Colin Self Biography

Colin Self was born in Norwich in Norfolk, England in 1941. Self’s early years were spent there in a community of 1930s bungalows. Nearby was the RAF Horsham St Faith, a Royal Air Force station that operated through the war and until the early 1960s. The impact of wartime on Self’s childhood is exemplified by his own associations of that time in his life with “concrete block anti-German defences…Liberators, Mosquitos, Spitfires, Hurricanes and Lockheed Lightnings…” Even more revealing is that he has described his early life with the two words: “Idyll and War.”

He first studied art at Norwich Art School. While there he was most heavily influenced by Michael Andrews, a peer and painter who was also from Norwich. At this time Self began to develop his intense interest and engagement with the ongoing Cold War. In particular he was “profoundly affected” by a television debate between the English pacifist Bertrand Russell, the former director of the Manhattan Project, J. Robert Oppenheimer, and Lady Dulles. Russell predicted during the program that mankind would be annihilated by Nuclear Armageddon within ten years time. This frightened Self who has described his state of mind after watching this debate as “frozen.”

In 1961 Self enrolled at the Slade School of Fine Art in London. Self attempted to channel his anxious energy into his art. He befriended David Hockney and Peter Blake. Both artists encouraged Self who was labeled one of the worst students at the school by his peers and teachers early on. While studying in London, Self watched the Cuban Missile Crisis develop oversea. He has described sitting in the Eagle pub on October 28th 1962 waiting for the crisis deadline with his peers Mike Kenny and Dave Thompson. It was when a peace agreement was reached between the U.S. and the U.S.S.R. that Self began to release the crippling fear that had been plaguing him. Self has said that the peace agreement “released the logjam in [my] locked psyche.” This new freedom resulted in a new type of work, characterized by colour, shading, and figuration, that nevertheless remained charged by Cold War politics. Later in 1962 Self visited the U.S. He hitch-hiked for 8000 miles and slept outdoors.

Three years later in 1965, Self went to on another expedition across the U.S. He traveled 12 000 miles and worked tirelessly on a series of 36 drawings in black and coloured pencil. These drawings were shown upon his return to England in his first solo exhibition at London’s Piccadilly Gallery. Part of this time in the U.S. was spent with his friend Hockney, as well as with Norman Stevens and Parick Procktor.

After returning to England from the U.S., Self and his wife moved from London back to Norwich. He worked there in isolation, In 1969 Self and his wife separated and Self, who was “emotionally shattered”, moved from Norwich to Germany and then later to Scotland. He did not return to England until 1975. He ultimately settled with Jessica Prendergast in 1989.

In 1969, after being represented by London’s Robert Fraser Gallery and then by London’s Marlborough Fine Arts Ltd., Self decided to separate himself from dealers altogether and has represented himself since. Self cites “reasons of conscience, ethics, and creative development” for this decision.