Justine and the Victorian Punks (78-82)
Images: 1. Living environment - 81. 2. Headless Woman - 82. 3. Colette Doll - 78. 4. Labels for Beautiful Dreamer. 5. Justine goes to Graz. 6. Kitsch colettesized. 7. Fiorucci Window. 8 Living environment 1. 9. Major works from the estate. 10. Large size light box. 11. Justine as Beautiful Dreamer Doll.
Justine And The Victorian Punks (78-82)
"The "Colette is Dead" series, an ongoing conceptual work and parody of a solution to the dilemma of a contemporary innovative artist, began in January, 1978, and has included several window works. I have become a "Reverse Pop" artist - instead of placing familiar commercial images and techniques into an art context as my "Pop Art" predecessors have done, I , Justine, president of Colette is Dead, Co., have placed products inspired by my personal image into a commercial arena.
For me, art is magic and the making of art alchemy. Therefore, the media I use is not as important as the fact that I turn into art."
Colette, 1978
Performances / Installations
The Last Stitch, Whitney Museum 1978, (also photo ed) |
"As Colette has become increasingly renowned in art circles, she has watched her ideas filter into the products of designers, decorators, and others in the commercial world as her medium. In her 1978 performance "The Last Stitch", she declared herslf dead, arranging to be born again as Justine, the executor of the late artist's estate. She cleverly manages the inheritance and like Picasso's Heirs, develops parts of the legacy into commercial ventures. An energetic entrepreneur, Justine has since produced a record album, designed a fashion line for Forucci and aranged with Sakowitz, a Texas department store, to feature her $37,000 custom made bed as a centerpiece of their Christmas Catalog".
Jeffrey Deitch
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Justine and the Victorian Punks . Visual Art Band I. PS 1. 1978 |
Justine and the Victorian Punks . Visual Art Band I. PS 1. 1978 |
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8th hole for miniature golf room installation PS 1978 .
10 ft x 20 ft x 18ft. Could be view from the hole on the wall. Detail of the door to the 9th hole.
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Justine goes Brescia Italy .
Banco Gallery Brescia, Italy. (Installation performance).
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Justine's special gifts
opening performance for the installation 1979 Elizabeth Weiner NYC
Photo Album
Justine : installations
Beautiful Dreamer : Performances
Art on Stage, multi media event with Justine and The Beautiful Dreamers, performing 'Last Call for Romance'. 1983. Danceteria Club.NYC
Photo Album
Justine : Installation / Performances
Colette: living environment
Record City, Valentines Day, To Promote Her LP, Beautiful Dreamer 1980, photo edition
Photo Album
Justine : Window works
Justine at Fiorucci
Justine at Fiorucci "trail blazer to the trendy"
"In the mid 70s at a very young age COLETTE THE ARTIST had received international recognition for her performances - downtown street works, window installations, environments as well as her "personal style". By 1978 her unique and powerful vision had spread to the commercial world of fashion, design, and music .This inspired her to stage her death (DOWNTOWN WHITNEY MUSEUM - as part of an ongoing art performance). She resurrected as JUSTINE OF THE COLETTE IS DEAD CO. (PS1 -MOMA) and posed as a "ROCK STAR", fashion and interior designer, conceptualizer of products and the head of Colette's Estate.
One of her most well known window installations was at held at FIORUCCI, the trendy uptown boutique (59th st) in 1978. She was invited to present one of her multi media spectacles performances inside the store and slept in the WINDOW INSTALLATION for the duration of the show.
Her unique style inspired by her art continued to influence the public and her fans. Live models began to pose in the windows of the store, and her look became an inspiration for many designers and young women including Madonna. The following year 1979 Fiorucci invited her to design a line of clothes "the deadly feminine line". A multi media fashion show performance was held at the MUDD CLUB downtown..."
Gianfranco Mantegna - 1991 for Artscribe
Photo Album
Justine at Fiorucci
Beautiful Dreamer, Series I ( 80-82 )
Beautiful Dreamer Series
Images from a series of photo editions, 14 x 20 " ed 12 & 4' x 6' ed 7
"..these images emerge from a long-range work conducted by Colette (Justine) from May 1980 to May 1982 involving her Beautiful Dreamer Uniform. During this period Colette consistently appeared in public wearing her "Uniforms", a reductive costume dirived from the fabric covered interiors of her living environment; it was an experiment with the idea of "walking architecture".
NY Arts Magazine 1982
Johnathan Crary
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Justine : Products
"Justine's Special Christmas Gifts"
Installation view at Elizabeth Weiner Gallery NYC 1979
Justine, the executor of the late artist's estate. She cleverly manages the inheritance and like Picasso's Heirs, develops parts of the legacy into commercial ventures. An energetic entrepreneur, Justine has since produced a record album, designed a fashion line for Forucci and aranged with Sakowitz, a Texas department store, to feature her $37,000 custom made bed as a centerpiece of their Christmas Catalog".
Colette Monograph by Politi 1981
Jeffrey Deitch
"...The Beautiful Dreamer has become a Revere-Pop artist, exploring the channeling of art ideas through commercial media instead of framming commercial images for the art world consumption".
Colette Monograph by Politi 1981
Jeffrey Deitch
Head of Colette doll (1978 - 93)
Photo Album
Justine : Products
Major works from the Estate
Large scale Wall fragments and light boxes
and Museum of contemporary art Texas (with multi media performance - 1981)
This installation consists of six cabinets, each one a large-scale box, embodying a diffrent aspect of myself, Colette, in the person of Justine. They are part of an ongoing project began in 1978 at the downtown Whitney Museum. At the time, Colette 'died', leaving Justine, of the Colette is Dead Co., as sole beneficiary of the estate, to carry on the work of the artist. In one cabinet, a mannequin, camouflaged against a large panel of ruched satin, represents Justine in her role as beneficiary of estate. The others show her as Fashion Designer, Pop Singer and Interior Decorator, with miscellaneous artifacts from the estate assembled in another.
These Major Works from the Estate are also intended as aesthetic objects which document the intervention of Justine directly into commercial situations: Her 'Deadly Femminene' line ar Fiorucci, her disco LP album, or her 'Beautiful Dreamer' bed in Sakowitz's 1979 Christmas catalogue. At the same time, they reflect their past lives: from rooms, installations and performances they were part of. The panels and objects are lifted onto a second stage of existence, charged with a concentration of recalled meaning. And, as my presence was integral to the earlier installations here my body is represented by the remote figuration of the mannequin.
Photo Album
Major works from the Estate
Justine: Mixed Media Works
Black satin fragments from the installation the ninth hole- 1978-804 ft by 8 ft-( also major works from the estate series)
Photo Album
Justine: Mixed Media Works
Justine: Paintings
Installation view. Barbara Braathen Gallery NYC 1983
Photo Album
Justine: Paintings
BDU Drawings and Painted Photos
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| Beautiful Dreamer Uniform painted photo 16 x 20 " | Beautiful Dreamer Uniform painted photo 16 x 20 " |
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| Beautiful Dreamer Uniform drawing 11 x 17" | Beautiful Dreamer Uniform drawing 11 x 17" |
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| Beautiful Dreamer Uniform drawing 11 x 17" |
Justine: Living Environment
Detail of Living Environment 1978 (photo edition)
Photo Album
Justine: Living Environment
Most images of public and private performances are available in photo edition or as altered photographs.
Contact Maison Lumiere for more information.