My work over the last fifteen years has existed on the boundaries of Painting, Photography, Sculpture and Electronic Imaging. I have been referencing images, primarily from the History of Painting, to explore ideas concerned with national identity, sexuality and various aspects of contemporary culture. These images are combined in the processes of construction, painting and photography in order to create a multi-referential artwork. Much of this work has been concerned with the very process of looking, perceiving and interpreting. The potential meanings of any individual piece being intrinsically linked to the viewers personal deconstruction of the photograph. In this respect I have made a point of utilising the unique fixed point perspective of the camera to collect the manipulated and constructed image in order to create elaborate narratives. These narratives have the quality of being both open and closed. They are closed in that they clearly refer to given icons and archetypes of Western culture, but open in that they accommodate any number of potential readings. These readings, in turn, reflect the contemporary cultural climate and the unique authorial role of the viewer.

Computer manipulation of photographic imagery has been a key feature of my work over the last nine years. I have been exploring the potential of the computer to facilitate believable, yet fantastical scenarios. This has extended the core technique of my constructed photographic images. More recently, I have used the computer in order to develop the creative narrative of my imagery, cross-referencing details and symbolic elements throughout series of works.

Art Education:

1979:1983
Duncan of Jordanstone College of Art, Dundee Diploma in Sculpture

1983:1985
Royal College of Art, London MA in Photography

Selected Individual Exhibitions:

1989:
California State University,Long Beach,California
Friedman-Guinness Gallery,Frankfurt
Salama Caro Gallery, London
Pier Arts Centre,Stromness,Orkney
Harris Museum and Art Gallery,Preston
Portfolio Gallery,Edinburgh

1990:
'Brief Encounter' Fruitmarket Gallery,Edinburgh
Haggerty Museum, Milwaukee, Wisconsin
Glenn/Dash Gallery, Los Angeles
Torch Gallery,Amsterdam
Aberdeen Art Gallery

1991:
'The Two Ways of Life' Art Institute of Chicago
Salama Caro Gallery,London

1992:
San Francisco Museum of Modern Art
Nickle Arts Museum,Calgary
Winnipeg Art Gallery.

1993:
'The Seven Deadly Sins and the Four Last Things' Portfolio Gallery, Edinburgh; Badischer Kunstverein, Karlsruhe; Photographers Gallery, London;
Photosynkyria, Thessalonki, Greece

1994:
Norwich Arts Centre
BM Contemporary Art Center,Istanbul
Banco Central Art Gallery, Quenca, Ecuador
British Council, Quito, Ecuador
Royal Photographic Society, Bath
Seagate Gallery, Dundee
Photography Centre of Athens

1995:
Unlikely Stories' Kulturhuset, Stockholm
Photographic Museum of Finland, Helsinki

1996:
'Ornithology' Jason and Rhodes Gallery, London
'Pseudologica Fantastica' Impressions Gallery, York

1997:
Focal Point Gallery, Southend -on -Sea
Portfolio Gallery, Edinburgh
Theatr Clwyd, Mold, Wales

1998:
Primavera Festival, Barcelona
University of Salamanca
Columbus State University, Columbus, Georgia
'Sacred and Profane' Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art, Edinburgh

1998:
Kawasaki City Museum, Japan
Centre Cultural Caixa de Terassa, Barcelona
University of Salamanca
Centro de Arte Contemporaneo, Seville
Columbus State University, Columbus, Georgia
'Calum Colvin's in Hospital', St Johns Gallery, Livingston;
The Pelican Gallery; Royal Infirmary of Edinburgh
The Link Gallery, Royal Edinburgh Hospital
'Sacred and Profane' Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art, Edinburgh
National Machado de Castro Museum, Coimbra, Portugal

1999:
Viewpoint Gallery, Salford, Manchester
Leeds Metropolitan University Gallery
Martha Schneider Gallery, Chicago

2000:
Piece Hall Gallery, Halifax
The Meffan Institute, Forfar

2002:
'Ossian: Fragments of Ancient Poetry' Scottish National Portrait Gallery, Edinburgh; Iona Gallery, Kingussie; Swanson Gallery, Thurso; An Tuireann, Skye; Timespan, Helmsdale; St Fergus Gallery, Wick; Inverness Museum and Art Gallery; Birnam Institute, Dunkeld; Gracefield Arts Centre, Dumfries; Festival de Musique de Beaulieu-sur-Mer, Beaulieu, France (2005); UNESCO, Paris (2005).

