Colette Justine

Colette aka Colette Justine
Born	Tunis, Tunisia
Nationality	American
Known for	Conceptual art, Painting

Colette Justine better known as Colette is a multimedia artist known for her pioneering work inperformance art, street art and the constructed photograph. She is also known for her work exploring male and female gender roles, her use of different guises and personas and for her soft fabric environments where she often appears as the central element.^[1]

She was born in Tunis, Tunisia,of French nationality,and grew up in Nice, France before becoming a naturalized American citizen. She lives and works in New York City.

Contents

 

• 1 Work and themes
  • 1.1 Early works
  • 1.2 Street art
  • 1.3 Art and fashion: 1970s
  • 1.4 Justine of the Colette is Dead Co (Reverse Pop Series) 1978-82
  • 1.5 Mata Hari and the Stolen Potatoes: Berlin (1984-86)
  • 1.6 Countess Reichenbach - 1986-91
  • 1.7 The House of Olympia: 1990s
  • 1.8 Maison Lumiere-2001/renamed Laboratoire Lumiere 2010
  • 1.9 Movies and video documents
  • 1.10 Monographs
  • 1.11 Selected museum collections
• 2 References
• 3 External links

Work and themes

Early works

Her first performance/photo work took place in 1970 when she had herself photographed as "Liberty Leading the People" after Delacroix. She presented this work to the public in 1972. In an installation, composed of white parachute silk, embedded lighting, light box, lavender-painted floors inscribed with her personal code and audios, she posed as Liberté. This tableau vivant could also be viewed from the windows of the gallery. Fred McDarrah photographed it for the Village Voice .'The Village Voice January 1973.^{[citation needed]}

By 1973 Colette had completed the opus of her work : With white silk ruched parachute silk and embedded lighting and no visible furniture she turned her living space into a "Minimal Baroque" sculpture and included herself as part of it. The same year, Stefonatty Gallery NYC had just opened its doors and offered the artist a solo show. The painter Malcolm Morley, and the conceptual artists Les levine, Dennis Oppenheim, Vito Acconci, Bill Beckley and Roger Welch also exhibited at Stefonatty. In her first solo show there, sixteen larger-than-life, three-dimensional paintings resembling her, titled "the Sandwomen" were showcased. The office of the gallery was completely transformed into a dreamlike environment, in the style of her living space. In this room she posed still everyday for the duration of the exhibition as the "Sleeping Gypsy" after Henri Rousseau and titled it "The Transformation of the Sleepy Gypsy without the Lion". For the Norton Museum, in Miami, Florida, 1974, Colette posed as Persephone in "Persephone's Bedroom" in a billowing parachute dress. The environment created for that theme was made up with what became her trademark, muted treated rushed soft fabrics In this space, she embedded into the fabric walls a multitude of mirrors. In an adjacent room her street works were exhibited.

Street art

In the early 70s she began creating large street paintings anonymously and soon became known when her identity was discovered by Willoughby Sharp ofAvalanche magazine.^{[citation needed]} In 1973, Al Hansen, the late Fluxus artist, interviewed her in a video tape "The Ear" which records artist painting a huge ear at the Spring Street intersection in SoHo,^[2] while Arnold Newman was shooting her for Verizon magazine.^[3]

Colette painted the streets during early morning hours not only to not be identified but also in also to avoid police arrest. One of her better-known street works is "The Lips". In 1974 she painted huge lips on the intersection of West 57th Street, which could be seen from above the windows of her gallery during her exhibition. During her show at the Norton Museum also in 1974, she executed a very long street work "It was here" which included the Federal highway in front of the museum. On the morning of Friday 13 December 1974, during an eclipse, Colette completed painting Aristotle text on the pavements. Dressed in a pink satin slip, she ended the work with a sleeping performance on the steps of the Museum .It did not take long for the police to arrive and interrupt. That summer, she was invited by ART TAPES FLORENCE to do two videos of street art performances: "There Is No Place Like Home" and "L'incident a la place st Unnunziata". Her love partner at the time Dakota Jackson (the furniture designer) assisted her and also performed in both street works.

