Tetragrammatron Blog

The Robert Joseph Bell Institute for the Advancement of the Future

2012-01-24T19:35:00.000-08:00

My Next Project Space show at Thomas Robertello

Headquarters for The Robert Joseph Bell Institute for the Advancement of the Future
2012
paper, foam core, architectural model materials
35 x 15 x 6

Unto the Ogdoad

2012

acrylic, epoxy, collage, and digital ink pigments infused with the ashes of the artist's father on foam-core mounted on canvas

26 x 22

Oversoul Seven

2012

DVD

JASON ROBERT BELL
The Robert Joseph Bell Institute for the Advancement of the Future
January 27 through March 10, 2012
Opening reception Friday January 27, 6:00 - 8:00PM

Thomas Robertello Gallery is pleased to present the sixth and final installment of Jason Robert Bell's year-long Tetragrammatron Archive: The Robert Joseph Bell Institute for the Advancement of the Future; an exhibit dedicated to the artist's recently departed father.

The exhibit will consist of three works. First, an architectural model of the Robert Joseph Bell Institute for the Advancement of the Future's proposed headquarters, created from an inverted Empire State Building papercraft that was carried for 7 consecutive days by the artist in his "Man With The Empire State Building Performance.”

Also incuded is a new work from Bell’s Metaphysical Painting series, “Unto the Ogdoad”, which depicts the transmigration of the Artist’s father's soul, to the next plane of existence in the Afterlife.

And lastly a new video piece, “Oversoul Seven” revealing the Artist's father’s complex esoteric belief system. Presented as a series of cascading audio/video clips, it was created from the Artist's personal documentation archive.

Jason Robert Bell graduated from the School of the Art Institute Chicago with a BFA in Painting in 1995, and the Yale School of Art's MFA program in 2000. His work is the by-product of a mystical journey that transcends media. He has shown his work withThomas Robertello since 2006.

Install of the Orpheus Terminals

2011-12-24T09:44:00.000-08:00

Orpheus Terminals up and running in Chicago

2011-12-18T11:35:00.000-08:00

The Tetragrammatron Archive, Installment 5, Orpheus Terminals, Thomas Robertello Gallery, Chicago, IL (Dec. 9– Jan. 21, 2011)

Orpheus Terminals

2011-11-28T21:04:00.000-08:00

http://www.thomasrobertello.com/exhibition/view/2270

Thomas Robertello Gallery is pleased to present the fifth installment of Jason Robert Bell's year-long Tetragrammatron Archive: The Orpheus Terminals. The exhibition in the gallery's project space opens Friday December 9, 2011, 6:00-8:00PM and continues through January 21, 2012. The Orpheus Terminals is an audio-visual digital archive of the artist’s consciousness, including 10,000 panoramic photographs taken over the past four years and an accompanying soundtrack of binaural sound compositions.

Presented as a video, the panoramic photographs comprising The Orpheus Terminals are quickly shot with a low-end panoramic feature on Bell's consumer-grade digital camera, capturing the way his mind works and his eye sees. The images chart his travels, triumphs, and the mundanity of daily life. The title Orpheus Terminals comes from a concept Bell’s father shared in bedtime stories read to him as a young child.

Jason Robert Bell graduated from the School of the Art Institute Chicago with a BFA in Painting in 1995, and the Yale School of Art's MFA program in 2000. Bell's paintings, drawings, sculpture, experimental films, outdoor installations, and performances have been exhibited in New York, most recently at Postmasters Gallery and the Fountain Art Fair, Boston, Miami, Washington DC, Baltimore, San Francisco, Tokyo, and many times in Chicago.

"A story my father told me: The Orpheus Terminals
The ultimate goal of The Orpheus Terminal is the programming of imagery for living cybernetic computer terminals, culled from cloned materials from my brain, which will be placed across the earth, connecting various leylines with Quetzalcabbalahic diagrams of my own design. These terminals will be freely accessed by whoever wishes to use them at any point in time across the universe. The first images anyone will see will be these images of my visual understanding of the universe. The terminals will basically be given one directive: to help humanity live more meaningful lives, to help them to be Heroes, not Slaves.
The Knights Templar was an order of warrior priests that were active during the Middle Ages. After the Crusades, they were killed off by the States and Churches of Europe as heretics. This is believed to have happened because the Knights had gained a great deal of economic power. However, a number of myths and legends have developed around the Knights that are quite interesting. One of the charges against them was that they received their orders from a large disembodied head. The Knights also called themselves The Order of the Golden Fleece, making a direct connection between themselves and the Argonauts of Ancient Greece. Why is this of interest? The Knights were purported to have access to or be in possession of the Holy Grail (an artifact that can heal the sick/ raise the dead). Although it is commonly believed to be a chalice of some sort, the Grail has been depicted in all manner of forms and it is unknown what its true shape might be. The Golden Fleece is also a mythic artifact that could heal the sick. What if these two devices are one and the same? The Golden Fleece was supposed to be the hide of a magical flying ram that was sent to earth by Hermes to do the will of the gods. After its work was done, the ram was sacrificed to Zeus, but its skin was preserved and it was believed to heal the sick and return the dead to life. Orpheus was one of the Argonauts. He was decapitated by a group of feral women, but his head was said to remain alive to this day. Was it his head that dispatched orders to the Knights Templar thousands of years later? The Holy Grail, also called the Sangrail (blood stone), the Lucifer stone, and the Golden Fleece, could actually be myths that have a shared root with an ancient power source of extraterrestrial origin. The Golden Fleece and the Holy Grail could actually be mere containment vessels for this unknown element, which I call Element X, or Grailium. What if the Argonauts were an actual group of plundering adventurers that were exposed to this power source bestowing on them a number of beneficial mutations? Perhaps Orpheus was able to maintain some sort of animation after his body had been destroyed. His brain perhaps became able to produce a Grailium-rich enzyme.
Imagine an element that’s properties allow the human imagination to manifest itself in the physical world. This element could have come to earth in the far-flung past, before humanity was human in the very metros that crashed into the earth and caused catastrophic destruction of the environment, leading to the extinction of the dinosaurs. There could have been an element that infused itself into the earth biosphere. The dinosaurs were killed off by the radiation because their brains were unable to adapt to the element’s energy, but the mammals could. This beneficial radiation allowed mammals to become the masters of the earth, and is the very reason for the Human condition. Perhaps there was another smaller re-introduction of this element later, which caused Neanderthals to transmute into Homo sapiens. It is my belief that Grailium fosters a viable network with the collective human imagination. It causes all our hopes and dreams to come to life.
Grailium could be the explanation for all unexplained phenomena on earth. When an individual is exposed to it in a high degree it could cause a quantum evolutionary leap to occur. Imagine if we were able to synthesize Grailium in a laboratory, expose it to cloned human brain cells, and use it to create living super-computer brains: The Orpheus Terminals. It is my belief that these devices would allow humanity to finally unravel the mysteries of life on this earth and beyond. The use and development of Grailium in technology would usher in the next step in Human Evolution. Humanity would once again have a working system of oracles. If we follow the Hermetic premise that God only exists within the human mind, this project would allow true communion to occur. At last some sort of dialogue with the higher consciousness would be possible, the word of God would be our own voice.
To attain immortality for myself and hopefully all of humanity, I will have myself cryogenically frozen at the moment of my physical death in a Grailium Crystal Thought Pod, placed into a small solar, atomic, and/or Grailium powered rocket ship, and launched into deepest outer space.
The ship, Bellerophon 1, will be equipped with a computer that will have vast archives on human culture and history as well as the history of earth and our solar system, plus as much personal information about myself as possible. There will be digital images of all of my artworks, writings, personal photographs, and belongings. The rocket will have detailed instructions written in a number of codes both numeric and languages, stating who I am, where I come from, and the fact that I would like whomever finds me to use their superior alien technology to restore me to life. To assist my alien benefactors, there will also be a great deal of human anatomy and media information within the ships computer.
There are two schools of thought as to the possible nature of extraterrestrial life. Some people think that we should not be actively seeking out otherworldly life. They think that any race able to travel through the vast reaches of the cosmic void would be so powerful that they would view us as inferior and would not have a problem wiping humanity out of existence. The other group, which I am a part of, believes that any race to conquer the stars would need to have conquered their own barbaric natures to do so and could only be benevolent. Look at ourselves: the tiny baby steps that we have made into space have only come from positive benevolent efforts, actions for all humankind. Only by transcending our baser selves will we ever reach the stars.
Due to the incredibly vast distances of space, humanity may have to toil for eons in order to reach other inhabitable planets, but if I am sent out into space as I have described, perhaps this toil can be cut short.
Once my alien benefactors have revived me, I will act as a delegate for humanity, learning all I can, and beginning a relationship that will usher in a golden age on Earth. Using the aliens’ unimaginable transportation technology, I will return to some distant future earth where I can shake hands with my great great great great great great grandchildren and help all humanity fulfill their dreams. We will become immortal, pan-dimensional, ethical super geniuses that will stand upon an equal ground with the gods of the universe. Every person will shine like a star in the heavens. When what appears to be the final barriers of the universe are before this future human, they will boldly cross it, and go onto what can never be conceived of, but will be experienced."
- Jason Robert Bell

Spork and Spbad

2011-11-15T19:00:00.000-08:00

http://badspock.blogspot.com/2011/11/spork-and-spbad.html

Yes, our child is being born in an Art Gallery

2011-10-05T16:45:00.000-07:00

MICROSCOPE Gallery presents

MARNI KOTAK
The Birth of Baby X
actual birth as performance art

ultrasound image of Baby X, 13 weeks, 2011, courtesy Marni Kotak
October 8 – November 7, 2011
opening reception Sat. Oct 8, 6-9PM

MICROSCOPE Gallery presents The Birth of Baby X, a month-long performance and installation by Bushwick artist Marni Kotak culminating in the birth of her first child at the gallery. With The Birth of Baby X Kotak continues to present her life experiences as works of art, works in which she strives to avoid the spectacle often involved in performance art to reach what is real. Influenced by the performances of Hannah Wilke, Chris Burden, Vito Acconci, Marina Abramovic, and Carolee Schneemann that test the limits of the human body experience, Kotak seeks to create works of raw immediacy. The Birth of Baby X will be her most profound and physically challenging performance.

