Colour Me Dead is a large-scale project which re-evaluates quite conservative and traditional paintings from the Neoclassical, Heroic, Romantic and Symbolist periods in order to forensically evaluate how they have treated the (mostly female) nude. The project is rooted in a close analysis of actual artworks — how the nude has been posed, lit, depicted, rendered, transformed—in order to chart how these seemingly ‘beautiful’ images from (mostly) the mid-18thC to late-19thC portend the darker psycho-sexual compulsions which became manifest in art and entertainment in the 20thC.

The Colour Me Dead project takes two forms which are integrally linked: the suite of 18 productions which materialize in various media (HD film/video, digital animation, and digital vector prints) the perspectives informed by the project's research, and the in-development publication Colour Me Dead: Art, Sex & Psychos which presents the research in detail.

2013 - Ian Potter Museum of Art

Installations views © 2013

Background

In 2013, the awarding of the Vizard Contemporary Art Project facilitated the production of the first 6 artworks, exhibited in a solo exhibition at the Ian Potter Museum of Art, Melbourne, curated by Bala Starr. Following an Australia Council grant in 2013, the next 6 artworks were produced throughout 2014 and into 2015. The remaining 6 works are currently in production.

Catalogue

Curator/editor - Bala Starr
Design - 5678 Design
Cover & logo - Philip Brophy

2013

Published by Ian Potter Museum of Art, Melbourne

Catalogue © 2013

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    Text

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    • Signed Colour Me Dead catalogue
      Ian Potter Museum of Art (2013)
      softback gold-foil cover 20cm x 20cm 60 pages
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    Images

    Poster
    © 2013

Chapters

  • The Creative Ejaculate

    Colour Me Dead - Chapter 12

    2015

    12-screen HD animation - multiple mono - 6 minutes total, looped
    displayed as 4 rows of 3 flat-screens suspended above paint-splattered black plastic

    Info Video Images

  • The Destructive Tool

    Colour Me Dead - Chapter 11

    2015

    suite of 10 digital paintings on paper
    displayed either in print frames under glass, back-lit cibachromes, or AdShells

    Info Images

  • The Impotent Rage

    Colour Me Dead - Chapter 10

    2015

    6-screen SD video - multiple mono - 30 minutes total
    displayed on six small monitors on tables with lamps

    Info Video Images

  • The Unavoidable Biomorph

    Colour Me Dead - Chapter 9

    2014

    3-screen 2K HD video - silent - 20 minutes, looped
    projected in line within mirrored room
    Australia Council Visual Arts Board funded

    Info Video Images

  • The Disfigured Nude

    Colour Me Dead - Chapter 8

    2014

    3-screen 2K HD video - silent - 20 minutes, looped
    projected in line at life-size scale
    Australia Council Visual Arts Board funded

    Info Video Images

  • The Living Doll

    Colour Me Dead - Chapter 7

    2014

    3-screen 2K HD video - silent - 17 minutes, looped
    displayed 3 flatscreens arranged on low table
    Australia Council Visual Arts Board funded

    Info Video Images

  • The Prostrate Christ

    Colour Me Dead - Chapter 6

    2013

    2K HD film - silent - 20 minutes
    projected onto floor and viewed from scaffolding platform
    Vizard Contemporary Art Project commission

    Info Video Images

  • The Hungry Vagina

    Colour Me Dead - Chapter 5

    2013

    3-screen HD animation - 3-channel mono - 6 minutes, looped
    displayed on 3 waist-high vertical monitors
    Vizard Contemporary Art Project commission

    Info Video Images

  • The Sexualized Chimera

    Colour Me Dead - Chapter 4

    2013

    suite of 12 digital prints - originating from vector drawing combined with scanned Japanese ink on paper
    Vizard Contemporary Art Project commission

    Info Images

  • The Morbid Forest

    Colour Me Dead - Chapter 3

    2013

    2K HD film - Dolby Digital 3.1 - 20 minutes
    Vizard Contemporary Art Project commission

    Info Video Images

  • The Lady in the Lake

    Colour Me Dead - Chapter 2

    2013

    suite of 12 digital prints - originating from pencil sketches transposed into vector drawings
    displayed as a set of 4 mural prints & installed with water lighting effects
    Vizard Contemporary Art Project commission

    Info Images

  • The Illuminated Nymph

    Colour Me Dead - Chapter 1

    2013

    1-screen HD animation - silent - 15 minutes, looped
    projected onto circular suspended screen
    Vizard Contemporary Art Project commission
    Collection purchase - Ian Potter Museum of Art, Melbourne, 2013

    Info Video Images

In Development

  • The Crime Scene

    Colour Me Dead - Chapter 13

    2020 >

    Details to be specified

    In Development

  • The Body of Evidence

    Colour Me Dead - Chapter 14

    2020 >

    Details to be specified

    In Development

  • The Mortician’s Mask

    Colour Me Dead - Chapter 15

    2020 >

    Details to be specified

    In Development

  • The Inflicted Self

    Colour Me Dead - Chapter 16

    2020 >

    Details to be specified

    In Development

  • The Slippage of Sex

    Colour Me Dead - Chapter 17

    2020 >

    Details to be specified

    In Development

  • The Abstract Sensation

    Colour Me Dead - Chapter 18

    2020 >

    Details to be specified

    In Development