Colette's Early Street Works and Window Works were recently presented the Akademie der Künste - Berlin for the React feminism exhibition in 2008^[4]and again in the traveling show "React feminism II" which opened October 7, 2011 in Centro Cultural Montehermoso, Vitoria-Gasteiz, Spain.^[5] The show will be traveling with its last presentation in July 2013 in Berlin.

Art and fashion: 1970s

In 1975 Colette was asked to participate in "Fashion as Fantasy" at Rizzoli's bookstore. In this fashion/art event (co-curated by Frederico Suro), a larger-than-life perforated light box of Colette was featured, while throughout the store and its windows Colette performed as "Ragdoll" with veiled breasts, a Victorian corset, bloomers and boots. Images of her "look" and her habit of wearing and incorporating undergarments began to appear not only in art publications, but also in fashion and popular press: Art News, Women's Wear Daily, Daily News.^{[citation needed]} References to Colette's look worn in art and life, are still made^{[by whom?]} as having inspired a young Madonna and later Lady Gaga.^{[citation needed]} During this time Colette begun to be referred to^{[by whom?]} as a "walking performance".

In 1975 she appeared in many group shows. For the Idea Warehouse In NYC she staged a sleeping tableau "If it takes forever, I will wait for you" using slide projections and musak. Another show, "Lives", also took place downtown in the Fine Arts Building" and was curated by Jeffrey Deitch. In these shows her work was placed with some of the same artists she had exhibited before: Dennis Oppenheim, Roger Welch, Lynda Benglis, Hannah Wilke,Vito Acconci, Bill Beckley, Laurie Anderson, Charlemagne Palestine, Phil Glass, Willoughby Sharp, and Carolee Schneeman.

Later that year at Clocktower she presented "The Dream Series", an exhibition curated by Alanna Heiss. In a large square room "Real Dream" made of rushed pink satin, embedded lighting and audios, Colette slept nude at its center everyday for the duration of the exhibition. This show was a topic of Jeffrey Deitch interview with Colette for WPS1 art radio in 2009.^[6]

For the opening of "PS 1" : as part of the "Rooms" exhibition, in 1976, she transformed the attic with brown satins and tulle, embedded lighting, props dipped in resin and audios. The work was titled "David' Wraith"and she posed as Marat.

In 1977, Colette represented the US in the Paris Bienale, with "Let them eat Cake" reclining in a lavender and salmon color boudoir. She also constructed "Clearance Sale" in the bedroom of Nancy Gillesby Delaage Gallery in Paris. Two other rooms were occupied with Annette Messager's andLaurie Anderson's work. A few weeks later, she was featured in the performance section of the Cologne Art Fair with other artists: Jack Smith,Marina Abramović, Jurgen Klauke, Laurie Anderson and Michel Butta.^{[citation needed]} She lived for six days in her piece "Ancorra Tu" which resembled her living environment in New York City with her personal belongings and art works, and the public could see her room through a light veil.

For the opening of her street art show "It reappears" at the Eugenia Cucalon gallery which also took place in 1977 she slept in a light blue satin box as "Femme Fatale" which could be seen from the streets and the windows of the gallery. Also exhibited were light boxes referring to famous artists she either admired or knew. ex; "Dennis's chair" (referring to a chair from his work 'the lecture' a gift to the artist; she draped in blue satin and embedded with light). Another work in the show was: "Sleeping on a Carl Andre": a photograph of herself (in a light box) - sleeping on one of his large minimal sculpture nude as it were a pedestal for herself.

In December 1977,at the Museum of Modern Art she performed Camille II.^{[citation needed]} Adjacent to her performance were installed fragments ofCamille I,( these works now are part of the permanent Brooklyn museum Collection). Another version of Camille was presented in Washington, D.C. at the Polo Gallery.^{[citation needed]} Also on view was her video tape of the performance in the "Downtown NY" show held in Berlin 1976 at the Akademie der Künste, curated by Renee Block. In her performance "Memory of Ophelia and all those who died of Love and Madness" 1976, she laid in an exotic silk and satin room (with sand color, and blue fabric satins and rags), reclining nude next to another female Tabea Blumenschein.^{[citation needed]}to the sound of echoes of her voice with sound of Hamlet's soliloquy "To be or not to be".

