Stella Vine facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Stella Vine
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Stella Vine in 2001
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Melissa Jane Robson
1969 (age 55–56) Alnwick, Northumberland, England
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| Nationality | English |
| Education | Academy of Live and Recorded Arts |
| Known for | Painting |
Stella Vine (born Melissa Jane Robson in 1969) is an English artist. She lives and works in London. Stella creates paintings that show people and things from real life. She gets ideas from her own life, and also from famous people like rock stars and royalty.
In 2001, her art was shown by a group called the Stuckists. She was part of this group for a short time. She was also briefly married to Charles Thomson, who helped start the Stuckists.
In 2003, Stella Vine opened her own art gallery called Rosy Wilde in East London. A year later, in 2004, a famous art collector named Charles Saatchi bought her painting Hi Paul can you come over I'm really frightened (2003). This painting showed Diana, Princess of Wales.
Later, Stella Vine painted famous people like Kate Moss. One example is her painting Holy water cannot help you now (2005). In 2006, she opened her gallery again in Soho, London.
Her first big art show happened in 2007 at Modern Art Oxford. In the same year, Stella Vine also designed clothes for the store Topshop.
Contents
Early Life and Art Beginnings
Stella Vine was born Melissa Jane Robson in Alnwick, Northumberland, England, in 1969. She changed her name to "Stella Vine" in 1995. She was inspired by the famous artist Andy Warhol. Stella grew up with her mother, who was a seamstress, and her grandmother, a secretary. When she was seven, her mother remarried, and they moved to Norwich. Stella remembers "making things and performing music and plays" from a very young age. As a child, she enjoyed painting Queen Victoria and copying famous artworks in the library.
Stella left home at 13. She lived in a squat in Argyle Street, Norwich for a while. Then she was briefly fostered in Brixton, London. Stella later moved back to Norwich. She taught herself by reading in the Norwich Reference Library. Her first job was at age 14 in a cake shop in Norwich. At 17, she had a son named Jamie. Stella then moved to London. She joined the National Youth Theatre of Britain in 1983. In 1987, she joined the Academy of Live and Recorded Arts.
Stella Vine lived with a musician named Ross Newell for over four years. She called him "the love of her life." She later said that Ross had always told her she should become a painter. She also mentioned that she had always made "crazy doodles."
Stella Vine's Art Career
Early Creative Work
For five years, Stella Vine worked as an actress. She toured theaters across the United Kingdom. She also had her own theater company called Minx Productions. She played music with her band, Victoria Falls. Stella said it was hard to tour with a small child. She earned her Equity Card by performing with Durham Theatre Company. She also played a role in Joe Orton's play What The Butler Saw. She was a big fan of Joe Orton.
In the late 1980s, Stella Vine met the film director Mike Leigh. After seeing his film Meantime (1983), she wanted to direct and act in improvised films. She auditioned for him twice when she was in her early twenties. In 1995, she decided to stop acting and focus on art.
Painting Style and Inspiration
Stella Vine's paintings are a very important part of her art. She uses both oil and acrylic paints. Her paintings often have "trademark drips of paint falling from the lips and chin" of the people she paints. Stella's art explores themes like memory, feeling nostalgic, and fairy tales. She often gets ideas from her own life. She paints from photographs and her memories. She started painting about her own life when she studied at Hampstead School of Art in the early 2000s. She painted her stepfather, with whom she had a difficult relationship.
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Stella Vine admired artist Billy Childish. In June 2000, she went to a talk by him and Charles Thomson about Stuckism. She met Thomson on May 30, 2001, at the Vote Stuckist show in Brixton. She showed some of her paintings publicly for the first time there. She also started her own Stuckist group called The Westminster Stuckists. On June 4, she joined a Stuckist demonstration. In October, one of her paintings was in the first Stuckist show in Paris.
She had a short relationship with Charles Thomson. They married on August 8, 2001, in New York. They separated after about two months.
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In October 2006, a Stuckist group show called Go West included two paintings by Thomson. These paintings showed his ex-wife. Stella Vine chose not to comment on them.