Beginning October 8, Kotak will transform Microscope into her home birthing room, complete with her grandmother’s bed, and her old rocking chair. The exhibit has been orchestrated around Kotak’s official due date. Visitors should be prepared to find themselves suddenly as witnesses to a live birth.

During the month, Kotak will often be present in the gallery preparing mentally and physically for the event, which will be assisted by a mid-wife and doula. The exhibit also includes videos of related performances—including “You are My Baby”, performed at Lumen Festival this summer, in which Kotak videotaped the audience and projected their faces onto her belly; sculptures and other objects; and personal artworks by Kotak’s husband and artist Jason Robert Bell. Remnants from the final days of pregnancy and the birth will be added to the exhibition as it progresses.

Marni Kotak is a Brooklyn-based performance artist who makes multimedia works in which she presents her everyday life as art. These “Found Performances”, or works based on daily activities, experiences, or accomplishments, include staged re-enactments of her own birth (My Birth, 2011, Alice Chilton Gallery), attending her grandfather’s funeral (2009, English Kills) and losing her virginity in a blue Plymouth (Fountain Art Fair Miami2010). Although her works often contain humor and deal with the absurdity of life situations, Kotak considers her work in the cultural context of artworks now being referred to as "post-ironic," in that it expresses an authentic sincerity about her real, everyday life experience.

Kotak’s work has been featured in PAJ: A Journal of Performance and Art, the New York Times, the Village Voice, NYArts, New York Press, Art New England, The Brooklyn Rail and more. She has performed and/or exhibited at Alice Chilton Gallery, Artists Space, NY Studio Gallery, Cave Gallery, Fountain Art Fair (Miami & NYC), Holland Tunnel, English Kills Art Gallery, Grace Exhibition Space, Open Realization Contemporary Art Center in Beijing, PERFORMA, and others. She received a BA from Bard College and an MFA from Brooklyn College.

Microscope Gallery is a Bushwick gallery dedicated to presenting the works of emerging to internationally recognized film, video, sound, performance and other time-based artists. Microscope Gallery opened in September of 2010. The Birth of Baby X is our 11th exhibition.

More info at www.microscopegallery.com

Extended Hours: Thursday to Wednesday 11AM – 6PM until day of birth
Regular Gallery Hours: Thursday to Monday 1-6PM resume following the birth.

MICROSCOPE Gallery
4 Charles Place (at Myrtle btwn Bushwick & Evergreen Ave)
Brooklyn, 11221
Gallery Hours: Thurs to Mon. 1-6PM
www.microscopegallery.com
Tel: 347.925.1433
email: info@microscopegallery.com
J/M/Z - Myrtle/Broadway
L- Morgan Ave or Jefferson Street

a complicated mysticism, that's right....

2011-09-29T09:55:00.000-07:00

http://iceorg.org/digitice/post/chance-encounters-with-thomas-robertello

CHECK THIS OUT- chicago tribune! Windyonion takes notice.

2011-09-15T23:56:00.000-07:00

Jason Robert Bell, "Mystical Outlaw Rebel Baaddaasss Drawings": Bell's latest series of vigorously bold semi-autobiographical drawings are harsh and fascinating, incorporating everything from salt to wine stains. Through Oct. 15 at Thomas Robertello Gallery, 27 N. Morgan St., 812-345-1886; thomasrobertello.com chicago tribune

Mystical Outlaw Rebel Baaddaasss Drawings

2011-09-10T16:24:00.000-07:00

Thomas Robertello Gallery, Chicago, IL
September 9 - October 15, 2011

Mystical Rebel Outlaw Baadass Drawings
Presented on rotating display in this exhibit is a complete compilation of the drawings created over the past year of Jason Robert Bell’s life. Exhibited in their time-tested portfolio, the Mystical Outlaw Rebel Baadass Drawings Proper of 2011 present a set of 78 drawings as a singular collective object, an interactive sculptural experience available for perusal, study and preservation. All of the drawings not on view in the gallery are available for private viewing by appointment.

Artist Statement
In early memory, or a story I have told myself about myself, in the dark recesses of my education, across vast spans of time to the span across my child self, to the plastic molded desks of Rocket City Utopia’s experimental kindergarten learning pods, sat a young boy and girl across from me, drawing.
The boy was sketching a devil in a violet-red, that hateful second red, the real red crayon broken, a central casting Satan.
The girl was drawing a rainbow by picking up all her colors in a pan-flute configuration. Both of these drawings were coming into being in unison, and upside down, a few feet before me. Another child, the boy that sat beside me, the one who would turn himself purple for a quarter, had given up on his drawing which only had a few lines crudely copied from a soulless motivational poster on the wall. I asked him if I could finish it. He sad nothing, but did nothing when I took the drawing away.
I picked up my colors and made a right-side-up fusion of the two images: a Devil, based on the other boy’s, but more monstrous with retraceable batwings and a pitchfork on fire, this Devil was created completely of rainbows, utilizing the method of the girl.
I then carefully spelled out both their names: K-I-M-B-E-R-L-Y, and J-O-S-H-U-A. When it came time for each of us to stand up and present our drawings, I was the last one. Standing up at Mrs. Breedlove’s request, I presented the drawing to the class. Kimberly was so upset that she vomited on Joshua, who in turn vomited on both their drawings. Leaving my Rainbow Devil Drawing an orphan. A singular creation on to itself.
All of my drawings are the bastard children of this Rainbow Devil…, My drawings are of monsters, creating monsters by monstrous means, from unexpected materials and methods. These drawings to invoke moments from my everyday life, my domestic activities, my romance with my wife, my memories of the long and recent past, frenetic musings, nightmares, wastelands, and everything else and the kitchen sink, oh, and nothing at all as well.
Every drawing I have made since that first drawing, every fusion of what other’s bring forth, what chance offers up to me, is merged into a Thing That Never Was, that might have the same power as that first and greatest creation.
A drawing that actually will have a powerful effect on YOU, and recreate that moment when I became fully aware of the raw power of art.

The Gods of Monumenta

2011-09-07T09:38:00.000-07:00

http://www.flickr.com/photos/belljasonrobert/sets/72157627616768376/with/6123396218/

Archon and Aeon, in process

THese works are about living in Valparaiso, Chile for 3 months during the last Presidential Debates.

The Transmigration of Farrokh Bulsara/Freddie Mercury.

2011-09-06T15:27:00.000-07:00

OKAY I AM CALLING IT! The Transmigration of Farrokh Bulsara! Right now Freddie Mercury, has become the messiah of the singularity. Google as we all know is our collective brains, we are all of us google, Listen to the lyrics, how different are they from the New Testament. Today's Google Doodle sums it all up. Mercery has it all from his exotic roots, rebel that rock an Empire, Dies tragically, but lives on. It is all there folks. MAybe it will take a few thousand years, but what does not?

He has it all
Exotic origins from the east and the old school religion
He is a Zarathustra Booster, for Christsake
with mutable relationship to sexual identity in counter balance with the power of Orpheus!
The Biggest most hateful bigot in the world still has to admit that his voice was amazing
I have walked by in shame as my fellow men have beat the shit out of a possible gay man while playing the music of Queen on a dark night in Rocketcity Utopia.
He was a spat upon champion member, a Samson of a small piranha class that is showy coming into it's own as an social and political force. but more importantly as an economic force. When you got the green you get to create your on Gods, for the Empire to adapt, adopt, and then kill you in a future crusade for the Holy Land whatever random piece of turf is picked between London and Zanzibar, yet your God lives on as a superhuman ideal, whose all too human "imperfections" are sold as proof of his divinity. Queer or Jewish, makes no difference to Caesar, as longs as it get human being to sign up as soldiers to kill in his make-believe name.
That is crawling to Bedlam to be Zion, or words to that effect.

Read these lyrics and tell me that you cannot yourself, without any vend diagrams, clever graphs or pie charts, see that the ideas expressed here are the same as the God News of Jesus Christ Superstar?

