British artist, Stella Vine, has created paintings, drawings, prints, installations and videos, used found objects and given performances.
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Vine's paintings are the most well documented part of her artistic output.[1] She paints in both oil and acrylic with "trademark drips of paint falling from the lips and chin" of her subjects.[2] The themes of Vine's painting focus on memory, nostalgia and fairy tales.[3] Vine frequently draws inspiration from her private life, painting from photographs and her memory.[4] The theme of autobiography[5] first surfaced[1] in Vine's early paintings, created whilst she studied at Hampstead School of Art. Vine painted her step father, with whom she had a troubled, abusive relationship.[6] Vine also painted a stripper;[1] Vine had been a stripper in London herself.[1]
Later autobiographical themed paintings include images of herself (Melissa) and her brother (Allistair) as children in Allistair, Melissa and Ellenor (2004), Ellenor and Melissa butterfly (2005), Melissa red jacket (2005) and her childhood school class in 4P (2005). Welcome to Norwich a fine city (2006) depicts Vine with her son and their family cat[7] in Norwich. Further life experiences are shown in paintings such as The Windmill (2004) which refers to a strip club in London where Vine was a stripper. Whilst a large number of works are portraits of Vine's mother such as Ellenor wedding dress (2005), Ellenor Rhododendron (2004)[8] Ellenor bluebell (2004), Ellenor Seaton Point (2006) and Ellenor stripy top (2004).[9] Other family members painted by Vine include Auntie Ella (2004)[10]
In 2004, Vine said her work has a darkness, romance, glamour, love and death and maintains she doesn't paint to shock people. Instead, she paints from her experience of the world.[11] She consistently flaunts boundaries between high and low culture"[6] through her paintings of famous stars and celebrities including Elizabeth Taylor in Elizabeth and Lassie (2005), Marilyn Monroe is Marilyn and Arthur (2005), Kate Moss in I only make love to Jesus (2005).
Her series of paintings depicting Diana, Princess of Wales led to initial media attention including Hi Paul, can you come over I'm really frightened (2003), Diana branches (2007), Diana veil (2007) and Diana pram (2007) which included the slogan I vow to thee my country.[9] Again, the first icon Vine painted was at Hampstead School of Art where she created a painting of Sylvia Plath - a star she continued to reference in her later paintings and installations.[10]
Vine has painted bands such as The Smiths, The Rolling Stones, PJ Harvey in Polly Bristol (2004) or Polly boob tube (2004).[12] The Beatles in The Beatles in the hollyhocks (2005) and Amy Winehouse in Amy brick wall (2008). She painted Nirvana's singer Kurt Cobain and wife Courtney Love in Kurt and Francis Bean (2005) and Courtney black cab (2004).[9]
Vine created a series of paintings of the super model Lily Cole in 2005 for the US publication BlackBook,[13] an American magazine.[14] The works known as The Lily Series (2005) include portraits of the star leaving the London restaurant The Ivy, bathing in Van Cleef & Arpels jewels, and reading the novel Beyond Good and Evil in designer clothes and perfume, before the character overdoses.
