Photographers
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Calum Colvin
Born in Glasgow in 1961, Calum Colvin is one of Scotland's leading contemporary artists. Professor of Fine Art Photography at Dundee University, his works are internationally renowned and widely exhibited.
They are held in numerous prestigious collections, including the Metropolitan Museum of Modern Art, New York, the Museum of Fine Art, Houston, the Victoria and Albert Museum, London, as well as the Scottish National Portrait
Gallery, Edinburgh, and the Gallery of Modern Art in his native Glasgow.
A practitioner of both sculpture and photography, Colvin brings these disciplines together in his unique style of 'constructed photography': assembled tableaux of objects, which are then painted and photographed. His complex compositions are rich in association and spatial ambiguities.
As well as being visually exciting, humorous and intriguing, Colvin's work demonstrates that the art of the past is relevant in a modern society.
Colvin lives and works in Edinburgh.
Artist's Statement
My work over the last twenty years has existed on the boundaries of painting, photography, sculpture and electronic imaging.
I have been referencing images, primarily from the history of painting, to explore ideas concerned with national identity, gender and various aspects of contemporary culture. These images are combined in the processes of construction, painting and photography in order to create a multi-referential artwork.
Much of this work has been concerned with the very process of looking, perceiving and interpreting. The potential meanings of any individual piece being intrinsically linked to the viewer’s personal deconstruction of the photograph.
In this respect I have made a point of utilising the unique fixed-point perspective of the camera to collect the manipulated and constructed image in order to create elaborate narratives. These narratives have the quality of being both open and closed. They are closed in that they clearly refer to given icons and archetypes of Western culture, but open in that they accommodate any number of potential readings. These readings, in turn, reflect the contemporary cultural climate and the unique authorial role of the viewer.
Computer manipulation of photographic imagery has been another feature of my work over the last nine years.
I have been exploring the potential of the computer to facilitate believable, yet fantastical scenarios. This has extended the core technique of my constructed photographic images.
More recently, I have been experimenting with stereoscopic photography, delving into ideas and themes related to areas as diverse as history, portraiture, identity, religion/belief as well as photography and visual psychology.
They are held in numerous prestigious collections, including the Metropolitan Museum of Modern Art, New York, the Museum of Fine Art, Houston, the Victoria and Albert Museum, London, as well as the Scottish National Portrait
Gallery, Edinburgh, and the Gallery of Modern Art in his native Glasgow.
A practitioner of both sculpture and photography, Colvin brings these disciplines together in his unique style of 'constructed photography': assembled tableaux of objects, which are then painted and photographed. His complex compositions are rich in association and spatial ambiguities.
As well as being visually exciting, humorous and intriguing, Colvin's work demonstrates that the art of the past is relevant in a modern society.
Colvin lives and works in Edinburgh.
Artist's Statement
My work over the last twenty years has existed on the boundaries of painting, photography, sculpture and electronic imaging.
I have been referencing images, primarily from the history of painting, to explore ideas concerned with national identity, gender and various aspects of contemporary culture. These images are combined in the processes of construction, painting and photography in order to create a multi-referential artwork.
Much of this work has been concerned with the very process of looking, perceiving and interpreting. The potential meanings of any individual piece being intrinsically linked to the viewer’s personal deconstruction of the photograph.
In this respect I have made a point of utilising the unique fixed-point perspective of the camera to collect the manipulated and constructed image in order to create elaborate narratives. These narratives have the quality of being both open and closed. They are closed in that they clearly refer to given icons and archetypes of Western culture, but open in that they accommodate any number of potential readings. These readings, in turn, reflect the contemporary cultural climate and the unique authorial role of the viewer.
Computer manipulation of photographic imagery has been another feature of my work over the last nine years.
I have been exploring the potential of the computer to facilitate believable, yet fantastical scenarios. This has extended the core technique of my constructed photographic images.
More recently, I have been experimenting with stereoscopic photography, delving into ideas and themes related to areas as diverse as history, portraiture, identity, religion/belief as well as photography and visual psychology.