Tonight I'm gonna have myself a real good time
I feel alive and the world it's turning inside out Yeah!
I'm floating around in ecstasy
So don't stop me now don't stop me
'Cause I'm having a good time having a good time

I'm a shooting star leaping through the skies
Like a tiger defying the laws of gravity
I'm a racing car passing by like Lady Godiva
I'm gonna go go go
There's no stopping me

I'm burning through the skies Yeah!
Two hundred degrees
That's why they call me Mister Fahrenheit
I'm trav'ling at the speed of light
I wanna make a supersonic man of you

Don't stop me now I'm having such a good time
I'm having a ball don't stop me now
If you wanna have a good time just give me a call
Don't stop me now ('Cause I'm having a good time)
Don't stop me now (Yes I'm having a good time)
I don't want to stop at all

I'm a rocket ship on my way to Mars
On a collision course
I am a satellite I'm out of control
I am a sex machine ready to reload
Like an atom bomb about to
Oh oh oh oh oh explode

I'm burning through the skies Yeah!
Two hundred degrees
That's why they call me Mister Fahrenheit
I'm trav'ling at the speed of light
I wanna make a supersonic woman out of you

Don't stop me don't stop me don't stop me
Hey hey hey!
Don't stop me don't stop me
Ooh ooh ooh (I like it)
Don't stop me have a good time good time
Don't stop me don't stop me
Ooh ooh Alright
I'm burning through the skies Yeah!
Two hundred degrees
That's why they call me Mister Fahrenheit
I'm trav'ling at the speed of light
I wanna make a supersonic woman of you

Don't stop me now I'm having such a good time
I'm having a ball don't stop me now
If you wanna have a good time
Just give me a call
Don't stop me now ('Cause I'm having a good time)
Don't stop me now (Yes I'm having a good time)
I don't wanna stop at all

La la la la laaaa
La la la la
La la laa laa laa laaa
La la laa la la la la la laaa hey!!....

http://www.flickr.com/photos/belljasonrobert/sets/72157625855430304/

Freedy Mercury was born in the British protectorate of Zanzibar, East Africa. His parents, Bomi and Jer Bulsara, were Parsis from the Gujarat region of the then province of Bombay Presidency in British India. The family surname is derived from the town of Bulsar (also known as Valsad) in southern Gujarat. As Parsis, Freddie and his family practised the Zoroastrian religion.
In Zoroastrianism, the Creator Ahura Mazda is all good, and no evil originates from Him. Thus, in Zoroastrianism good and evil have distinct sources, with evil (druj) trying to destroy the creation of Mazda (asha), and good trying to sustain it. Mazda is not immanent in the world, and His creation is represented by the Amesha Spentas and the host of other Yazatas, through whom the works of God are evident to humanity, and through whom worship of Mazda is ultimately directed.

Mystical Rebel Outlaw Baadass Drawings

2011-08-21T12:41:00.001-07:00

Jason Robert Bell
Mystical Outlaw Rebel Baaddaasss Drawings
September 9 - October 15, 2011
Thomas Robertello Gallery
Chicago, IL
Mystical Rebel Outlaw Baadass Drawings

In this exhibit is a complete compilation of the drawings created over the past year of Jason Robert Bell’s life. Exhibited in their time-tested portfolio, the Mystical Outlaw Rebel Baadass Drawings Proper of 2011 present a set of 78 drawings as a singular collective object, an interactive sculptural experience available for perusal, study and preservation. All of the drawings not on view in the gallery are available for private viewing by appointment.

Also three pieces in the exhibit are in keeping with the centerpiece of the show. Handsome Devil, a modest self-portrait, dealing with my need for some dental work. The ten-piece drawing installation, The Dying, Asterix the Gaul, is a study of the artist’s own mortal body, set against the wall of this small project space but eternally resting upon the floor. Win, Involves Domineering ill Will!!!, is an artist book, created by defacing a copy of Brain Alfred's Millions Now Living Will Never Die!!!.
All works in this exhibit are mixed-media on paper, 2011, signed by the artist.

Artist Statementmemory, or a story I have told myself about myself, in the dark recesses of my education, across vast spans of time to the span across my child self, to the plastic molded desks of Rocket City Utopia’s experimental kindergarten learning pods, sat a young boy and girl across from me, drawing.
The boy was sketching a devil in a violet-red, that hateful second red, the real red crayon broken, a central casting Satan.
The girl was drawing a rainbow by picking up all her colors in a pan-flute configuration. Both of these drawings were coming into being in unison, and upside down, a few feet before me. Another child, the boy that sat beside me, the one who would turn himself purple for a quarter, had given up on his drawing which only had a few lines crudely copied from a soulless motivational poster on the wall. I asked him if I could finish it. He sad nothing, but did nothing when I took the drawing away.
I picked up my colors and made a right-side-up fusion of the two images: a Devil, based on the other boy’s, but more monstrous with retraceable batwings and a pitchfork on fire, this Devil was created completely of rainbows, utilizing the method of the girl.
I then carefully spelled out both their names: K-I-M-B-E-R-L-Y, and J-O-S-H-U-A. When it came time for each of us to stand up and present our drawings, I was the last one. Standing up at Mrs. Breedlove’s request, I presented the drawing to the class. Kimberly was so upset that she vomited on Joshua, who in turn vomited on both their drawings. Leaving my Rainbow Devil Drawing an orphan. A singular creation on to itself.
All of my drawings are the bastard children of this Rainbow Devil…, My drawings are of monsters, creating monsters by monstrous means, from unexpected materials and methods. These drawings to invoke moments from my everyday life, my domestic activities, my romance with my wife, my memories of the long and recent past, frenetic musings, nightmares, wastelands, and everything else and the kitchen sink, oh, and nothing at all as well.
Every drawing I have made since that first drawing, every fusion of what other’s bring forth, what chance offers up to me, is merged into a Thing That Never Was, that might have the same power as that first and greatest creation.
A drawing that actually will have a powerful effect on YOU, and recreate that moment when I became fully aware of the raw power of art.

July 15th 11PM 2011 AD

2011-07-13T16:53:00.000-07:00

Mastermind crackpot scheme #67953!

2011-06-30T05:55:00.000-07:00

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZnLoEpDbkZg&feature=youtube_gdata_player

2011-06-29T15:24:00.000-07:00

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oNOdybmtH-0

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8DKZDvbRyY8&feature=youtube_gdata_player

2011-06-29T06:59:00.000-07:00

Check out this video on YouTube:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8DKZDvbRyY8&feature=youtube_gdata_player

Sent from my iPhone

Friend's of Bell

2011-06-26T13:26:00.001-07:00

Dear friend's that were there for me after my fire, I will have your Friend's of Bell, Items out to you by the end of Summer, sorry for the delay's but Life is Such.
Love
Jace the Ace

The Portrait of the Artist as a Screen Shot

2011-06-21T19:00:00.000-07:00

Something on my mind.....

The Locksmith

2011-06-18T20:16:00.001-07:00

cosmic_one a photo by tetragramm on Flickr.

Behold!The Locksmith!

Done for Jeff Lewonczyk's latest masterpiece....

The Locksmith

2011-06-18T20:11:00.000-07:00

http://www.flickr.com//photos/belljasonrobert/sets/72157626990782352/show/

Mastermind

2011-06-13T14:37:00.001-07:00

Mastermind, a set on Flickr.

Photographs from the Mastermind performance at the Brick Theater, Friday July 10th, 11 2011.
You now never have to read another comic book and can now start living one.

Cast
Joe Infurnari as the Penciler/ Assistant Editor/ Arch-enemy/ Best friend/ Jack Kirby
Vincent Como as the Inker/ Plotter
David DOstillo as the Layout Artist/ Assistant Editor
Jeff Lewonczyk as the Writer
Erik Hokanson as the Letter
Jill McDermid as the Special Guest from a Teen Romance Comic
Jj Sulin as the Caveman Robot
Amanda Woodward as the Colorist
Marni Kotak as the Wife
Jason Robert Bell as Editor-in-chief/ Stan Lee/ Jace the Ace/ And Marduke the Destroyer from Planet X

Spacial thanks to Mel Skluzacek , Big Bill Discroll, and Zev Deans as the Bullpen/ The Killjoys

Stephanie Abraitis as the Ultimate Nullifier

Mastermind Opening night

2011-06-13T00:38:00.000-07:00

Thanks to all those that made it out.

Mastermind opens next Friday

2011-06-04T09:41:00.000-07:00

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gvvi7OSNULk

Click the youtube link above for a preview

Hope to see you there, should be a fun time, also those of you out of town, pass this on to your New York people.

Jason

Fri 6/10, 11pm

Mastermind is an immersive staging of an elaborate, futuristic multimedia “game,” waged between two “Hyperestheticnaut” players (artists that have prepared half of an agreed-upon epic story of cosmic battles between forces of Order and Chaos), with “play” to be administered by a projected game master, who acts as a conductor and master of ceremonies.

Mastermind

2011-05-24T19:25:00.000-07:00

Mastermind 2.OMEGA!

