Sunday, January 25, 2009
Flower into Heart
I am working on a animated short that should be done for St. Valentine's Day. I am adapting my good friend's Chris Uphues drawings to his friend Istvan & HIs Imaginary Band's Song called Love. The Song is only about one minute long so there is going to be a lot of stuff packed into a short amount of time.
Jason Robert Bell
Tuesday, January 13, 2009
Jason Robert Bell's Friends and Lovers Drawing(s) Econopocalypse Sale
http://tetragrammatron.com/friendsandlovers/index.html
19 of the orginal 24 are available for only 50 dollars each, 2008, 20"x17" charcoal, acrylic, and spray on rag paper. Exhibited at Revenge of the Masters, Secret Project Robot, Brooklyn, NY ( Nov.18th- Dec. 16th, 2008) Each drawing comes with a Friends of Bell certificate of membership Support the Arts! All money goes straight to making my life better.
Jason Robert Bell
Two write ups first cold then warm
http://art.newcity.com/2009/01/12/review-jason-robert-bellthomas-robertello-gallery/ - Dan Gunn
Jason Robert Bell/Thomas Robertello Gallery
RECOMMENDED
“The Unreasoning Mask: New Revelations in Figurative Metaphysics” is the mouthful of a title for Jason Robert Bell’s exhibition of painting and sculpture at Thomas Robertello Gallery. The small canvases that ring the room contain single totemic figures. The mythic protagonists are a techno-colored mishmash of cultural references including African masks, esoteric mysticism, art history, Disney, Willy Wonka and heavy metal. Encased beneath a layer of thick resin and depicted in otherworldly colors, the characters appear invulnerable. Usually alone in their foggy landscapes and adorned with flourishes of sparkling sand and metallic paint, the cavemen, fairies, cyclops or chimera are monumental despite their size. While the paintings themselves are alluring, the apparent invincibility of their characters and the perfection of the imagined world make it hard to relate to them beyond their superficial painted quality. This is most evident when comparing them to the nearby sculptures. While as totemic as the paintings, they are much smaller in scale, making them more toy-like than god-like. The painted paper and foamcore creatures fit in with Bell’s other creations but also recall Mexican and folk art traditions of sculpture. Bell’s work is an emblem of an information age where cultural symbols can be recombined at will into endless fantasyscapes that are only useful to the extent that they reflect our own terrain.
http://flavorpill.com/chicago/events/2009/1/9/jason-robert-bell-the-unreasoning-mask
Since Jason Robert Bell's last exhibition in Chicago — heroic-feeling paintings of his yeti-like alter-ego — the Brooklyn-based artist has both miniaturized and stretched out cosmically. His new work comprises an enigmatic rogues' gallery of small portraits, which look like religious icons from an arcane universe or little gods trapped in amber. Blending the bounty of his imagination with mythological and religious references, Bell paints strange beings in lush color and encases them in layers of shiny epoxy amid swirling metallic pigments. This is fantastical stuff that might fall flat in lesser hands, but Bell gives it a playful, vibrant sense of life, further enhanced by each painting's enticing gem-like presence. Six impish knee-high sculptures fill out the show.
– Karsten Lund
Jason Robert Bell/Thomas Robertello Gallery
RECOMMENDED
“The Unreasoning Mask: New Revelations in Figurative Metaphysics” is the mouthful of a title for Jason Robert Bell’s exhibition of painting and sculpture at Thomas Robertello Gallery. The small canvases that ring the room contain single totemic figures. The mythic protagonists are a techno-colored mishmash of cultural references including African masks, esoteric mysticism, art history, Disney, Willy Wonka and heavy metal. Encased beneath a layer of thick resin and depicted in otherworldly colors, the characters appear invulnerable. Usually alone in their foggy landscapes and adorned with flourishes of sparkling sand and metallic paint, the cavemen, fairies, cyclops or chimera are monumental despite their size. While the paintings themselves are alluring, the apparent invincibility of their characters and the perfection of the imagined world make it hard to relate to them beyond their superficial painted quality. This is most evident when comparing them to the nearby sculptures. While as totemic as the paintings, they are much smaller in scale, making them more toy-like than god-like. The painted paper and foamcore creatures fit in with Bell’s other creations but also recall Mexican and folk art traditions of sculpture. Bell’s work is an emblem of an information age where cultural symbols can be recombined at will into endless fantasyscapes that are only useful to the extent that they reflect our own terrain.
http://flavorpill.com/chicago/events/2009/1/9/jason-robert-bell-the-unreasoning-mask
Since Jason Robert Bell's last exhibition in Chicago — heroic-feeling paintings of his yeti-like alter-ego — the Brooklyn-based artist has both miniaturized and stretched out cosmically. His new work comprises an enigmatic rogues' gallery of small portraits, which look like religious icons from an arcane universe or little gods trapped in amber. Blending the bounty of his imagination with mythological and religious references, Bell paints strange beings in lush color and encases them in layers of shiny epoxy amid swirling metallic pigments. This is fantastical stuff that might fall flat in lesser hands, but Bell gives it a playful, vibrant sense of life, further enhanced by each painting's enticing gem-like presence. Six impish knee-high sculptures fill out the show.
– Karsten Lund
Saturday, January 10, 2009
Wednesday, January 7, 2009
In Dialogue with Cain, Abel, and Seth
In preparation for my upcoming exhibition in Chicago, I invited three close friends, all of who are talented artist within their own right, to ask me a few questions about my work. Paul Nudd, Scott Wolniak, and Chris Uphues, all established Chicago Artist, all radically different from the other in their processes and thinking from myself and each other. I have know both Scott and Chris for over 15 years, and Paul although a more recent friend, has followed by work for years and thankfully been a ongoing patron of my efforts.
The full text with accompanying images can be viewed here http://tetragrammatron.com/interview.htm
-Jason Robert Bell
The full text with accompanying images can be viewed here http://tetragrammatron.com/interview.htm
-Jason Robert Bell
Sunday, January 4, 2009
The Fire Inside and Hannyannah
Hannyannah, 2009, acrylic, epoxy, metallic pigments, collage, and sand on canvas, 10 x 8 inches
The Fire Inside, 2009, acrylic, epoxy, metallic pigments, collage, and sand on canvas, 10 x 8 inches,
by Jason Robert Bell
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