2003:
‘Fragments’ Edinburgh Printmakers; Peacock Printmakers, Aberdeen.

2004:
'Calum Colvin' Open Eye Gallery, Edinburgh; Browns Gallery, Tain. 

Selected Group Exhibitions:

1989:
'Through the Looking Glass, Photographic Art in Britain 1945-89' Barbican Art Gallery, London
'Towards a Bigger Picture' Victoria and Albert Museum, London
'Machine Dreams' Photographers Gallery, London
'Das Konstruiert °e Bild' Kunstverein, Munich

1990:
Fotofest, Houston
'New Scottish Photography, Scottish National Portrait Gallery,Edinburgh
'Photography on Site' (Calum Colvin + Ron O'Donnel),California State University

1991:
'De Composition' Chapter Arts Centre,Cardiff

1992:
'A Decade of Fine Art' Dundee Museum
'Addressing the Forbidden' Art Gallery,Brighton Polytechnic
'La Photographie Britannique' Arles

1993:
Portfolio Gallery, Edinburgh

1994:
'An American Passion' McLellan Galleries, Glasgow
'Elvis + Marilyn:2 x Immortal' Institute of Contemporary art, Boston
'Revisions' Kulturreferat Der Landeshaupstradt, Munich

1995:
'Light From a Dark Room' Royal Scottish Academy, Edinburgh

1996:
'Photography after Photography' Aktionsforum Praterinsel, Munich

1997:
'Body Politic' Wolverhampton Art Gallery and Derby Art Gallery (1998)
'History: the Mag Collection' Ferens Museum, Hull; Fruitmarket Gallery, Edinburgh.
'On The Bright Side of Life - Contemporary British Photography' NGBK, Berlin; Kunstverein, Karlsruhe.

1999:
'Scotland's Art' City Art Centre, Edinburgh

2000:
'Expressions, Scottish Art 1976-1989' Aberdeen Art Gallery; Dundee Contemporary Arts
'100 Years of Scottish Prints' Edinburgh Printmakers
'Fusion: The Rhodes+Mann inaugural' Rhodes+Mann Gallery, London
'Writers of Our Time' Scottish National Portrait Gallery
‘Optical Delusions: Jokes, Puns, and Sleights-of-Hand in Photography’ Art Institute of Chicago.

2001:
‘Narcissus- 20th Century Self Portraits’ Scottish National Portrait Gallery, Edinburgh.
‘Stilll Lifes and Portraits from the Manfred Heiting Collection’ Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam.
‘True Fictions’ Bad Arolsen, nr Kassel, Germany; Ludwig Forum für Internationale Kunst, Aachen (2002); Kunstverein, Lingen.
‘Can You Judge a Book by its Cover?’ Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art, Edinburgh.
‘The Art of Photography’ Scottish National Portrait Gallery, Edinburgh.

2002:
‘Scotland Calls – 20th Century Scottish Photography’ Boston Public Library.
‘Seeing Things:Photographing Objects ,1850-2001’ Canon Photography Gallery, V&A Museum, London.

2003:
‘Figurative Fine Art Photography’ Michael Nagy Fine Art Gallery, Woollahra, NSW Australia.

2004:
‘New Associates’ RSA, Edinburgh.

2005:
'Venus Rising'  Inverness Museum and Art Gallery; The Burrell Collection; Laing Art Gallery, Newcastle.
'Dr Skin'Perth Museum. 

Collections:

Victoria and Albert Museum, London
Metropolitan Museum of Modern Art, New York
Scottish National Portrait Gallery, Edinburgh
Scottish Arts Council
Dundee Museum
The British Council
Museum of Modern Art, Edinburgh
Royal Photographic Society, Bath
Arnolfini Collection Trust, Bristol
Contemporary Art Society, London
Museum of Fine Art, Houston
Harris Museum and Art Gallery, Preston
Ferens Museum, Hull
Art Institute of Chicago
Gallery of Modern Art, Glasgow
Aberdeen Art Gallery
City Art Centre, Edinburgh
Columbus University, Georgia
Boswell Collection, University of St Andrews

Selected Bibliography:

1989:
'Through the Looking Glass' exhibition catalogue, Sarah Kent,Barbican Art Gallery