Justine of the Colette is Dead Co (Reverse Pop Series) 1978-82

In 1978 Colette staged a mock death in an installation/performance at the Downtown Whitney titled "The Last Stitch" part of the "Out of the House" exhibition. She performed her resurrection at PS1 now part of MOMA a few days later as "Justine and the Victorian Punks"^[7] (the first in a series of living personas). Justine armed with Colette's vision posed as a recording star, fashion designer, inventor & conceptualizer of products - "The Beautiful Dreamer" (Colette) doll, perfume, beautiful dreamer bed, fashions, lps etc... And was the head of the Colette's estate.

In 1978 Fiorucci invited her to do an exhibition, which included a sleeping installation performance in the windows of the West 59th Street store in NYC.^{[citation needed]} Soon after, Fiorucci began using live models in the store and Colette's "Victorian Punk Look" became part of the 1980s NYC "Downtown New Wave" world. In 1979 Emilio Fiorucci commissioned her to create a line of clothes for the store. Her "Deadly Feminine Line" was showcased in the windows of the boutique and Colette staged a fashion art performance at the Mudd Club in celebration.

During that year, Banco gallery in Brescia, Italy presented "Les actions de Justine"; a mostly blue satin installation with slide projections. She posed as "the Pietà" in it for its opening. In the second room of the gallery, her record album covers, collages embedded in satin, which recorded her life as "Justine" were exhibited. In 1979 in a store window art exhibition curated by Peter Pakesh held in department stores over the city of Graz, Austria. In her window at K&O, Justine of the Colette is dead Co. posed as a recording star in a white satin environment in her "Victorian Look" promoting her conceptual "beautiful Dreamer Lp" (not yet released). Her music played outside on the streets. Concurrently she transformed one of the large mirror rooms of the Neue Gallery for the exhibition "Masculin Feminin" (curated by Klaus Honnef) as Justine's Disco Punk Church Club. This term has currently surfaced in the music industry to describe current music. In an installation at Victoria Falls, a vintage boutique on Spring St. NYC, she presented her multimedia spectacle "Ripping myself Off". Clothes she designed, inspired by her image, which had filtered into the commercial world, were displayed inside the store. In its windows she posed as Joan of Arc, in a work entitled "Paranoia is heightened awareness". For its opening a fashion show was staged including the song "Ripping Myself Off" she co-wrote with Albert Crabtree.

During this period nightclubs also became a venue for reaching younger audiences and an ideal setting for her multimedia spectacles - Colette was a regular and performed and exhibited in most of them: Mudd Club, The Underground, Studio 54. Her close association with Rudolf the German nightclub impresario who created Danceteria influenced her to do more nightclub spectacles. Her first installation there, was "Fuck Art Lets Dance" for the opening of the club in May 1980. This led to other young artists showcasing their art there. Colette also appeared in the day and the Night life in her "beautiful dreamer" uniforms inspired by the walls of her legendary environment as a living sculpture: an experiment in walking architecture. The fashion photographer Chris Von Hohenberg assisted her in recording her wearing these uniforms for her series of photo works. In 1981, she joined Niki Carson's La Rocka Modelling agency for unusual models, and staged a multimedia performance in his club Armegedon. By 1984, art in nightclubs was the vogue. The Palladium showcased not only her work but also those of Keith Herring, Jean-Michel Basquiat, Francesco Clemente and Julian Schnabel.

In 1981 she broke record attendance in three consecutive museums shows: her retrospective - "Colette - 10 Years of Work" at the Kunstverein Munster (with a monograph published by Politi); "Other Realities" at the Museum of Contemporary Art in Houston, Texas (other artists that participated with individual openings weeks apart were Robert Wilson, Joan Jonas, Vito Acconci, and Eleonor Antin); and in the show Persona at the New Museum with the Mr. Apology, Lynn Hershmann and Eleanor Antin.

