pack up her art space at Chisenhale Studios in Bow despite having been a tenant for a quarter of a century.

She is one of three artists who the Art Place Trust has asked to vacate their studio. Ms Strindberg, who won the Jerwood Painting Prize in 1998, is best known for large painting-based installations exploring the notion of conflict. She suffers from multiple sclerosis.

She claims that she is being forced out to make room for another artist despite spending more than two days a week on average painting at the studio.

The German-born artist, who has lived in London for most of her life, said: "I just could not believe the cruelty and callousness of people I had thought of as my friends, of a place that's meant to be a charity betraying the very reason for its existence."

She added: "The eviction order puts me in a desperate situation. It is against the rules set by Art Place Trust and it could also set a terrible precedent particularly in times when things are getting so tough."

A letter from the studio trustees to Ms Strindberg said a decision had been taken to "terminate" the licences of members who were not "sufficiently contributing" to the charity's objectives.

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