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colin gillespie - C.V

Taught at Middlesex University, School of Fine Art.

During that period I established an outreach Urban Studies Centre – and also a BA Hons programme in ‘Art Practice and the Community’.

Since leaving the University I’ve worked as:

A development worker within a Lottery funded Reminiscence project.

A tutor within the Arts & the Learning City programme – attached to a London Somali women’s consortium.

A tutor within the Learning & Skills Council – developing print workshops for adults experiencing mental health issues.

A print tutor attached to a Mental Health Recovery Centre.

I exhibit regularly:

For example:

Pleven Small Print International – Bulgaria

Szekerland Print Triennial – Romania

Belgrade Print Triennial – Serbia

Cacak Print Triennial – Serbia

Cantabria Mni Print – Spain

Kazanlak Mini Print – Bulgaria

Barcelona International Print – Spain

Fresno Printmakers Guilds International – USA

GCB Miniprint International – Germany

Trento International Contemporary Engraving – Italy

Bimpe X1 Miniature Print – Canada

I mainly use print as a means of responding to social, political or environmental issues that are of concern or interest to me.

A serene landscape featuring mountains, a lake, and a clear blue sky.

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colin gillespie - Biography

Most of my art practice is related to the reality of living in an urban environment and using print as a way of responding to those experiences, events or issues that arise from that.

Recent themes that I have sought to develop have included – migration – urban development – city living and mental health – the pandemic - conflict situations (as currently represented by Ukraine)

I usually work on a fairly small scale and often develop ideas by combining print with collage or assemblage – sometimes using ‘box’ frames that allow one to combine 2D images and 3D ephemera.

What has always been important to me is the balance of time given towards ‘personal’ work and that given towards communal ‘shared’ art practice. The latter is mainly based in Day Centres, Care Homes or Mental Health settings.

I find that moving between these two areas of involvement helps to give me a perspective upon the overall potential, value and role of art within our society

Welcome to City Print's Art Gallery

WAR COLIN GILLESPIE

When armed conflict exists between two countries, there

is war. In the present battle between Ukraine and Russia,

Ukraine is left disfigured by embedded dragon’s teeth,

scarred with trenches and tank tracks, littered with burned

out vehicles and abandoned military hardware and forcibly

being reshaped by the trauma of invasion. Many of its

villages, towns and cities have been destroyed or used as

pawns in the game of propaganda that accompanies armed

conflict. Large numbers of its citizens have fled and those

who remain have to exist within a constantly shifting

physical and emotional landscape.

The invading force has introduced the organized spread

of misinformation, often using vehicles with loudspeakers

(that local people refer to as zombie cars) and also has

introduced a policy of relocation that brings with it an

attempt to re-educate.

It is estimated that 1.6 million Ukrainians have been

forcibly relocated in this way with some 250,000 of this

number being children. Such large-scale evacuation has

been supported with the creation of filtration camps where

citizens are detained and then processed. This evacuation

or confinement has become normal practice. Other policies

have included the practice of emptying schools or libraries

of books, which are then burned, in an effort to help

eradicate Ukrainian identity. Children and adults sleep

fully clothed, even wearing their shoes, ready to flee at a

moment’s notice. Elderly people remain in some of the

bombed out areas, without electricity, water or gas afraid

to move elsewhere. Some use underground shelters; others

remain in their flats but sleep beside their pet animals

for warmth. The permanence of home, which normally

represents safety or security, has little relevance here.

One citizen described a situation as “Everything started

to crumble and fall. The children screamed. For several

seconds it was like there was silence and time stood still

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Then I dragged my children out from under the rubble.

Blood was flowing down me. Everything was destroyed—

the door was knocked off—not a single window was left.”

Maintaining one’s identity in these circumstances would

be hard for anyone but for children it is especially painful

to be afraid to venture outside, to go for a walk or to play.

It breeds stress and anxiety, which leaves greying hair on

adults and mental scars on everyone.

I have been an observer of this situation by reading

press articles, watching TV stations and feeling that I

should respond in some way. To contribute towards relief

organizations was an obvious choice but that somehow kept

what was happening at arm’s length. How could I respond

in a more personal way? How could I describe to myself and

others what was happening in Ukraine?

I began to make small notebook/sketchbooks which were

composed of news clippings, photographs, text and stills

from television along with edited fragments of transcripts

from media sources. These bred thumbnail sketches/graphic

ideas to picture things that didn’t make the headlines,

that were not based upon quotes that came from the

main personalities or figure heads in the conflict or were

drawn from articles dealing with the global, economic

or technological issues related to this war. What I was

gathering were largely small but very real life experiences

that evidenced the impact of war upon ordinary people,

whether involved in the resistance or not. Putting these

small fragments together began to create situations and this,

in turn, helped me to envisage what I might try to say using

print images. I read that one combatant said “This is war.