A painting Moira (2006),[9] depicting Moira Shearer[15] tying the red ribbons on her ballet shoes with the painted slogan I Will Always Love You beside her,[1] for her solo exhibition at Bailiffgate Museum that year.[1]
Andrew Nairne argues that "those who criticise Vine's work for being celebrity obsessed have missed the point. Her work is not only about celebrities, he says, but also about herself. For example, portraits of Moss and a young Princess Diana, both of whose sometimes tumultuous personal lives she identifies with, bear a resemblance to Vine. He said: "She is open to the idea these paintings are about her, that they are self portraits, and that they are actually about her, and by extension, they become about all of us and how we relate to our own self worth"".[2]
In 2008, Vine was one of 20 artists invited[16] to create a tarot card for Entertainment, the 24th issue of UK arts fanzine Arty Magazine.[17] Vine contributed an acrylic painting on paper called The Tower for her tarot card.[18]
Vine created a portrait of supermodel Elle Macpherson in February 2008.[19] The painting was later exhibited at an event organised by Macpherson in London.[20]
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Vine contributed a drawing Joe eating hash cakes (2004) to Arty Greatest Hits, a book documenting the first four years of Arty, a fanzine dedicated to art.[21] In November 2002, Vine also contributed a drawing on an envelope, Untitled (2002), for Arty's issue number 8 Reviews London.[22] In Winter 2003, Vine contributed a drawing to Arty's issue number 13, in which artists were given a letter of the alphabet and asked to make a drawing related to their given letter. Vine's drawing was E is for Eggs, depicting the artist Sarah Lucas with fried eggs on her T-shirt.[23] A number of drawings were included In Vine's exhibition catalogue for her 2004 solo exhibition Prozac and Private Views such as Johnson's Baby Oil (2004).[10]
Vine exhibited a series of pencil drawings,[14] in hand-painted blue frames, for her solo show at Modern Art Oxford in 2007.[24] Subjects included Gina, Vicky and Anna (2004), Count Axel (2004), The Bionic Woman (2005), Joe eating hash cakes (2004), Kitty Fisher (2005) and Joan (2006).[24]
A drawing of author J. K. Rowling by Vine was auctioned for The Merlin Project charity in 2008. The Western Morning News saw it as a good investment with a guide price of up to £1,500.[25]
Vine creates art installations and sculpture using found objects. In the work Girl in Lourdes (2004),[10] Vine created an installtion using found objects such as a mannequin, a dress, a wig, a prayer book, holy water, a Lourdes candle, a found Lourdes souvenir, a Virgin Mary figurine, a table with flowers in a jam jar. A wall painting with the slogan Hotel Saint Bernadette accompanied the work and the mannequin had also been painted on by the artist. Another work Sylvia cooker (2004),[26] Vine painted poems by Sylvia Plath in enamel onto a found gas cooker,[27] with a portrait of Plath decorating the oven door.
In 2006, Vine created an installation work for her solo exhibition Whatever happened to Melissa Jane? at the Bailiffgate Museum in Alnwick.[14] The installation consisted of glass cabinets displaying personal mementoes, photographs, magazines, books, CDs, cuttings of newspaper images; the source material for many of Vine's paintings.[1]
For Vine's USA solo museum exhibition The Waltz[28] in 2006 at MONA, she created a "live painting performance", over a five day period, of a large-scale mural across the museum. The performance was filmed and later exhibited on TV screens on plinths alongside the stacked mural as a six-channel video installation. The videos were described as a "mirrored televised document" showing Vine's creative process making the mural and revealing "a conceptual fourth dimension, a world beyond the painting"[29]
In 2006, Vine launched Stellacam, which ran all day, every day for a 3 month period, enabling fans to watch her painting at her Bloomsbury studio and home. The webcam feed was streamed live online via her website[30] and at social networking website MySpace.[15] Stellacam had an audience of thousands.[31]
Since 2006,[32] Vine has made different styles of prints including screenprints, giclée prints and etchings. To coincide with her solo show Whatever Happened to Melissa Jane? in 2006,[1] Vine created her first screenprint, using water-based inks,[33] a self portrait of the artist as a child Melissa Red Jacket.[32] At the same time, Vine donated one of the 15 screenprints as a competition prize in the local Alnwick newspaper.[34]
In 2007, Vine created a second screenprint Göltzschtalbrücke to coincide with her solo show at Modern Art Oxford with no picture but only the painted-words We are unhappy with this life and seek a better one[35] printed across the page with three names Michael, Mike and René; recreating a suicide note left by three boys who killed themselves jumping off the Göltzsch Viaduct in Germany.[24]
In 2008, Vine created a hand-made etching Alan depicting Alan Bennett[36] and three giclée prints[37] Flight Officer Maureen Dunlop inspired by World War II female pilots who appeared in newspapers in 1944. The world was convinced due to this photo that the Air Transport Auxiliary (ATA) was an-all woman outfit,[38] Tralala inspired by cult book Last Exit To Brooklyn,[39] and a friend's black and white cat[40] painted by Vine in Bebe.[36]
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