2011-05-09T18:14:00.000-07:00

Mastermind

2011-05-03T16:17:00.000-07:00

Mastermind

June 10, 2011

Created by Jason Robert Bell and Joe Infurnari

Mastermind is an immersive staging of an elaborate, futuristic multimedia “game,” waged between two “Hyperestheticnaut” players (artists that have prepared half of an agreed-upon epic story of cosmic battles between forces of Order and Chaos), with “play” to be administered by a projected game master, who acts as a conductor and master of ceremonies. The players attack and counterattack each other as if in a chess match, but the goal is not the decimation of combaters, but the production of a great work of art. Inspired by The Glass Bead Game by Hermann Hesse, Mastermind proposes to present an actual contest, a battle of wits between two artists, merging a shared vision into a cosmic battle that appears as a holographic live human-chessboard area where once there was a theater.

Fri 6/10, 11pm

Opening April Fools Day

2011-03-26T09:49:00.000-07:00

Thomas Robetello Gallery

Jason Robert Bell
The Tetragrammatron Archive: exhibit 1 of 6
April 1 - May 21, 2011
Opens April 1

6:00 PM - 8:00 PM

The Tetragrammatron Archive’s first exhibit, in a series of six, The Bergdork Goodman Beaver Catalogue, or the Singularity,

Fountain Write up

2011-03-11T00:21:00.000-08:00

http://artjetset.com/2011/03/05/fountain-fair-highlights-and-favorites/

The In2it prototype, Livesystems Presents, Fountain Art Fair New York, 2011

2011-03-09T19:05:00.000-08:00

http://www.flickr.com/photos/belljasonrobert/sets/72157626199233446/

http://www.flickr.com/photos/belljasonrobert/sets/72157626199233446/show/
Selling Art is like selling an Air Conditioner to a Eskimo, starting with that as a springboard, We have created the In2it, a personal anti-sunna, an igloo with a working air conditioner.

The Burned Argo

2011-03-09T18:30:00.000-08:00

http://www.flickr.com/photos/belljasonrobert/sets/72157626096169385/show/
What was left after the fire....

The Journey to Chromaticakakakaka

2011-02-18T09:59:00.000-08:00

http://www.flickr.com/photos/belljasonrobert/sets/72157626081560432/

Jace the Ace from Outer Space travels via his Vision Orb, on a Journey to Chromaticakakakaka to a reality made only of living thoughts and feelings in the formless form of radiant color.

NIne and a Half Years Later

2011-02-16T01:18:00.000-08:00

http://www.flickr.com/photos/belljasonrobert/sets/72157606172609402/with/2670345048/

Everyone, Everything, Everywhere, Forever and other drawings by Jason Robert Bell
Yale at Norfolk Summer School of Art Gallery, Norfolk, CT - June 9th to 22nd 2001

Green

2011-02-08T17:29:00.000-08:00

Seeing Beyond The Game, Oh Brainchild, Yonder Starmaiden.

2011-01-30T22:20:00.000-08:00

Seeing Beyond The Game, Oh Brainchild, Yonder Starmaiden.

my latest and greatest Pans, give them a once over...

Engineer designs his own Heart Implant

2011-01-25T20:23:00.000-08:00

check out my latest pans, watch as a slide show to a nice song or two, can you tell me the story?

http://www.flickr.com/photos/belljasonrobert/sets/72157625777617615/with/5386830486/

Surrounded by the various and sometimes bizarre creatures of nature, I received a message. It said: You and this reality are one, search for the sublime in the everyday.

My new term

2011-01-21T20:36:00.000-08:00

So basically most of the overt racist stuff I see ironic wink wink shock value not-racist-post-racist. I call it Drag Racist.

The Transmigration of Farrokh Bulsara

2011-01-18T16:53:00.001-08:00

http://www.flickr.com/photos/belljasonrobert/sets/72157625855430304/show/

Freedy Mercury was born in the British protectorate of Zanzibar, East Africa. His parents, Bomi and Jer Bulsara, were Parsis from the Gujarat region of the then province of Bombay Presidency in British India. The family surname is derived from the town of Bulsar (also known as Valsad) in southern Gujarat. As Parsis, Freddie and his family practised the Zoroastrian religion.
In Zoroastrianism, the Creator Ahura Mazda is all good, and no evil originates from Him. Thus, in Zoroastrianism good and evil have distinct sources, with evil (druj) trying to destroy the creation of Mazda (asha), and good trying to sustain it. Mazda is not immanent in the world, and His creation is represented by the Amesha Spentas and the host of other Yazatas, through whom the works of God are evident to humanity, and through whom worship of Mazda is ultimately directed.

"My Sad Captions" or "Mahler's Convertion from Judaism to Catholicism."

2011-01-10T14:48:00.000-08:00

Click this text to see my latest Pans, "My Sad Captions" or "Mahler's Convertion from Judaism to Catholicism."

Words to Live By-curiously.(wheverthameans!)

2011-01-09T18:56:00.000-08:00

I never forget a face, but in your case I'll be glad to make an exception.
- Groucho Marx

Thousands of years ago, the first man discovered how to make fire. He was probably burned at the stake he had taught his brothers to light. He was considered an evildoer who had dealt with a demon mankind dreaded.
-Ayn Rand
Where Ever You Go, There You Are
- Buckaroo Bonzai

A hero is a goddam stupid thing to have in the first place and a general block to anything you might wanta accomplish on your own.
- Lester Bangs

What merger men are we to need to swaer an oath? Only priests and cowards and deceitful men need to swear oaths, but we are none of those things. To swear would be to suggest we could be men of doubt.
-Brutus, Julius Caesar by William Shakespeare

It Seemed Like A Good Idea At The Time.
- Steve McQueen in THE MAGNIFICENT SEVEN

Every good painter paints what he is.
- Jackson Pollock

Let me strive every moment of my life to make myself better and better, to the best of my ability, that all may profit by it.
- Dr. Clark Savage, Jr

To appreciate the pleasure of the gift of being...
- The Martian to Rock Hudson

Egoism is the very essence of a noble soul.
- Friedrich Nietzsche

I must create a system or be enslaved by another mans; I will not reason and compare: my business is to create.
-William Blake

Imagination is the real and eternal world of which this vegetable universe is but a faint shadow.
-William Blake

Art is not merely an imitation of the reality of nature, but in truth a metaphysical supplement to the reality of nature, placed alongside thereof for its conquest.
-Friedrich Nietzsche

I believe that man will not merely endure. He will prevail.
-William Faulkner

Once is a man's life, for one mortal moment, he must make a grab for immorality; if not, he has not lived.
- Sylvester Stallone

One who fears nothing dares all...
-The Silver Surfer

What is good? To crush your enemies, see them driven before you, and to hear the lamentation of their women.
- Conan the Barbarian

My Mother is an Ape My Father is God I come from the Land of Ghosts.
- Ras Tyger

Human salvation lies in the hands of the creatively maladjusted. - Martin Luther King Jr.

We must always change, renew, rejuvenate ourselves; otherwise we harden.
- Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

I have a New.....Homage to Wallace Berman

2010-12-26T13:39:00.000-08:00

I have a New...Homage to Wallace Berman

2010-12-25T17:04:00.001-08:00

For my Mother....

2010-12-25T15:12:00.000-08:00

http://www.flickr.com/photos/belljasonrobert/sets/72157625545940505/

I took these images this morning Christmas, 2010 for my Mother, Derborah
Jason Robert Bell

I had a large cup of black coffee this morning at 9 am...

2010-12-23T09:44:00.000-08:00

http://www.flickr.com/photos/belljasonrobert/sets/72157625659466924/show/

New Pans

2010-12-22T19:29:00.000-08:00

A Long Winter Walk, 2010

http://www.flickr.com/photos/belljasonrobert/sets/72157625530313023/show/

My Lunch With Undoubting Thomas

http://www.flickr.com/photos/belljasonrobert/sets/72157625649400172/show/

http://www.flickr.com/photos/belljasonrobert/5281918522/in/set-72157625649400172/

The Futurians, portrait of Kari and Torsten

2010-12-20T16:48:00.000-08:00

http://www.flickr.com/photos/belljasonrobert/sets/72157625514910111/show/

I miss my friends Kari and Torsten, this is how much. A portrait of them and all the wonderful interconnected aspects of our friendship.
jason Robert Bell

Trashusres down Memory Lane

2010-12-15T23:04:00.000-08:00

http://www.flickr.com/photos/belljasonrobert/collections/72157606209670410/

Original Trashsures Proposal - To create and then "abandon" a series of art works in the city of New York. These objects will be made from materials that are presently in my studio. They are half-finished, ignored, false starts that are filling up all the valuable space in my studio. There is a raw quality to these pieces that I find at once appealing and also repugnant. I have a compulsive desire to "push" artworks, to keep adding, altering, and fudging with pieces. I also am constantly finding objects that can become the beginnings of great aided ready-made pieces. All of the objects have a truth to them. That truth is that they are unfinished works of art - no one would think that they were random pieces of trash. Through this project they will become simulations of a very real urban phenomena: the waste of a failed artist. Part of living in New York, is to come upon, piles of abandoned semi-destroyed works of art, the trash pile. My pieces would be more assertively placed. I want to confuse people as to whether the pieces have been thrown way or left by mistake. They will be set down, in areas of high traffic where they are sure to be seen. Then the fickle finger of faith will collaborate, these pieces might be ignored for days, destroyed by the first passerby, or taken by some urban trash connoisseur, or some duchampian might claim them as ready-mades. I will produce maps of their locations, which will be mailed out as exhibition notices so individuals will be able to seek out these pieces. The random reward of an Easter egg hunt comes to mind.