Rosy Wilde Gallery
From 2002 to 2003, Stella Vine studied art and philosophy. She also learned a lot from the Serpentine Gallery bookshop. She became involved with artist-run galleries in East London.
In 2003, Stella Vine opened the Rosy Wilde gallery on Whitecross Street in East London. It was a place to show art by new artists. Stella lived and worked in a studio above the gallery. The gallery was having money problems. Then, Charles Saatchi bought Stella's painting of Diana, Princess of Wales, called Hi Paul can you come over I'm really frightened. This purchase helped Stella pay the gallery's bills. In mid-2004, Stella moved to Spain, and the gallery was sold. In 2006, she opened her Rosy Wilde gallery again. This time it was on Wardour Street in Soho, London. The gallery closed a few years later.
The Saatchi Effect on Her Art
Art collector Charles Saatchi discovered Stella Vine's painting in a show called Girl on Girl. He bought her painting of Diana, Princess of Wales, for £600. The painting showed the Princess with tired eyes and blood from her lips. The title of the painting came from red text painted on the canvas. It was a reference to Diana's butler, Paul Burrell. Stella painted many pictures of Diana. She was interested in the ideas people had about Diana's car accident.
When Saatchi bought her painting, the price of Stella's other paintings quickly "doubled." The media often talked about the painting. They focused on how it was controversial. They also mentioned that it was bought for only £600 from an unknown artist. This brought a lot of attention to Stella's work.
In February 2004, after Stella "rose to fame after being championed by Charles Saatchi", her ex-husband Charles Thomson said that he and the Stuckists had "discovered" her first.
Saatchi later bought another painting by Stella. This one was of Rachel Whitear and also showed blood from her mouth. This caused more media attention. Stella said she was sad that some people, including her family, did not like her painting of Diana. She believed it was not disrespectful. She felt it was also a self-portrait. She said, "The picture is about two women. One who lived in Kensington Palace. And the other who lives down the Whitecross Street. 'I look at the picture,' says Vine, 'and I also see myself'".
In June 2004, Stella Vine had her first solo art show. It was called Prozac and Private Views at Transition Gallery in London. She was interviewed about the show for the BBC Radio 4 program Woman's Hour.
In September 2004, Stella Vine went back to her hometown of Alnwick. She gave three paintings to the Bailiffgate Museum. Two of the paintings were about her own life. One painting, The Rumbling Kurn (2003), shows a part of the Alnwick shoreline. Another, 27 Clayport Gardens (2004), shows Stella as a child in a pram outside her grandmother's old house. The third painting, Belle (2004), shows Catherine Deneuve from the film Belle de Jour. It also includes a pink ribbon and a small picture of a bee.
In 2005, Stella Vine lived in Los Angeles. She was invited to have a solo show there. The exhibition, Petal (Part Two), ran from June 3 to July 2, 2005. Stella then returned to London. She had solo shows in Israel, Los Angeles, London, and New York. She was also part of the second Prague Biennale. In 2005, her solo show Stellawood was held in London. At this time, Stella worked with artist James Jessop for an exhibition called Fame. The paintings were inspired by the New York graffiti scene of the 1980s. They included pictures of Fab Five Freddy, Keith Haring, and Blondie.
In July 2005, Stella Vine painted the No. 30 London bus. This bus was damaged in Tavistock Square during the 7 July 2005 London bombings. Stella painted over the artwork soon after she made it. She found the work "simply too disturbing." She took photos of the bus painting before she painted over it. The canvas now shows the model Abi Titmuss wearing red shoes.
Stella Vine has created several large paintings of Kate Moss. These include Holy water cannot help you now (2005) and Kate unfinished (2005). One painting of Moss had the words Must be the season of the witch in red paint. Stella compared the supermodel to the Mona Lisa. She said, "There's a bravery in Kate's eyes." Fashion designer Alexander McQueen bought a painting of Kate Moss by Stella Vine.
In February 2009, Stella Vine talked about the media attention she received after Saatchi bought her work. She said, "In the beginning it was a real battle to assert any kind of intelligence at all." She was happy the media gave her a platform. This gave "opportunity for people to see my work and make their own decisions."
