Petersburg Press

On his arrival on the art world stage in London in 1965 Colin Self was hailed as an artist of outstanding talent confirmed by his first one man show at the Piccadilly Gallery and subsequently at the influential Robert Fraser Gallery. Born in 1941 in Norfolk, England his formative years were spent in the proximity of British and American military camps contesting the Luftwaffe or bombing German bases in the Ruhr. While others of the Pop generation celebrated modern consumer culture, Self frequently addressed the darker side of the swinging sixties, in particular the threat of annihilation by nuclear weapons. Arguably he is the artist whose work articulated most poignantly the anxiety felt by many, a kind of paranoia of war. William Faulkner had shown the way when he asked the question “when will we be blown up” in his acceptance speech for the 1950 Nobel Prize. Think of the Nevil Shute book “On the Beach” 1952 and Stanley Kubrick film “Dr. Strangelove” 1964.

Self’s meticulously executed studies lead Richard Hamilton to call him ”the best draughtsman in England since William Blake”. Beautifully rendered drawings of art deco cinema interiors, sofas, hot dogs, grotesque women in fallout shelters or glamorous women from Vogue with bomber aircraft ominously in the skies above, snarling dogs on missile bases guarding planes with surreal references to predatory animals and phallic threat.

To quote the artist: “I became aware of Gustav Metzger and his auto-destructive art of the 1950’s only recently so I can’t claim to be the only one involved. Kienholz and Lichtenstein were about the Korean War and Rosenquist came later. But I was struggling to find a place for a subversive, post nuclear human soul for art in this new world that could be struck dumb and senseless at the press of a button. Gustav was almost in the world of non-being where he would destroy the artwork itself: whereas I am an object maker. My dad was a maker of fine furniture. I like the object, I like the thing, I have to have the artifact. I’m anti conceptual art, all worked out but taking the emotion of the moment.”

Recent exhibitions include “Colin Self” Tate, London 1997 focused on holdings in their collection; “Pop Impressions: Europe/USA ” MoMA, New York 1999; “Art & the 60’s: This was Tomorrow” Tate, London 2004; and “Colin Self: Art in the Nuclear Age” (PDF), a retrospective exhibition curated by Simon Martin at the Pallant House Gallery, Chichester 2008, the most thorough study of the artist’s work to date, with accompanying catalogue.

Typical comments from enthused visitors:

“Provocative and inventive, a great image maker”
“Drawings fantastic, imaginative, brilliant”
“I wish I had discovered this man earlier – you make us think through our eyes”
“He represents life through so much expression and emotion”

As a graphic artist, Self has been an innovator using images from a variety of sources. His multiple plate prints of bombers in 1963; the “Power and Beauty” screenprints 1968 and etchings “Prelude to 1000 Temporary Objects of our Time” 1970-71 (Editions Alecto); followed by his personal ongoing journey in the “Odyssey Iliad Suite” of multiple plate etchings (2001-2009) printed with Linda Richardson; presently “Springs Fireplace Road" (working title) 2008-2009 printed with Maurice Payne (Petersburg Press).