We managed to get in here, but we can’t get out.” Another

said “We carry on, keep smiling and try to help each other;

inside we are crying and screaming because our souls hurt.”

An exhausted soldier wrote home: “I’m living in a sleeping

bag, all wet, coughing, generally f’d up. We’re all allowed

to be slaughtered here in a small village where rows of ghost

houses line the streets, window frames are shattered by

bombs, peppers rot on the vine and flower beds are strewn

with

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I began to realize that wars such as this are measured

not just by battles won or lost but by the toll it takes

upon individuals, every single day, be they citizens or

combatants. In the frontlines that toll is relentless with

unending barrages, constant drone attacks and the ever

deafening sounds of artillery. It’s not just a fight for land

but a battle to endure, to remain intact. For the citizens

it’s the grinding pressure of trying to maintain some small

semblance of normality when the pattern of life is so

distorted and dangerous.

This conflict in Ukraine has introduced a new awareness

as to what war means and how it is now conducted. It

has largely become a struggle between robots, machines

and drones. Drones have grown from being a basic way of

spying upon others to becoming highly sophisticated and

lethal killing devices, controlled by human operators.

One combatant said “It’s now a type of warfare that I

would not wish upon anybody. You can see where a lot

of the guys involved are going to later suffer with mental

health issues. The buzzing sound of drones (some strangely

nicknamed geraniums) is there at the front all the time. It

gets to you and one is always thinking, is this my time?”

He continues, “The sound of drones haunts soldiers even

in peaceful settings. The sound of a blender in a kitchen, a

lawnmower, an air conditioner, anything like that can freak

you out.”

It is reported that the types of drones currently being

used are far more destructive than earlier models. Some

are essentially flying flamethrowers while others, of a

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thermobaric nature, can suck out all the oxygen in their

path and collapse human lungs, crush eyeballs and cause

brain damage.

The nature of war as being fought in Ukraine is such

that everyone, citizens, young or old, military or not,

supporting services—everyone—is being impacted, while

the side effects are felt by all. For many, there is also a

humanitarian or environmental catastrophe in place

when supplies of a basic commodity like water become

unavailable or contaminated. Some are being forced to take

and distribute water from wells. Many villages or towns

have restricted supplies of tap water and collect rainwater

to help with washing, cooking or bathing.

Faced with the reality of this most destructive activity

known to humanity, war, does art or the artist have a role

to play? Artists, throughout history, have always responded

to war and participants in the act of war have often made

art from the debris of battle such as shaping bullets, shell

cases, torn uniforms or broken weapons in response to the

calamity that has overwhelmed them. In general the role

of the artist, when faced with war, has always been to look

(and respond) rather than to look away.

A Ukrainian artist summed up her situation when she

produced her first print work after the invasion and wrote

“It filled me from the inside: I will work. I will live. I will

fight. Art is the thing that saved me in the evacuation.

Art helps to explain what is happening without the need

for translation.”

Artist Information

Gillespie taught at Middlesex University where he established

an Urban Studies Centre and ran a BA Hons Programme in Art

Practice and the Community. Since leaving the University he has

worked as a printmaker and freelance arts worker, developing

printmaking within the mental health sector and running

Reminiscence Sessions in care home and hospital settings.

Most of his art practice relates to the experience of living within

an urban setting where he uses print as a way of responding

to issues or events that arise from that, having focussed on

migration, pandemic and now war in Ukraine. What remains

important is the balance of time given towards personal work

and that given towards shared art practice, the latter being

mainly based in day centres or mental health settings. He finds

that this helps give a clearer perspective upon the potential and

value of art practice.

citygillurban@gmail.com

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colin gillespie - C.V

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colin gillespie - Biography

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Welcome to City Print's Art Gallery

WAR COLIN GILLESPIE

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Welcome to City Print's Art Gallery

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Welcome to City Print's Art Gallery

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Welcome to City Print's Art Gallery

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Showcasing City Print

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Site Content

colin gillespie - C.V

Site Content

colin gillespie - Biography

Welcome

Discover City Print's Artistic World

Welcome to City Print's Art Gallery

WAR COLIN GILLESPIE

Discover City Print's Artistic World

Welcome to City Print's Art Gallery

Discover City Print's Artistic World

Welcome to City Print's Art Gallery

Discover City Print's Artistic World

Welcome to City Print's Art Gallery

My Blog

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