Colin Campbell
Colin Campbell was born in Reston, Manitoba in 1942. He gained his Bachelor of Fine Arts Degree from the University of Manitoba in Winnipeg in 1966 and his Masters of Fine Art degree from Claremont Graduate School in California in 1969. After completing his education, he returned to Canada to teach at Mount Allison University in Sackville, New Brunswick, where he stayed until 1972 – a watershed year in Campbell’s artistic development. As one of the pioneers of video art in Canada, Toronto based artist Colin Campbell has had an international career that parallels the development of video art. Originally a sculptor, Campbell was first introduced to video in 1972, as the technology was beginning to emerge. “For me, video’s appeal lay in its potential for theatricality, performance and narrative,” said Campbell in Now Magazine. “The first subject of those things was myself. Gradually I started to turn the camera outward, developing characters and personae much different from my own.” Campbell avoids slick television style video production in favour of his highly developed grass roots style, which Bruce Ferguson has called the “aesthetics of poverty.” Campbell’s narratives explore gender-bending scenarios, rich with humour and pathos. In his exploration of gender stereotypes, Campbell has consistently kept to informal styles and scripts, cheap and homespun sets, and a cast often made up of himself and friends, including Ferguson, artists Johanna Householder and Tanya Mars, and fellow video veteran Lisa Steele. His approach was perhaps best described by Adele Freedman in Toronto Life: “Campbell is the kind of romantic who can sense tragic potential in a package of Kraft dinner.”
Zero Patience
as uncreditedThe ghost of "patient zero", who allegedly first brought AIDS to North America - materialises...
Movie pageSackville, I'm Yours
as uncreditedAn amusing portrait of an Art Star, toughing it out in rural New Brunswick, Canada.
Movie pageBad Girls
as uncreditedA sequel to Modern Love, Bad Girls chronicles the rise and fall of Robin and Heide at the Cabana...
Movie pageSay Cheese for a Trans-Canadian Look
as selfLuc Bourdon, Marc Paradis and Simon B. Robert are curators for a selection of Canadian video to...
Movie pageModern Love
as uncreditedModern Love is the story of Xerox operator, Robin, who falls in love with a sleazy show business...
Movie pageMoscow Does Not Believe in Queers
as uncreditedDocumentary about the ten days the director spent in Moscow, during the 1986 Moscow Youth...
Movie pageBlack and Light
as uncreditedThe two central characters are breaking up. Moira flees to Paris; Stan goes up north with gay...
Movie pageI'm a Voyeur
as uncreditedAn ironic flip/flop between voyeur/exhibitionist tendencies, where the subject is the...
Movie pageDangling by Their Mouths
as AnnaA 60 minute tape that tells in flash-form the story of a European critic and her relationship...
Movie page