This project would be a means of purging these objects from my life. I will simply take them in their present state and scatter them across the city, photographing each one and recording its new home. I hope the outcome of this is two fold, people will see the objects, and know that they are "Artworks" completing the Artist/Viewer circuit. Also the city is supposedly filled with keen-eyed individuals that will hopefully "adopt" these objects, taking them home, completing the Artist/Collector circuit. If I make enough of the pieces and they become known, perhaps someone will write about them completing the Artist / Critic circuit. If that happens perhaps a curator will want to exhibit the objects or their documentation of them, completing the Artist/Gallery circuit. If my assertions are correct, it will prove my idea that art that negates ego and ownership can bring a larger reward for ego and ownership. If you can make people think that you don,t care or are some kind of revolutionary, then they will do whatever they can to embrace you. Why? Everybody wants to be validated by the trickster, on the laughing end of the joke. Everyone wants to be in on the joke. This may come off as a bit of art-world stratagem, but what isn't? What we pretend to be, we become, so I will pretend that I am "abandoning" these works, but in reality I will be claiming the greater world as my own gallery. In the end these pieces are really about the shock of context. The Trashsures are objects that within a gallery would be objects to be look at and judged for aesthetic value. When placed on the street they are object that foster confusion. Every person that passes them has to choose what they are a piece of trash or a treasure.

Jace the Ace

2010-12-15T22:52:00.000-08:00

A song my sister and mother sang to my infant self....

Jace the Ace
From Outer Space
Here to Save the Human Race.

Panics part six

2010-12-15T21:29:00.001-08:00

New Panics

2010-11-30T22:23:00.000-08:00

Panics
exploiting the limitation of the panoramic feature on my Kodak Easy Share, to create new dynamic visual communications of all aspects of my living this human life. My day to day life,work, play, loved ones, my artwork, the media I consume, my thoughts, and random experiments in the formal issues of this improvised three in one format, has generated hundreds of images over the last few months, more and more I have come to see them as my own personal Book of the Dead, a record of my imagination, my mind, my very selfhood, as one perhaps endless, perhaps mobius strip line.

A Journey Path

2010-11-04T20:58:00.001-07:00

Studio Update

2010-10-14T20:18:00.000-07:00

New Drawings....more to come soon....

Jason Robert Bell

Maria Hernandez Park after the 9/16/2010 New York tornado.

2010-09-17T15:19:00.000-07:00

Check out the Photos Here

panoramas of the Maria Hernandez Park after the 9/16/2010 New York tornado.

Turtlecove, the game of Tomorrow, Today!

2010-08-29T21:46:00.000-07:00

Turtlecove, the new game for the 32st Century!

For the Web Exhibit in McCarren Park I will be playing, with my rival opponent Marni Kotak new exciting field game of our own creation. Our two single player teams, Team Alpha in Green and Team Omega in Yellow, will each defend their team's Turtlecove a tiny vessel of water with one tiny red ear turtle of the opposite gender, living within it. The purpose of the game is to defend your own cove while also attacking the other team's cove, The weapon of attack? A larger custom made shuttlecock that must advance ahead of the player via being thrown over a net that goes across the field. Every time a play throws the shuttlecock, they must switch sides under the net. The Ref of the game call points, penalties, and time outs.
A list of rules to this new exciting game will be post as while a few brief workshops

The Next Time Your Are Dreaming.....

2010-08-17T23:56:00.000-07:00

http://www.flickr.com/photos/belljasonrobert/sets/72157624750577278/show/

The Next Time I am Dreaming, I will Realize that I am Dreaming, Am I Dreaming? Is This A Dream?
Digital Stills From A Slideshow.

2010
Jason Robert Bell

Time Out Chicago Pick of the Week

2010-08-01T19:27:00.001-07:00

http://chicago.timeout.com/section/art-design

DFF!

2010-08-01T15:02:00.000-07:00

http://gapersblock.com/ac/2010/07/31/true-love-on-the-sidewalk-on-randolph/

If you find yourself in the West Loop at some point over the next month make sure to stop by Thomas Robertello Gallery at 939 W. Randolph and check out the collaborative video by Brooklyn-based artists Jason Robert Bell and Marni Kotak playing continuously in their storefront window today through September 6. The video, titled "Double Face Fantasy" (named after John and Yoko's final record, Double Fantasy) shows the faces of a pair of lovers performing a narcissistic-yet-romantic duet. Presented as a moving diptych, each artist finger paints the other's face, revealing a self-portrait of the painter. Using the application of paint to uncover flesh, the lovers find themselves quite literally emerging through the eyes of their soulmate. Romantic, huh? The press release says the video is best viewed from the sidewalk after dark, so go there after a dinner date at The Publican or Blackbird or somewhere and you may just seal the deal.

— Kelly Reaves

Thus Bike Z

2010-07-24T13:29:00.000-07:00

a short subject on manpowered motion with discovered compositions of color and line in motion and time, repeat...
Using my outdated cell phone I have been recording moments from my life, times when I discover wonder in everyday things. Today I went for a bike ride, the paint on the street did a dance for me.

Jug & Trumpet

2010-07-21T17:28:00.000-07:00

I short video in which attempt to make something interesting for you to watch, with only myself and my imagination. Can you make something out of nothing, when does play stop and art begin?

Double Face Fantasy

2010-07-08T19:29:00.000-07:00

A collaborative chroma key experiment producing portraiture.
A exploration of the artist model dynamic.
A short experimental video
By Jason Robert Bell and Marni Kotak

Studio Panoramic Experiments July 2010

2010-07-07T06:12:00.000-07:00

This is where the Magic Happens....

Fan Mail

2010-06-27T12:06:00.000-07:00

I have a couple of questions for you about your "art".

1. Why is it so messy? Good Heavens! You would think you painted pictures while having an epiliptical seizure or something.

2. The few pictures I have seen of you look like you just woke up and discovered something between your ass-cheeks. A little smiling goes a long way.

Good luck with your "art".

Best, T.

Michael Thomas Bondurant

New Studio Experiments June 2010

2010-06-14T15:54:00.000-07:00

All the photos may be seen here->
http://www.flickr.com/photos/belljasonrobert/sets/72157624151301363/

These new works are experiments in sculpture. The works are constructed with little or no bonding or joining agents (no glue, screws, or nails) instead using only balance to free-stand autonomously. Each piece may be disassembled and could be put together in other alternative configurations. Each sculpture contains hidden objects that can only be exposed if the pieces are re-arranged.

Working Title: Pan Infinity or pan ∞

2010-06-01T22:11:00.000-07:00

Music by Lou Rawls

video by Jace the Ace

Man With Empire State Building vs. MOMA Coat Check

2010-05-31T17:35:00.000-07:00

Bedford Ave.

2010-05-30T21:56:00.000-07:00

http://tetragrammatron.com/manwithempirestate.html

Update on Man with The Empire State Building

2010-05-30T12:34:00.000-07:00

http://www.flickr.com/photos/belljasonrobert/sets/72157624136456208/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/belljasonrobert/sets/72157624136456208/
Man with The Empire State Building by Hope Cartelli

These are the photos and video, I am taking as I am doing my The Man with the Empire State Building Performance. I will not Photography Myself unless I see a reflections of myself.
Find out more here...

tetragrammatron.com/manwithempirestate.html

My Feet Hurt....

Man with the Empire State Building

2010-05-26T14:12:00.000-07:00

Man With The Empire State Building or, The Experimental Everyman Empire Project

May 27th to June 2nd, 2010

A Open Call to My Friends, and The World

I invite you to take part in an experiment.

For the course of seven days, starting with my 38th birthday, I will spend the better part of the day, the majority of my waking life exploring the five boroughs of the city that has been my home for the last ten years, traveling only as a pedestrian or with public transport . The whole while I will be slightly burdened with the Empire State Building. Actually an oversized incomplete poorly-constructed scale paperboard model of the Empire State Building.

I need you and only you to:

1. get the word out ...

2. if you see me take a photo and upload it.

3. Make sure you label it

"The Man With the Empire State Building"
Man walks around with piece of trash does anyone give two turds?

You are reading this because you are someone I respect, someone I have meet in person, someone who, I know actual cares about me and my happiness.

I would like your creative input and assistance with this experiment, I want to see if I live in the actual world I think I live in. One in which my nervous system has been extended out into the greater world, beyond my body via media.

In other words, I want you to take my picture, while I am carring the Empire State building.

If you do not know me personally then you are reading this because someone who knows me forwarded this to you. Your creativity and efforts are being called upon.

I need you to read this text, the rest is up to you. To generate photographs of myself with the Empire State Building.

cavemanrobot@gmail.com

I can be contacted above and now so below...

