Literature

Colin Self is a significant figure in British Pop art history. Self studied at Norwich School of Art before attending the Slade School of Art in London during the early 1960s, where he met fellow artists David Hockney and Peter Blake. Born during World War II, his earlier work demonstrated a sensibility to political issues and nuclear paranoia, making him the only British Pop artist to refer explicitly to the Cold War. He also produced works featuring apparently harmless motifs from contemporary life and consumer society, which at times conveys an unexpected atmosphere of violence and sexual threat. His intention was to produce a detailed record of his society, which, in the event of its destruction, would convey its essential qualities to anyone coming across his work in the future.

Self often personalised cartoon imagery to convey an underlying political message as well as for the enjoyment of his young children. Self felt that in the modern age cartoons filled the psychological space occupied in medieval times by the Saints who, often enduring terrible violence and suffering, were thought to have eternal life and saw the same processes paradoxically in operation in violent cartoons, like in the Tom and Jerry cartoon series. In this work he depicts Jerry building a Hydrogen Bomb.

A retrospective of his work was held at Pallant House Gallery in 2008. Public collections holding his work include Tate Gallery, The Imperial War Museum, Pallant House, Arts Council of Great Britain and Preaseman Seabrook Collection.