video artist
Video art is an art form which relies on using video technology as a visual and audio medium. Video art emerged during the late 1960s as new consumer video technology such as video tape recorders became available outside corporate broadcasting. ...
.
Life
Colin Campbell was born in
Reston, Manitoba
Reston is an unincorporated community recognized as a local urban district in southwestern Manitoba, located near the border of Saskatchewan on the west and North Dakota on the south. It is the largest community in the Rural Municipality of Pipest ...
, 1942. Based in
Toronto
Toronto ( ; or ) is the capital city of the Canadian province of Ontario. With a recorded population of 2,794,356 in 2021, it is the most populous city in Canada and the fourth most populous city in North America. The city is the ancho ...
since 1973, Campbell produced over 45 tapes. He received his BFA from the
University of Manitoba
The University of Manitoba (U of M, UManitoba, or UM) is a Canadian public research university in the province of Manitoba.MFA from
Claremont Graduate School
The Claremont Graduate University (CGU) is a private, all-graduate research university in Claremont, California. Founded in 1925, CGU is a member of the Claremont Colleges which includes five undergraduate ( Pomona College, Claremont McKenna C ...
, California. Campbell's first academic position was at
Mount Allison University
Mount Allison University (also Mount A or MtA) is a Canadian primarily undergraduate liberal arts university located in Sackville, New Brunswick, founded in 1839.
Like other liberal arts colleges in North America, Mount Allison does not parti ...
, Sackville, New Brunswick, the subject of his video ''Sackville, I'm Yours''. Campbell moved to Toronto in 1973, where he taught at the
Ontario College of Art
Ontario College of Art & Design University, commonly known as OCAD University or OCAD, is a public art university located in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. The university's main campus is spread throughout several buildings and facilities within d ...
and later (from 1980) in the Department of Fine Art at the
University of Toronto
The University of Toronto (UToronto or U of T) is a public research university in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, located on the grounds that surround Queen's Park. It was founded by royal charter in 1827 as King's College, the first institution ...
. Campbell was active in the
artist-run centre
An artist-run space or artist-run centre (Canada) is a gallery or other facility operated or directed by artists, frequently circumventing the structures of public art centers, museums, or commercial galleries and allowing for a more experimental ...
movement and was a founding member of
Vtape Vtape is a Canadian artist-run centre located in Toronto, Ontario. It is Canada's largest distributor of video art, and the world's largest distributor of Indigenous and First People's film and video. The organization is run as a not for profit a ...
. He was active as a curator and a producer of artists' books.
Campbell saw himself as bisexual and bigendered."A truly queer network, Video artist Colin Campbell & Toronto's fruitful art scene" , Kathleen Mullen, accessed January 1, 2009
Colin Campbell died of cancer on October 31, 2001, in Toronto.
Work
Campbell's work has been exhibited internationally since the mid-1970s, including the 1977
São Paulo Biennale
SAO or Sao may refer to:
Places
* Sao civilisation, in Middle Africa from 6th century BC to 16th century AD
* Sao, a town in Boussé Department, Burkina Faso
* Saco Transportation Center (station code SAO), a train station in Saco, Maine, U.S. ...
, 1980
Venice Biennale
The Venice Biennale (; it, La Biennale di Venezia) is an international cultural exhibition hosted annually in Venice, Italy by the Biennale Foundation. The biennale has been organised every year since 1895, which makes it the oldest of ...
and 1992
Istanbul Biennale
The Istanbul Biennial is a contemporary art exhibition that has been held biennially in Istanbul, Turkey, since 1987. The Biennial has been organised by the Istanbul Foundation for Culture and Arts (IKSV) since its inception. Format
Istanbul Bien ...
. In 1990 the
Winnipeg Art Gallery
The Winnipeg Art Gallery (WAG) is an art museum in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada. Its permanent collection includes over 24,000 works from Canadian, Indigenous Canadian, and international artists. The museum also holds the world's largest collect ...
organized a national touring retrospective of his videotapes (1972–90). His first film, ''Skin'', premiered at the Festival of Festivals (
Toronto International Film Festival
The Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF, often stylized as tiff) is one of the largest publicly attended film festivals in the world, attracting over 480,000 people annually. Since its founding in 1976, TIFF has grown to become a permane ...
) in 1991. In 2008, Oakville Galleries held a
retrospective
A retrospective (from Latin ''retrospectare'', "look back"), generally, is a look back at events that took place, or works that were produced, in the past. As a noun, ''retrospective'' has specific meanings in medicine, software development, popu ...
exhibition of Campbell's work.
Awards
Campbell was awarded the Bell Canada Award in Video Art in 1996.
Select videography
* ''Sackville, I'm Yours'' (1972)
* ''Janus'' (1973)
* ''The Woman From Malibu'' (1976)
* ''Modern Love'' (1978)
* ''Bad Girls'' (1980)
* ''White Money'' (1983)
* ''The Woman Who Went too Far'' (1984)
* ''Bennies from Heaven'' (1986)
* ''No Voice Over'' (1986)
* ''Black and Light'' (1987)
* ''Fiddle Faddle'' (1988)
* ''Rendez-vous'' (1991)
* ''Invention'' (1993)