Calum Colvin (born

Glasgow Glasgow ( ; sco, Glesca or ; gd, Glaschu ) is the most populous city in Scotland and the fourth-most populous city in the United Kingdom, as well as being the 27th largest city by population in Europe. In 2020, it had an estimated popul ...

, 1961) is a

Scottish art Scottish art is the body of visual art made in what is now Scotland, or about Scottish subjects, since prehistoric times. It forms a distinctive tradition within European art, but the political union with England has led its partial subsumation ...

ist whose work combines

photography Photography is the art, application, and practice of creating durable images by recording light, either electronically by means of an image sensor, or chemically by means of a light-sensitive material such as photographic film. It is employed ...

, painting, and installation, and often deals with issues of Scottish identity and culture and with the history of art. He has had solo exhibitions at the Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art, Scottish National Portrait Gallery, and

Royal Scottish Academy The Royal Scottish Academy (RSA) is the country’s national academy of art. It promotes contemporary Scottish art. The Academy was founded in 1826 by eleven artists meeting in Edinburgh. Originally named the Scottish Academy, it became the ...

and has a number of works in the collections of the National Galleries of Scotland, Tate Galleries, and the British Council. He is also Professor of Fine Art Photography and Programme Director, Art & Media at Duncan of Jordanstone College of Art and Design, part of the University of Dundee.

Life and work

Colvin studied at

Duncan of Jordanstone College of Art Duncan of Jordanstone College of Art & Design (DJCAD) is part of the University of Dundee in Dundee, Scotland. It is ranked as one of the top schools of art and design in the United Kingdom. History Attempts were made to establish an art schoo ...

, Dundee from 1979 to 1983, gaining a diploma in sculpture, and at the Royal College of Art, London from 1983 to 1985, where he was awarded an MA in photography. His art generally involves taking a roomful of objects and painting a design on them so that when seen from one particular viewpoint it appears to form a flat image in a '' trompe-l'œil'' style. However, when seen from any other viewpoint the illusion would be broken. Colvin then takes photographs of the room from the particular viewpoint that preserves the illusion and exhibits the photograph. This means that at first glance the viewer thinks they see a flat image and only gradually can pick out the details revealing they are seeing a three-dimensional scene. His images are full of bright colours, and he initially worked with the

Cibachrome Ilfochrome (also commonly known as Cibachrome) is a dye destruction positive-to-positive photographic process used for the reproduction of film transparencies on photographic paper. The prints are made on a dimensionally stable polyester base as ...

colour process, commonly used in advertising and commercial photography. His exhibition ''Ossian Fragments of Ancient Poetry'' (2002) was inspired by James Macpherson's fraudulent works attributed to the ancient Celtic poet

Ossian Ossian (; Irish Gaelic/Scottish Gaelic: ''Oisean'') is the narrator and purported author of a cycle of epic poems published by the Scottish poet James Macpherson, originally as ''Fingal'' (1761) and ''Temora'' (1763), and later combined under t ...

. His exhibition ''Natural Magic'' (2009), took its title from

David Brewster Sir David Brewster KH PRSE FRS FSA Scot FSSA MICE (11 December 178110 February 1868) was a British scientist, inventor, author, and academic administrator. In science he is principally remembered for his experimental work in physical optics ...

's ''Letters on Natural Magic''; Brewster pioneered photography in Scotland as well as inventing the kaleidoscope and other optical devices. Colvin played with ideas about illusions and vision, including examining claims that Renaissance artist Jacopo Chimenti had invented stereoscopic images. The exhibition received a five star review from ''The Scotsman''.

Exhibitions

*''The Seven Deadly Sins and the Four Last Things,'' 1993. Inspired by Hieronymous Bosch. *''Sacred and Profane,'' Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art, 1998 *''Ossian Fragments of Ancient Poetry,'' Scottish National Portrait Gallery, 2002 *''Natural Magic,'' Royal Scottish Academy, 2009 *''Burnsiana,'' 2013. Exhibition and book produced in collaboration with poet Rab Wilson.

Permanent collections

Colvin's work is held in the following permanent collections: *National Galleries of Scotland collection, including a portrait of composer James MacMillan and versions of

Peter Paul Rubens Sir Peter Paul Rubens (; ; 28 June 1577 – 30 May 1640) was a Flemish artist and diplomat from the Duchy of Brabant in the Southern Netherlands (modern-day Belgium). He is considered the most influential artist of the Flemish Baroque traditio ...

's The Feast of Herod and

Titian Tiziano Vecelli or Vecellio (; 27 August 1576), known in English as Titian ( ), was an Italians, Italian (Republic of Venice, Venetian) painter of the Renaissance, considered the most important member of the 16th-century Venetian school (art), ...

Venus Anadyomene Venus Anadyomene (from Greek, "Venus Rising From the Sea") is one of the iconic representations of the goddess Venus (Aphrodite), made famous in a much-admired painting by Apelles, now lost, but described in Pliny's ''Natural History'', with t ...

. *British Council *Tate Galleries.

Awards

*Member of the Royal Scottish Academy *

OBE The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding contributions to the arts and sciences, work with charitable and welfare organisations, and public service outside the civil service. It was established o ...

, 2001, for his contribution to the visual arts

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Colvin, Calum Scottish artists 1961 births Academics of the University of Dundee Alumni of the University of Dundee Officers of the Order of the British Empire Living people Alumni of Duncan of Jordanstone College of Art & Design