Other public installation/performances putting closure to a period before Colette's departure for Berlin, were Justine's thrift shop on West Broadway (her beautiful dreamer uniforms and gowns were offered for sale to the public with a window work of that theme), and "Art on Stage" a multimedia event held at Danceteria.

Mata Hari and the Stolen Potatoes: Berlin (1984-86)

In 1984 she received the DAAD one year grant from city of Berlin.^{[citation needed]} Prior to her departure she dismantled her "living environment" - a continuously evolving work of art. The late Leo Castelli was involved in placing this inner sculpture in a well known museum. This fell through, and the environment was dismantled in 1982.^{[citation needed]} The environment was dismantled and placed in storage. Its actual wall fragments (made up of rushed salmon colored satin and white silk parachute material), lightboxes, draped lamps and other furniture as well as her "beautiful dreamer" uniforms have been exhibited over the years^[where?]: The living installation has never been shown in a public space in its entirety and is currently still in search of a permanent home.^[8]

In Berlin she took on a new persona, "Mata Hari" and the Stolen Potatoes. She exhibited her new works and paintings at the Silvia Menzel gallery^{[citation needed]} and Kunstlerhaus Bethanien in Berlin,^{[citation needed]} and the Danny Keller gallery in Munich.^{[citation needed]} In 1985 she created sets and costumes for the Berlin Opera production of Ravel's L'heure espagnole directed by Knutt Summers,^{[citation needed]} and participated with a video room installation in the Venice Biennale for the Italian pavilion.^{[citation needed]}

In 1985 during her stay in Berlin, Three monographs were published on her work: 1."From Silk To Marble" - a series of photographs of Colette transforming herself with a white sheet into sculptures of different periods of history, thus documented the style and fashion of that period.were exhibited with an opening performance re-enacting the images live. Künstlerhaus Bethanien (with the Torkil Gudnason) helped her document the images right before her departure to Berlin. 2."Colette new works and paintings" - 85 for her solo show at the Berlin Kunstverein (published by Kammerer & Unverzagt) and 3."Art on Stage", distributed by the Stadtische Galerie Nordon (Germany).^{[citation needed]} Colette presented a multimedia installation / performance with her works on the stage of its auditorium. Its co-publisher was Daniel Newburg Gallery (New York Gallery which represented her work during that period).

Countess Reichenbach - 1986-91

Beginning 1986 Colette moved to Munich, while still maintaining her Pearl St. atelier in New York City. Bavaria became new source of inspiration and a new persona "The Countess Reinchenbach". During this time she created staged photographs from her private performances in the Ludwig Castles, the "Dial C for Scandal" series, "The Secret lives of Count and Countess Reichenbach", the "Light Figures", which aimed to blend fantasy and reality, art and life (she accidentally lived on Reichenbach Strasse . Her boyfriend's mother was Countess Reichenbach).

During this period, Colette's installations with her art and fashion designs were showcased in the windows of Munich's most prominent department stores: Loden Frey and Ludwig Beck (where her couture wedding dresses were available). At the beginning of her stay there May 1986 she was awarded a studio at Lothringstrasse, which she immediately turned into an environment. In Munich her works were shown at the Dany Keller Gallery and in Berlin where she often commuted to exhibit her works. There, Nathan Federowsky gallery presented "Colette and the Russians", which included Colettesized Russian icons. Her haute couture clothes of ruched and crinkled satin and other fabrics were on view at the Boutique DurBruch. A special presentation was held there with models staged inside the store wearing Colette's one of a kind creations. In NYC, the Gallery of Wearable Art carried her evening one of a kind couture and commissioned her to do a window. During her short return to New York in 1986, before going to Munich she had a solo exhibition at Daniel Newburg gallery "Autobiographs" with an after-opening celebration held with a special installation at Area where the impersonator "Zet "posed in a Colette bed. In a group show, Logosimmi, curated by Alan Jones, Daniel Newburg was introduced to Colette's work and gave her a solo show "Autobiographs" the same year. In 1987, in another solo show "An exhibition for dolls" was presented there. A group of upcoming artists; Richard Prince, Jeff Koons, Sinclair Cemin, Wolfgang Stahle, Taro Suzuki and Frank Shroeder also were exhibited at Daniel Newburg gallery.