Other Art Projects and Exhibitions
Stella Vine has also made art installations and sculptures. She uses found objects in her work. In Girl in Lourdes (2004), Stella used things like a mannequin, a dress, a wig, a prayer book, and a Lourdes candle. She also painted a wall with the words Hotel Saint Bernadette. Another work, Sylvia cooker (2004), involved painting poems by Sylvia Plath onto a gas cooker. A portrait of Plath was on the oven door.
In 2006, Stella launched Stellacam. This was a live webcam feed that ran all day for three months. Fans could watch her paint in her studio and home. Stellacam had thousands of viewers.
In June 2006, Stella Vine had a solo show at the Bailiffgate Museum in Alnwick. It was called Whatever Happened to Melissa Jane?. The title was a play on the film Whatever Happened to Baby Jane? (1962).
In August 2006, her painting of Celebrity Big Brother stars Samuel "Ordinary Boy" Preston and Chantelle Houghton was used for their wedding invitation.
In September and October 2006, Stella Vine had a solo show called The Waltz at the Museum of New Art in Detroit. Instead of a regular exhibition, Stella painted a large mural across the museum space over five days. This "live painting performance" was filmed. The video was later shown alongside the mural.
From July to September 2007, a major solo show of Stella's work was held at Modern Art Oxford. The show included over 100 paintings that had not been seen much before. It also had new works made for the show. These included new paintings of Diana, Princess of Wales. Stella hoped these new works would show Diana's strength and kindness. She also wanted to show Diana's close bond with her sons, Prince William and Prince Harry. Stella paid for the shipping of her artworks by giving the museum four of her paintings. She also helped set up her exhibition herself. All the paintings in the exhibition were sold.
Lynn Barber from The Observer called Stella Vine "the real deal." Paul Moody praised her work for "causing a storm in the art world." Arifa Akbar of The Independent said Stella's art about celebrity culture was like the work of pop art founder, Andy Warhol. Stella felt a strong connection to Warhol.
In July 2007, Stella Vine worked with the Topshop clothing store. She created a special fashion line inspired by her artworks. These included T-shirts with phrases like Breaks Up With Her Boyfriend.
In November 2008, it was announced that Stella Vine was painting new works for a big solo show. This show was planned for 2010 at the Eden Project in Cornwall, England. In January 2012, it was announced that Stella would paint a portrait of the Brontë sisters. This painting would help raise money to repair a church in Haworth, West Yorkshire.
Charitable Work
Stella Vine has used her art to help others. In 2005, she gave three paintings to the Imagine A World exhibition. This exhibition was organized by Amnesty International. In 2006, she donated a painting of John Peel and his wife. This was for an auction to raise money for the Terrence Higgins Trust. In 2007, she donated a painting to the Spectrum Art auction. This helped raise money to support children with autism.
In 2008, Stella created the painting Didier (2008). It showed Didier Drogba. This painting was for the charity Sport Relief. Stella also allowed them to make limited edition prints of Didier (2008). This helped raise more money for the charity. In April 2008, a drawing of author J. K. Rowling by Stella Vine was auctioned. This was for The Merlin Project charity.
Notable Solo Exhibitions
- 2004 Prozac and Private Views, Transition Gallery, London, UK
- 2004 Petal, Tel Aviv, Israel
- 2005 Stellawood, London, UK
- 2005 Petal (Part Two), Roberts & Tilton, Los Angeles, USA [1]
- 2006 Whatever happened to Melissa Jane?, Alnwick, UK
- 2006 The Waltz, Museum of New Art, Detroit, USA
- 2007 Stella Vine: Paintings, Modern Art Oxford, Oxford, UK
Art Collections
Stella Vine's art can be found in several collections:
- Saatchi Gallery
- Bailiffgate Museum
- George Michael (Goss-Michael Foundation)
- David Roberts (David Roberts Art Foundation)
- Brandes Family Collection, Israel
- Jacopelli Collection, Italy
- Adele
- Robert Diament
- Alexander McQueen
- Private Collections in UK, USA, Israel, Italy, Germany and Canada