The Story

2010-05-22T20:19:00.000-07:00

Sitting at the new wine bar in "Our Community," called Bodega. Just talking with Jason about what our future partnership will be like and all, and there is this clangoring apparition of a long blonde-haired, skinny preteen girl trying relentlessly to pen The Story of what happened. She's just there in the window to our side of this table we just kissed beneath, where we sit on the floor facing each other figuring it all out. She is trying to figure it out too, but for her, the story is hard to spell out. It began with a boy that she didn't get along with. Somewhere in there was a black and blue. And her favorite was strawberry. She kept shaking the pen, thinking it ran out of ink, but only because she was holding it up against the window. I told her to hold it down and write on the ground, and that helped. I asked her where her parents were and she told me that her mother lived somewhere else and that she was staying with her step-father for the weekend. Every Friday, Saturday and Sunday night he picks her up. I wondered where he was and why she was outside pressing her deepest secrets against the outside window of a bar at 10pm on a Friday night, where I and Jason and other cultural predators of the night frolicked merrily. I asked her why she was out here, and she said that "he", pointing at the bartender, said to write a story and he would hang it on the wall. So there she scrolled on the back of one side of an 8 1/2 x11 black and white menu from some wine party they had had just to put something of what happened into the world and into the hands of an older man she hoped she could trust. And I couldn't help but sense that the green-eyed monster driving her nervous fear, making her run to the nearest sign of civilization--this hipster bar on her block--was that same one inside me. I wanted that story! But I had no money on me. And neither did Jason. I went inside the bar and relayed the story of what just happened to Jason, and how we had to buy the story. He said we could go to an ATM and get her $20. , but I said that was too much and maybe she'd be mugged. "How about $5.?" That's good I said. And then he worked out something with the bartender, and we walked outside with $5. for the girl and bought her secret. I didn't know if I had helped her or hurt her.

Caveman Robot: The Invocation of Alexander Hamilton

2010-05-17T15:45:00.000-07:00

Escape from New York Opening and Exhibit
Paterson, New Jersey
May 15th, 2010
Ink, Charcoal, and Oil Stick on Five Museum Board Panels mounted on Wood

by Jason Robert Bell with assistance from Marni Kotak

Thanks to Olympia Lambert for putting together the exhibit...

Spontaneous Metaphysical Portraits

2010-05-14T16:16:00.000-07:00

For the Escape from New York auction.

2010-04-30T05:49:00.000-07:00

http://www.flickr.com/photos/belljasonrobert/sets/72157623835996043/

Moonchild, or Couples Ceremonial Cricket Bats
Mixed Media, Plastic Woven Bags, and spray paint, 2010

No time to rotate........so busy

"Spontaneous Metaphysical Portraits"

2010-04-24T16:53:00.001-07:00

Music/Arts - Performance
Date:
Saturday, May 8, 2010
Time:
12:00pm - 6:00pm
Location:
Postmasters Gallery
Street:
459 West 19th Street (at 10th Avenue)
Description

On Saturday, May 8th, 2010, from 12 Noon to 6 PM, New York-based artist JASON ROBERT BELL invites the public to have him do their “Spontaneous Metaphysical Portrait” at Postmasters Gallery. Throughout gallery hours, in the manner of a traditional caricature artist, Bell will ambidextrously sketch gallery visitors interested in sitting for transformative 15 minute sessions.

Invoking the most primordial interaction of the artist with the public, Bell will engage directly with the metaphysical essence of each of his new models.

This transcendent experience will involve a short interview, an assessment of their morphology, and ultimately a performance of the oldest and most sacred way that an artist interacts with another person: by drawing them.

As with the drawings that are currently on display in the “Mirror, Mirror” exhibit at Postmasters, Bell will be employing his trance-induced hand drawing methods from the perch of his custom-constructed drawing bench and sitters stool. Each portrait created by Bell is intended to reveal the unseen and unknowable aspects of his sitters, fusing life drawing with imaginary discoveries and building upon the psychological phenomenon of ‘first impressions’. Each of the “Spontaneous Metaphysical Portraits” created on this date will be available to their subjects for a nominal fee to be agreed upon by the sitter, the artist, and the dealer ,however that there is no obligations for the sitters to acquire their portraits.

http://tetragrammatron.com/

I like that show, Fringe

2010-04-24T07:46:00.000-07:00

http://assets2.artslant.com/ny/articles/show/15661

Mirror, Mirror
Postmasters

A Portrait of a Portrait of a Portrait
by Michelle Levy

Feeling defiantly fringe-ish in the gallery, Jason Robert Bell’s “metaphysical portraits” are garish psychedelic depictions of human souls. Created frenetically with chalk, charcoal, oil stick and watercolor washes, these deformed apparitions, have a curiously endearing human quality to them.

C.H.U.D. Artifacts

2010-04-17T18:22:00.000-07:00

Here ye here ye, my proclamation of all things right and true I give you a collection of found art that I came upon with my good pal dave D'Ostilio, we found a series of wooden objects lightly taped together into discreet singular objects they seemed like something intentional but magically somehow not. We tried to best save the moment. picking up the piles of wood, we laid them out in an impromptu arrangement atop the rusty garbage cans. First the objects were the elements of a city. A child's play game, the vertical arrangements were actual towers making the cities, and the flatter stacks were bridges or water itself. Then dave said that one of them looked like a co-worker of our and we then went on to name the rest of them with other co-workers, which fused with the city, making a new city of little wooden block men. In case, you don't know what a C.H.U.D. is google Ch.U.D./
dave and I are always joking about C.H.U.D.s and we think that these items might be artifact from the C.H.U.D.s from some point in the not too distant future. These are artifacts from the future that are coming back in time.
Once Dave loaded himself up with the artifacts he too became a work of found art. He told me that he felt like a "Man with An Idea" caring the artifacts home.
Your Humble Servant
Jasonrobert Bellpheron

Mirror, Mirror Exhibit at Postermasters

2010-04-08T18:55:00.000-07:00

My Drawings are currently up in the Mirror, Mirror Exhibit at Postermasters.

Postmasters Mirror, Mirror exhibit
459 West 19th Street (at 10th Avenue) New York, NY 10011

Metaphysical Portraits - Captain Lumaria , 2010
charcoal, watercolor, india ink, oil stick on paper
24 x 18 inches

Metaphysical Portraits - Chrislegula , 2010
charcoal, watercolor, india ink, oil stick on paper
24 x 18 inches

Metaphysical Portraits - Jalzostien , 2010
charcoal, watercolor, india ink, oil stick on paper
26 x 20 inches

Metaphysical Portraits - Rax , 2010
charcoal, watercolor, india ink, oil stick on paper
24 x 18 inches

The Black Madonna

2010-04-01T16:17:00.000-07:00

sound from the Beatles Lady Madonna and Kenneth Anger's Lucifer Rising music by Bobby BeauSoleil and the Freedom Band. Image defaced Nurse Jackie Poster at the Jefferson stop on the NYC Subway L line.

The Foot Bandit

2010-03-28T18:30:00.000-07:00

Metaphysical Portraits

2010-03-23T21:02:00.000-07:00

My latest Metaphysical Portraits are up on Flickr

Can be seen here->

Meet the Staff

2010-01-07T18:17:00.000-08:00

According to Statcounter, someone at the department of Homeland Security looked at my Meet the Staff page for over 6 minutes today. I wonder how long it took them to get the joke?

http://www.tetragrammatron.com/thestaff.html

The White Feathered Octopus

2010-01-07T12:18:00.000-08:00

currently my studio work is writing a book, which is kind of odd, but I am doing drawings the whole time as part of the process. This drawing is related to one of the stories in the book, which is basically a series of personal essays inter-weaving my autobiography, with dreams, ideas, and the fictions I create from the three.

XMas Card 2009

2009-12-25T07:29:00.000-08:00

New Experimental Drawings 2009

2009-11-18T16:18:00.000-08:00

http://www.flickr.com/photos/belljasonrobert/sets/72157622542658697/

Parsons hall project space
362 dwight st. Holyoke,ma

hhorrrautica 4: (Crypto)
Curated by torsten zenas burns
october 10th/11th + 17th/18th 2009
gallery hours 12pm-5pm
opening: Saturday 7-11pm - october 10th

An odd thing, yes?

2009-10-28T08:31:00.000-07:00

Some joker used this blog as a hypertext link footnote on Uncyclopediahttp://uncyclopedia.wikia.com/wiki/UnNews:Scientist_swallowed_by_whale,_survived_undigested
I actually think it is funny, it is listed as Alberta Signatory "Tale of a modern Jonah". The New Torker, October 27, 2009, but when you click it you go here.

NUTS!: A message to a young artist that asked for advice

2009-09-07T08:54:00.000-07:00

2008, Oil, acrylic, epoxy, metallic pigments, collage, and sand on canvas, 9 x 12 inches - collection Paul Bennett

To read more about the Battle of the Bulge and NUTS follow this linkhttp://www.thedropzone.org/europe/Bulge/kinnard.html

I was asked for advice from a younger artist who has fallen on hard times, and I thought what I wrote was the seed, or rather a nut (pardon the pun), of something profound that I thought I would share. I have expanded on what I wrote the other night, with a few more poetics, and examples.

For a long time I have always loved and drew strength from the Allied Commander's reply to the German Commander's demand for surrender, The Germans wrote a formal letter, and the Allied replied back on typed paper "NUTS". And then bravely fought and defeated the Germans, in a bitter battle that they perhaps should have lost.

