Colin Campbell (artist)


Colin Campbell was a pioneering Canadian video artist.

Life

Colin Campbell was born in Reston, Manitoba, 1942. Based in Toronto since 1973, Campbell produced over 45 tapes. He received his BFA from the University of Manitoba and his MFA from Claremont Graduate School, California. Campbell's first academic position was at Mount Allison University, 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 and later in the Department of Fine Art at the University of Toronto. Campbell was active in the artist-run centre movement and was a founding member of Vtape. He was active as a curator and a producer of artists' books.
Campbell saw himself as bisexual and bigendered.
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, 1980 Venice Biennale and 1992 Istanbul Biennale. In 1990 the Winnipeg Art Gallery organized a national touring retrospective of his videotapes. His first film, Skin, premiered at the Festival of Festivals in 1991. In 2008, Oakville Galleries held a retrospective exhibition of Campbell's work.

Awards

Campbell was awarded the Bell Canada Award in Video Art in 1996.

Select videography