In 1988 works from her "Bavarian Adventure", which included, tall light sculptures, large scale altered photographs, objects and collages were exhibited in a solo exhibition at the Frauen Museum in Bonn with a catalogue published by Dumont Verlag in Cologne.^{[citation needed]}

The House of Olympia: 1990s

In 1990 in an exhibition in Munich at Carol Johnssen Gallery "Visits to the Normal World" Colette began to use the name Olympia. It was the first of seven solo shows at that gallery. In 1991 she presented her Colettesized commissioned portraits in "The Aristocrats"; among the portraits of local aristocrats were Leslie and Dedlef Von Waggonheim, Kiki and Eckbert Von Buehlen & Urbach; and an installation featuring "The Unnunciation". The subject Colette as "the Countess Reichenbach" (with her then boyfriend actor Misha Tregor ("Count Reichenbach") a regular at the Kammerspiele theater in Munich). In 1991

By 1992 Colette returned to New York and made it once again her primary residence, while continuing to travel and exhibit abroad, especially to Munich and Berlin. During that time her art was represented by the Dorsky Gallery where she exhibited new works from the Bavarian adventure and "the figures come to life". In 1990 the Rempire Gallery in SoHo presented "Through the Looking glass" and "Love in ruins /the artist and her Muse"_ The works from "The secret lives of Count and Countess Reichenbach" were featured among other works referring to other muses, friends, and well-known personages: a portrait of Frida Kahlo and a large light box "the bath" with a young Jeff Koons- (made from a still image of her video "Justine & the Boys"). The Persona Olympia" emerged in 1990 in Munich when she was beginning the process of returning to New York permanently. In 1991, her work was exhibited with Joseph Beuys, John Armedledder in the group show "The Invisible Body" curated by Alan Jones at the Rempire Gallery in NYC.

Once she re-established herself in New York (1992), she named her New York Downtown atelier "The House of Olympia". The work of that decade was inspired by the eighteenth century. Like all her personas, Olympia developed a philosophy based on a message as well as a "look". The rules of the House of Olympia:

1. No money - no art
2. Retrieving my history. Preservation of earlier works and fabrication of ideas conceived as far back as the seventies. e.g. the Colette Mannequin Sculpture.
3. Self appropriation - recycling of images of myself from earlier works into mixed media new works.
4. Colettesizing: thus transforming into my style selected masterpieces of the eighteenth century such as Boucher, Fragonard, Watteau and exhibiting them amidst images of myself inspired by that period and in this way synchronizing them.
5. Bringing back the return of chivalry and good manners, innocence and romance.
6. Art that elevates the spirit and celebrates life.
7. Matches the furniture and promotes the return of the commissioned portrait and the art patron.

In 1993, an exhibition at LOK gallery in the Meatpacking District titled "The Ruins and Rise of the House of Olympia" Colette presented her new works. A Colette mannequin replaced her presence.

Through the nineties Colette continued to seek various settings and stages in which to exhibit. Eighteenth century salon inspired and "Colettesized"artworks were installed in environments created for them:- ex;" Colette goes Uptown "Uptown Downtown gallery" (1995), Eugenia Cucalon (1996) "the House of Olympia persists its way unto reality ", "Me Myself and I", Carol Johnssen, Munich.^{[citation needed]} At the Lowen Palais part of the Starke Foundation in Berlin, she was given her own "Colette Salon". There she periodically appeared and entertained in eighteenth century style, and presented her latest comissined portraits and works of art work of her choice.

In 1997 the "Salon de la Refusee" at the Gerswirn Hotel was viewed both by an art audience as well as random passers-by. Through its windows a Colette mannequin sculpture was installed in the gallery space, along with Colette's new works and objects, that incorporated her life's costumes . Simultaneously, In a show titled Art?fashion, another Colette mannequin sculpture dressed in one of her rushed gowns worn in live performances during her"Nightclubbing"days of the early 1980s was featured at the downtown Guggenheim Museum.^{[citation needed]} Nightclubs continued to be a place of celebration after her opening exhibitionsas well as a and showcase for her art. ex; The Palladium 1992, Life Club in 1997 after the opening of Le Salon de La Refusee, The Limelight in 1990, and in 1998 a multimedia production with art work, video installations, and a tableau appearance for the opening to songs co-written with Jacob Engel. 1990& 1998-., Club U.S.A "to celebrate chivalry and good manners".