I am a sucker for laughing in the face of death and defeat, but the actual word they chose, adds a number of levels and ideas to that laugh.

Think about the 3 different meanings of the word "Nuts", and that word should be your mantra, in most people's cases instead of Nazis is this just Life itself, Life is out to get you, it will not be happy till we are all dead, Life is the Nazis, Life has written and nice formal letter demanding your surrender, it is hopeless and you are going to die, and your reply should always be NUTS!

Let's look at the first meaning of Nuts, a meager food that is pulled from lowing plants and out of the dirt, but enough to give you what you need, all else is luxury. Get by with less, show the bastards that you can take almost nothing and live off it. Think of the mountain climber that takes a handful of nuts to give themselves the energy reach the peak. Often times a scoop of Peanut butter was all we had for dinner when I was a kid, my Dad said that a scoop of Peanut Butter had as much protein as a steak, so we each had a scoop with a glass of water or milk and that was that.

Nuts- to be crazy, rush in where sane people fear to trend, Life wants you fearful and docile slave that gives up, bold action is always best. Think of the Fool, the Trickster, often times the prime mover in creation myths, the snake in the garden, the raven steals the sun, "Please don't throw me in the Briar Patch, Brer Fox!", do the one thing that no one expects from you, stick out your tongue, throw a whoopee cushion under the teachers seat. Be El-ahrairah, "the prince with a thousand enemies" from Watership Down. They'll catch you and try to humble you, often they might hobble you in the process, but you still made they have to deal with you, you were not ignored, you got in there and did something, anything.

Nuts- Sorry to take a profane turn, but testicles, your balls (ovaries for women if you like) the most base and private part of your gross body, the whole reason you have a body, to carry theses seeds of Life, That divine spark, that is not floating out in some imaginary void, but here in your form, in matter, in your NUTS! Now tell those Nazi, they can suck your nuts, which is are also your family jewels, they carry your seed, plant your seed in Life, Teabag those Nazis and have them give birth to your visions, with your mindpenis (we all have one). Have children, teach them to believe all the crazy stuff you believe in, there is a great line from Send in the Clouds by the Silver Jews: "I am the trick my mother played on the world!". Life is amassing an army, of crappy jobs, lackluster romances, failure, old age, and death, and that is it, this is not a dress rehearsal. We float here in the wonderful green and blue gem, we have this amazing awareness, we can build amazing things, create music and bring impossible visions into actual form. Take as many of them out before you die.
Tell them NUTS!

More old drawings

2009-08-23T11:35:00.001-07:00

More old drawings up on Flickr! Check them out if you care to.

submission to Smoke Signal#2

2009-08-10T11:25:00.000-07:00

submission to Smoke Signal#2
Dr. John Zarathustra, DDS show to young Zarathustra Boosters, where the money they collect for Zarathustra Global Solutions, goes.
-Jason Robert Bell

Willy Nilly Placards

2009-08-09T13:21:00.000-07:00

My good friends Hope and Jeff asked me to wipe up three signs/props for the latest project Willy Nilly, The wanted 3 signs one of Nietzsche, one of Captain Marvel, and one of L. Ron Hubbard, I am not sure how they are going to be worked out in the actual play but I am always happy to help my friends.

For more information on Willy Nilly, which is opening soon, visit www.pipermckenzie.com or The company's blog, The Piperline, at pipermckenzie.blogspot.com. For more information on FringeNYC, visit www.fringenyc.org.

Drawing Myself down Memory Lane.

2009-08-06T10:54:00.000-07:00

I have been doing a lot of thinking, a lot of strolls down memory lane, digging through my boxes of old drawings and using flickr to archive everything worthy of being so. I am trying to spend an hour each day doing this, and the efforts can be seen here-> The actual stacks of drawings rate into the thousands, so only the really great ones are making the cut. It is interesting to see how my drawing style(s) have changed over the years and various experiments that I have done to make a drawing.

As a side to this project I now have all my Tarot Drawings from way back in 1994 scanned and uploaded.
8.5"x11", ink, crayon, and watercolor on paper, mounted on card.
The drawings were done over the spring and summer of 1994. They started off as a parody of the The Rider Waite Tarot, the most widely recognized Tarot deck. But little by little the project took on a life of it's own, and I really tried to discover new forms and ideas within this old system of symbols. These drawings were made without any sketches or redos, whatever I started with I went with.

New Found Objects!

2009-07-30T13:04:00.000-07:00

New pre-packed "Found Objects", by little old me, available only thought Desert Island, in Brooklyn!

NO, longer walk the streets with your
face down to the pavement
like a dime store thug,
walk proud and talk
knowing that you already have what
you need for your next
readymade art project.
Makes a great Gift!

Already Invisible Donkey Free?

2009-07-07T12:22:00.000-07:00

Already Invisible Donkey Free? Then order our offical I.D.R. online certification kit for only $25.00. Our artful certificate is suitable for framing.

find out more at idr.html

Lucky the Wondercat

2009-06-22T16:04:00.000-07:00

This morning June 22, 2009 my dear friend and cat of the last 16 years passed away in my arms. Lucky had started to show his years in the last few weeks, but seemed healthy. He took ill last night, and I was getting him ready to take him to the vet for an emergency check-up when he expired. Lucky had a long happy life, with many friends, and was always there for me, in all my adventures. Often times sitting on my lap or atop my shoulders while I worked in the studio. Lucky was with me while I created most of the artworks.

Lucky was hit by a car when he was a kitten, and the Chicago animal shelter that saved him gave him his name, because he was "Lucky to be alive." We all know that cats have three names, my former next door neighbor Bolander, informed me that Lucky's second, fancy name was Lucifer G. Carmichael. The thrid name was Lucky's secret.

Beside being a hansome, playful, mostly well behaved animal Lucky was quite the Mouser, and actually caught a large number of them in Chicago, New Haven, and Brooklyn, the most recent one only a few weeks ago.In recent years, Lucky had become the constant companion of my father, Robert since he has moved in with us here in Brooklyn. Often times I would hear my Dad having long conversations with Lucky passing the night away. Lucky made our lives better, in everyway.

Lucky was the best cat a man could have and will miss him forever.- Jason Robert Bell

Submission for SMOKE SIGNAL

2009-05-25T13:55:00.000-07:00

Gabe at Desert Island, asked me to submit something for the new free comix newspaper he is publishing, so I took an old joke I had with my friend Jon, that has never seen fruition and here we have The Lemmings. Who are a straight out inversion of the Smurfs.

Jason Robert Bell

Blast from my past, Liebography pilot and The Liebotron 2600, and a chain of events.

2009-05-18T09:13:00.000-07:00

I was poking around on the interweb last night, and came across this gem-

This is a TV pilot for a show we started on NYC public access called "Liebography" that's a parody of A&E's "Biography" and VH1's "Behind the Music". In this episode Paul Scheer, who later went on to fame on the MTV show "Human Giant", and co-host The Liebotron 2600 examine the tumultuous life of rap superstar Eminem.

This pilot was shot in my old Bushwick, Brooklyn Studio, a creation of my friends Brian and Jay, I built the fake computer and props and my cat Lucky played the part of Lady Marmalade.

In a funny 20/20 hindsight way, meeting Paul lead to all matter of other projects and people in my life.

Talking with Paul, resulted in me and my work friends Steve, Debby, and Kory performing by hairbrainded Robert Wadlow piece Automatic Vaudville in the Arsnova Theater . Which lead to us performing at the Brick Theater, where I meet my friend a future collaborators Hope and Jeff. Which lead to a number of projects at the Brick, and my magnum opus Adventures of Caveman Robot. Life is a funny thing.

-Jason Robert Bell

The Tiger Triangle

2009-05-10T19:14:00.000-07:00

I had a great meeting today with my two good friends and great creators; theatrical impresario Jeff Lewonczyk and musical maven Debby Schwartz who are working with me on a new exciting project. Which is adapting Stravinsky’s Rite of Spring into a multi-media Action Adventure theater piece with the John Cage Aria as a starting place for the musical arrangement.
We are moving slow on this project right now, all busy with other things, but it is forming, growing now, fruit on the vine that when ripe will be plucked.

The Tiger Triangle is a joke between Jeff and myself when the three of us were working on Adventures of Caveman Robot, which the power of Visual Art, Theater, and Music, coming together to create something new and maybe dangerous.

Backuz

2009-04-21T16:26:00.000-07:00

2009, Oil, acrylic, epoxy, metallic pigments, collage, and sand on canvas, 5 x 7 inches

I am only really happy when I have 2 or 3 different somewhat unrelated art projects going on, my main project right now is the Caveman Robot Animation Project, I am trying work full time on the animation, but man does not live by bread alone, to keep my sanity, I am going to try to have a new little metaphysical painting done every week or so, this in the first one. Backcuz, which builds off of Maxon, a play with the schism of the mind and the body/soul of a person.