1990:
'Calum Colvin' exhibition catalogue, David Alan Mellor, Fruitmarket Gallery
'New Scottish Photography' exhibition catalogue,David Brittain and Sara Stevenson, National Galleries of Scotland

1991:
'The Two Ways of Life' exhibition catalogue,Colin Westerbeck and David Alan Mellor, Art Institute of Chicago

1993:
'The Seven Deadly Sins and the Four Last Things' exhibition catalogue, Tom Normand, Portfolio Gallery
'Scottish Painting' Bill Hare, Talbot Rice Gallery, Edinburgh
'The Two Ways of Life and Other Photographic Works' exhibition catalogue, Dr. Andreas Vowinckel, Badischer Kunstverein, Karlsruhe

1994:
'Revisions' Ulrich Pohlmann,Sara Stevenson,James Lawson , Nazraeli Press, Munich

1995:
'Light from the Darkroom' exhibition catalogue,National Galleries of Scotland
Transcript no.1,interview with Tom Normand,Duncan of Jordanstone College, Dundee

1996:
'Photography after Photography' exhibition catalogue, Alexis Cassel, G+B Arts, Munich
Portfolio no. 24 , David Alan Mellor,Portfolio Gallery
'On The Bright Side of Life' exhibition catalogue,David Alan Mellor, NGBK, Berlin

1997:
'Story of Photography' Micheal Langford, Focal Press

1998:
'Sacred and Profane'exhibition catalogue, James Lawson, National Galleries of Scotland.
'Studies in Photography' 1998 'The Alchemical Canvas' SSHOP Annual Photographers Lecture 1997.

1999:
'A Companion Guide to the Scottish National Portrait Gallery' National Galleries
of Scotland
'Scotland's Art' City of Edinburgh Museums and Galleries
'Scottish Art' Duncan Macmillan, Mainstream
'History of Scottish Art' Murdo MacDonald , Thames & Hudson

2001:
‘A Companion Guide to Photography in the National Galleries of Scotland’, National Galleries of Scotland.
‘Still Lifes & Portraits’ Mattie Boom, Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam

2002:
‘Ossian Fragments of Ancient Poetry’, Full colour 64 page catalogue published by The National Galleries of Scotland, text by Tom Normand.
'Leabhar Mor Na Gaidhlig / Great Book of Gaelic'. Malcolm Maclean and Theo Dorgan. Canongate Books, Edinburgh 2002.
'Tableaux Choisis - La Photographie Contemporaine' Christian Gattinoni and Yannick Vigouroux, Editions Scala, Paris

2003:
'Canova Psyche ranimee par le baiser de l'Amour' Isabelle Leroy-Jay Lemaistre. Louvre Publications, Paris.
'Zombis, Castrados, Mantis Y Deformes, Notas Para una Exploracion de la Postfotografia (the confluence of the fantastic, the real and the sinister in the art of Calum Colvin, Jeff Wall and Inez van Lamsweerde)' Pilar Gonzalez Prieto, Association Murciana de Criticos de Arte.
'2nd Triennale Internazionale D'Incisione' Exhibition catalogue, ed. Marianna Ferrero, Citta di Chieri .

2004:
'Antike und Gegenwart, Daphne. Narcissus. Pygmalion' Rudolf Hennebohl, pub. C.C. Buchners Verlag, Bamberg.
'Things, A Spectrum of Photography 1850-2001' Mark Haworth-Booth, V&A/Jonathan Cape.
The Reception of Ossian in Europe, Howard Gaskill, ed. London.

Awards:

1983:
SED Travelling Fellowship

1985:
KJP Photographic Award

1986:
Prizewinner, 'Young European Photographer of the Year Award'

1987:
The Photographers Gallery 'Brandt Award'

1989:
Royal Photographic Society Gold Medal

1997:
The 13th Higashikawa Overseas Photographer Prize

2000:
SAC/National Lottery Creative Scotland Award
Leverhulme Trust Research Fellowship

2001:
Awarded OBE for contribution to the Visual Arts

2002:
Carnegie Trust Award

2003:
University of Dundee Interdisciplinary Research Award.
Critics Award for Theatre in Scotland (Set Design) ‘Breathing House’ Royal Lyceum Theatre.

2004:
Associate of the Royal Scottish Academy.

1995/96:
Research Fellow in Digital Imaging, University of Northumbria

Currently
Professor of Fine Art Photography, University of Dundee