During her House of Olympia period, the Guggenheim Museum in 1992 acquired and later exhibited a large scale box sculpture from the Justine - "Reverse Pop Series " (1978) with LPs and other personal items.^{[citation needed]} In 1993, another of her life-size light box from the series "Major works form the estate" (1980) which was exhibited at the Montreal Museum of Art (1980^{[citation needed]}) and the Museum of Contemporary Art in Houston, Texas,^{[citation needed]} was acquired and exhibited at the MOCA.^{[citation needed]} In 1993 another large work from that series was placed in museum of FIU's permanent collection in Miami, Florida.^{[citation needed]} 1993, Newport Harbor Museum, Los Angeles, acquired and exhibited a large wall fragment from her living environment(1982. In 1995 one of her large constructed photographs from "Real I Dream" (1975) became part of the Ludwig MuseuminCologne collection,^{[citation needed]} and also exhibited in "The Nude Photograph".

In 1999 "Poses", a retrospective of her constructed and stage photo/performance works, (beginning with the early seventies till 99) was held at the KIM Foster Show in Chelsea.^{[citation needed]} A monograph "The Essence of Olympia" dedicated to that persona and its creations was published by "the Institut" (a gallery in Berlin Mitte) where she had a solo exhibition, and the Carol Johnssen gallery in Munich in 1997.^{[citation needed]}

Maison Lumiere-2001/renamed Laboratoire Lumiere 2010

Colette begun using the name "Lumiere" publicly following the September 11 attacks after she was allowed to reenter her Lower Manhattan atelier, which had been covered with white dust from the nearby catastrophe.

Her introduction to her new paintings as "Lumiere" was in NY at Egizio's Projects in January 2002. Later that year, more works by Lumiere were featured in the 3rd Montreal Biennale curated by Claude Gosselin - "The New Me" in 2002. Inside the Mexican Consulate gallery space (loaned to the biennale for the duration of the show), Colette reinstalled her downtown atelier now called "Maison Lumiere".^{[citation needed]} Located in the center of the city and with large ground floor windows, the space was intentionally designed to give the appearance, at first glance,of a high profile fashion boutique, a home, or a showroom. For its audios the theme song "A la Maison de la lumiere " was co-written with Jacok Engel.

Other shows and highlights of that period concentrated on reaching larger audiences and Colette began using the label "C.I.A. - Colette Institute of Art" and its no 1. Moto - "Fight Terror with Glamor, also " beware of When In Pink ". She presented her C.I.A. (Colette institute of Art )with an installation performance on April 1st at the NYC club" Crowbar". In "Domestic Bliss" (1994), an arresting vision that featured a long pink table with Lumiere plates, could be seen from the streets of Rosenthal's Madison Avenue Rosenthal's Show Room. The Mannequin replacing Colette, was attached to a long table with a train containing at its end a large pile of record albums size artworks from "The Story of my life" series.

"The Bedroom" in Tokyo - 2004-5 - an entire floor of HPGRP Fashion building in Ginza, a "gesumpkunstwerk" made of light pink rushed satin with her paintings, light sculpture, furniture, clothes, accessories and CDs.^{[citation needed]}

Solo gallery shows in 2006 included: new works from "Maison Lumiere" at Pablos' Birthday gallery, "Lumiere's Dinner at eight" at Carol Johnssen Gallery, and "Intriguing Faces" featuring new "Colettesized portraits" at Vivian Horan Gallery. A portrait of the filmmaker art collector Katerina Otto Bernstein in an eighteenth century costume, and that of actor Gabriel Byrne dressed as a general, were in the show.

Other installations incorporating fashion and "Fragments of her life" were -" The "ApARTment" exhibition at HPGRP gallery in the Meatpacking District 2007, with installations within the installation :In one of the corners was an installation work titled "Be bold with new beginnings" featured a Colette mannequin sculpture with long white gloves, viewed from the back looking at the window with a series of white suitcases following her. Other sections displayed racks of clothes, furniture,and art made at different times displayed on shelves or stacked against the walls. The exhibition addressed the nomadic life of the artist, particularly addressing personal concerns at the time and the uncertainties of human existence in general. "The Closet" - at Windows Gallery, Long Island City, reconstruction of the clothes of her closet resembling a thrift shop with street painting leading to it from PS1.connecting the artist history there to the current show.) These shows proceeded the unnounced vacatefrom her loft, that came soon after and were somewhat prophetic. By 2008 Colette had relocated and was awarded a wonderful studio space at The Marie Walsh Sharpe Art foundation in Dumbo for a year. She transformed her new atelier into a living space and there was able to begin a new body of works. She travelled to Berlin, to participate "REACT FEMINISM" (2008) held at the Akademie der Künste in Berlin. Early street works and store window installations performances were presented, as well as a live re-enaction of a "Beautiful Dreamer" installation with performance and audios.^{[citation needed]}

Her Pearl Street atelier in New York, which was written about by Arturo Schwarz,^{[citation needed]} Peter Selz,^{[citation needed]} Brendan Gill,^{[citation needed]} Jeffrey Deitch^{[citation needed]} and Alan Jones,^{[citation needed]} and published in Vogue,^{[citation needed]} the New York Times,^{[citation needed]} Art Forum,^{[citation needed]} and The National Enquirer^{[citation needed]} (1995) was demolished in November 2007. A 16-minute film The Last Days of Pearl Street documented the destruction with Street Work "Appearances" by Colette.

In 2008–2009 Colette converted her studio at the Marie Walsh Sharpe Art into a home environment, and began a series of new metaphysical portraits  ; mostly of friends and colleagues :Alessandra Anderson Spivy, Roger Webster, Anthony Hayden Guest, Katerina Otto Bernstein, Donald Bachlor, Kevin Baker etc.. ; and a few celebrities of her generation; David Bowie, Jim Jarmusch, Bill Murray, Susan Sarandon, Blondie and Richard Gere. the studio was open to the public in Spring 2009. In February 2010 Colette exhibited these portraits and her "Street Paintings" at Destination Art Space in an installation : "That's All She Wrote" (a 3-minute music video documenting this transition and putting closure to the tragedy of losing her atelier). For the Windows of Boutique/art space she created a Valentine onsite installation "The Letter" with light blue rushed and torn satin, shredded soft white wig material and a Colette Mannequin sculpture holding "a return to sender" enveloppe.

In 2010/2011 Pavel Zoubok gallery represented Colette's work in New York with a show called "Girl Talk".^{[citation needed]}. And her work has been exhibited and in the Collection of his" Collage Center".She continues to present her multimedia works internationally. Due to the current interest in Street Art and the seventies and eighties style and culture, her earlier works are being re-exhibited. Her "Sepia Color Beautiful Dreamer LP" with Peter Gordon (1979) was released on November 9, 2010 by the DFA label.^[9][10] The archival video "Justine and the Boys" (1979) starring Jeff Koons and Richard Prince was presented as part as the "Indomitable women" show in Barcelona Museum of Contemporary Art in 2010.^{[citation needed]} Her lightboxes, part of her living environment (1972–83) (that Leo Castelli helped to preserve and which was written about by Peter Selz in "Art of our times"^[11] and Arturo Schwarz in Poliliti's monograph "Colette - 10 years of work"^{[citation needed]}) was shown at the James Graham & Sons Gallery in NYC in an exhibition called "Consider the Oyster" curated by Ingrid Dinter.^{[citation needed]} At Black and White Projects, in a show called "Basic Instinct" curated by Sasha Oykstein, early staged photographs from the 1970s are part of her installation, which also features a larger-than-life image of herself as living doll (wrapped in satin) in her living environment 1978. "La reine soleil" an installation with artworks was showcased at Pavel Zoubok gallery booth "Basel - Pulse art fair" in Miami, December 2010. During the Art show at the Armory, March 2010. she performed The Arrival of Mademoiselle Lumiere at the Pavel Zoubok booth...( other shows in 2011 listed below) In 2011. Alan Jones the Art author curated a solo show of her works at Paolo Barozzi Gallery in Venice during the Biennale;and the following her The Film " a Pirate in Venice " a documentary on Colette shot in Venice by Friedericke Taylor, was presented for the first time in NY at the Gershwirn Hotel May 2012 and again the following year. February 2013, close to Vlentine's Day.a solo exhibition "Colette & Sandy " exhibited over 40 works from the 70's till 2012. Works that had been excavated,some embellished from Laboratoire Lumiere. her studio/storage which had been under 9 ft of water due to Sandy. Her works were also featured MAy 2013 on 98 bowery on line site . and can still be viewed there. She was featured in group show at Peanut Underground NYC ' Pirate Utopia" opening the same day as another viewing of her film "A Pirate in Venice", which was also featured in the Mikenos Art Biennale that summer. On October 2013, She participated on the panel at the Brooklyn Museum, organized by the Collage center, and the Sackler division of feminist art at the museum . About the same time the travelling show React FeminismII. closed at The Berlin Akademie Der Kunste curated by Beatrice Stammer and Bettina Knaup.For the new Year, and Thru Feb .2sd. 2014 IFAC curatorial, opened their headquarters on Delancey St, with a" Homage to Colette" which presented works from her "Reverse Pop" Justine of the Colette is Dead Co. 78-83. February 6 to March 6 she was featured in "Japonism in Contemporary Art"at the Nippon CLub , curated by Emil Memon and Kyoko Saito Ono . On Feb 18.2014( till March 23rd) . Undercurrent Projects ,previously knows as Peanut Underground , opened their new space on March 18th with a solo exhibition "Metaphysical Portraits and other Experiments from Laboratoire Lumiere>. An installation in process. Featured were Her new "Metaphysical Portraits " which included the series "Artists& the silver Screen".

list of other shows in - Laboratoire Lumiere has participated in 2011:

• NYC Salon, curated by Michelle Tillou. Dorian Grey Art Gallery. East Village, NYC. Dec 11 - Jan 2011. Postcards from "The Story of My Life" series..
• White sale - curated by Beth Rudin Dewoody. Loretta Howard gallery. January 13 - Feb 2011
• "The Arrival of Mademoiselle Lumiere". An "apparition" at the Gala Preview and other artworks presented at the Armory Art Show on Park Ave, NYC. Pavel Zoubok Gallery TEN: Redefining Collage. Booth A21
• BASIC INSTINCT, curated by Sasha Okshteyn, Black and White Project, Williamsburg. Dec 17 - Jan 23 2011. Flaunders Gallery, North Carolina - Feb - March - 201
• Photo month : Kraków - Poland.(exhibited a large scale blow up of "the deadly feminine line" 1979 windows of fiorucci as a work of art) Curated by Adam Broomberg and Oliver Chanarin. May 13 - June 12.
• Politically Colette - Solo Show curated by Alan Jones - at Paolo Barozzi - Venice, Italy - Opening : June 5.
• Sweet&Savory - at Pavel Zoubok Galley, NYC - June 1–24.
• Summer Salt - curated by Ingrid Dinter - "The Proposition Gallery" NYC - July 6 - Aug 7th.
• NIGHT SCENTED STOCK curated by Todd Levin September 14 - October 22, 2011 - Marianne Boesky Gallery 118 East 64th Street
• re.act.feminism #2–7 October 2011 – 15 January 2012 Centro Cultural Montehermoso, Vitoria-Gasteiz, Spain
• "Remix" - Oct 14 through November - Bucknell University, Pennsylvania - curated by Pavel Zoubok and Rachel Lawe
• "Bohemian Nights" - short films by artists-November 9 - Gershwin Hotel, presented by Nicki Carson, curated by Ingrid Dinter.