-Jason Robert Bell

The Four Elements

2009-04-15T10:31:00.000-07:00

Prithvi (earth), 2009, acrylic, epoxy, metallic pigments, collage, and sand on canvas, 10 x 8 inches

Vaya (air), 2009, acrylic, epoxy, metallic pigments, collage, and sand on canvas, 10 x 8 inches

Jala (water), 2009, acrylic, epoxy, metallic pigments, collage, and sand on canvas, 10 x 8 inches

Agni (fire), 2009, acrylic, epoxy, metallic pigments, collage, and sand on canvas, 10 x 8 inches

These new paintings were done as a commission for my good friend and great actor Jay Klaitz, who some of you might know as the Capital One Guardian Angel from a few years back.

What I'm working on

2009-04-08T09:30:00.000-07:00

A new series of paintings for a commission, will have them all up soon.

Interview with Qi Peng

2009-03-26T17:11:00.000-07:00

ASSASSINATION: Jason Robert Bell, Artist Represented by Thomas Robertello Gallery
March 23, 11:38

The golden opportunity to speak my friend Jason Robert Bell, who had gone to Yale University School of Art as I had gone to the same university too, was well appreciated. Bell's work has matured into a delightful series of mixed media metaphysical portraits of various colorful spirits that inhabited a totally imagined universe that captivates our eyes and senses. The strength of his artwork is evident within his ability to render these entities within a time and space that cannot be pinned down easily.
Also Bell mashes up various conceptual art installation work as if it were executed by a brilliant outsider artist. Those works are pretty hard to describe and I feel that the artist's words will be more exacting than my hapless phrases.
If you have any questions about Bell's artwork, feel free to contact Thomas Robertello Gallery at tr@thomasrobertello.com or at (312) 421-1587.

qi peng: You call your mixed media paintings which are figurative in subject "metaphysical portraits." What does the term "metaphysical" mean to you and does it differ from the traditional Greek philosopher's approach to the subject? You also use a ton of epoxy, collage, and other methods even colored sand to create the final piece. What accounts for the use of such materials? Do you consider yourself to be a shaman or a wizard within your studio setting? What is the magic behind the process of painting?

Jason Robert Bell: In terms of what metaphysics means to me, I’ll go with what Friedrich Nietzsche said “Art is not merely an imitation of the reality of nature, but in truth a metaphysical supplement to the reality of nature, placed alongside thereof for its conquest.” I am always on the look out for materials to use, I started using colored sand because I found a box on the street filed with brand new jars of colored sand. I was well aware of the sand paintings of the past, and wanted to access that history. I think of myself as first and foremost an Artist, with a capital “A”, for me that means being a hermitic thinker, who uses the visual arts as a point of entry to explore the larger world of the human imagination. For me that is what art is about, making the invisible seen, bringing the world of the imagination into this world, and merging the two, that is a metaphysical act.

qi peng: Upon looking at the paintings of distorted and colorful characters, would you say that your work has historical similarities to that of Picasso and Glenn Brown? How does your work act as a form of commentary on modernist traditions, particularly cubism? What other historical precedents are there within your paintings and drawings? In what way is the act of painting a form of historical recording?

Jason Robert Bell: In terms of History I would be more connected to ancient Greece, Native American art, Japanese Woodcuts, and European alchemical engravings from the middle ages. However, there reaches a point, where you are no longer thinking about any other artist, you are just making your work, you can’t stand upon the shoulders of giants forever, you have to jump off and see if you can stand on you on two feet. I first art experiences was animated shorts I watched on television when I was a child, The Warner Brothers, MGM, UPA shorts, the work of Bob Clampett, Chuck Jones, Gene Deitch, and Tex Avery. Synthetic Cubism had a profound influence on that cartooning, so in an indirect way Picasso is in my mind. As an art student I enjoyed the German expressionist, Max Beckmann, Otto Dix, George Grosz, Oskar Kokoschka, and Paul Klee but also people like William Blake, Frans Hals, Jackson Pollock, Wallace Berman, Robert Rauschenberg, Yves Klein, Niki de Saint Phalle, Jean Tinguely. Although I was just invested in cartoonist liked Jack Kirby, Robert Crumb, and Jean “Moebius” Giraud. I could list dozens of artist that are important to me, but finally you have to be your own artist, you have to cut the head off of the master.

qi peng: A lot of your paintings feature cavemen, primitive people, and wild beasts running rampant around a certain landscape such as the jungle. What draws your imagination towards the primitive and the primal instincts within the human or beast? What emotional connotations exist within your artwork? How do you translate how you feel onto the support, such as the canvas or paper?

Jason Robert Bell: Without trying to put to high-minded Rousseauian spin on this, I think it comes down to trying to connect with the primal positive power of being a living human animal on this very much alive and living earth. I feel one of the great mistakes of our culture is a denial of ourselves as animals, the real king of the beasts, that we are. The bible got it wrong, there was never a fall from grace, this is Eden and we are perfect just as we are, if we wish it to be so. An animal live in an “Eternal Now” that is always what I am going for in my work a space in which there is not past or future on the now.

qi peng: Your Kala series portrays an ongoing portrait of a primitive lady interacting with various objects such as a harp or a fruit or demonstrating emotions such as sadness, etc. Would you say that this is a form of anthropology? What does Kala's behavior tell us about our identity as humans? What are the proper ethics for humans to treat animals based on the concepts driving your artwork?

Jason Robert Bell: Kala came about slowly over the course of a few years, In many ways she was a self portrait, coming out of the Jungian anima concept, of “the other” we all have within us that is our opposite and our deeper true self. I tried to show a whole range of emotions with Kala, I wanted people to feel pathos for her, to see her as the protagonist of the world she was in. Kala was the fusion of a lot of things in my life, a inside joke with the woman I was dating at the time, an expression of The late Philip José Farmer’s book, Mother Was a Lovely Beast, and a reaction to working as an assistant to Lisa Yuskavage and Kiki Smith. Both of whom I learned a great deal from, in terms of a certain level of fearlessness in terms of subject. I wanted to take what they had done a flip it around, invert it, and turn it into something new. To me Kala is not a human or an animal; she is a monsteress, a totem, a spiritual creature, and a goddess. I did do a few pieces were Kala was fighting present-day human male hunters. For me it just made sense, she was a kind of Mother Nature figure, so that why not have her show some arrogant sportsmen, the real power of nature. I think ideally people should only eat meat if they are willing to do the killing themselves, that being said, I feel that we as the stewards of this earth, should treat animals with respect, regardless if we are using them for food. Life is by its very nature about death and killing, but it should be understood as a sacred and profoundly meaningful fact of life. For me Art and Life are one and the same, as much as Kala is about nature, is also about “Painting”, Kala is the daughter of Willem de Kooning’s Woman paintings, she is the sprit of painting itself, the brutal muse that has been standing behind us all, sex and death rolled into one big beautiful beast.

qi peng: As you are represented by Thomas Robertello Gallery now, what have your experiences with the gallery system been like? What are some of the problems that you have faced with gallery directors and/or non-profit space owners? What are some of your joyous moments that you had with galleries? Are there any future projects/installations that you dream of executing someday? As a New York artist with Chicago-based representation, what has been the response to this particular relationship?

Jason Robert Bell: Thomas has been an ongoing supportive force in my work, he has really struggled to create something special with his gallery, and his belief in my work and his representation has meant a lot to me. He is the only dealer I have ever worked with that I really trust. That is the main issue with dealers, can you trust them, do they respect you and all are they willing to give you a hundred and ten percent. An art dealer needs to be able to sell snow in Alaska; if they can do that then you have someone special.

Besides that most of my experiences with galleries and exhibition experiences have been rather horrible and confusing, Which I think is par for the course with most artists, there is an inverted pyramid in all of the creative fields I have been involved in (art, comics, media, advertising, theater, and art education) there are exceptions, but so many times it is the most unimaginative, the most small minded, short sighted people in charge of situations. I don’t know if the whole world is run by soulless weasels, or just “creative fields”, but the actual talent, the Artist are treated like garbage, as if we are a dime a dozen.

I would love to have a commercial gallery in New York, if for no other reason that more of my friends could attend my exhibits, but it just has not been in the cards, I have exhibited with the Secret Project [Robot] Art Space for the last four years here in Brooklyn, and they (Rachel and Eric) and sweet wonderful people that run a great alterative space. I have also done a few projects with the Brick Theater, which is an important independent performance space in Brooklyn.

I have really enjoyed working with Susan Classen-Sullivan, who gave me a 10-year retrospective at the Hans Weiss Newspace Gallery in Manchester, CT a few years ago. My father was able to come to the opening and I gave an artist talk to about 200 people that night, I had just been able to get him cataract surgery and he was able to see again for the first time in years. That night meant a lot to him, and myself.

I have notebooks filled with ideas for exhibitions, projects, and installations, I would like to do, but such is the nature of being an artist below most people’s radar.

Anything that is too important to me, always finds a ways of coming to fruition, I don’t dream, I make dreams. Currently I am talking with some of my collaborators about adapting Stravinsky’s Rite of Spring into a multi-media Action Adventure theater piece with the John Cage Aria as a starting place for the musical arrangement.

qi peng: How do you feel that the current economic recession impacted the contemporary art market and way that it functions in the larger national economy? Do you feel that artists will be pursuing more personal and intimate projects than the overly commercial work, typically geared for the art fairs, during the upcoming years? How do you think that galleries and non-profits will be coping with the dramatic shifts within the political and corporate culture, particularly in America? Do you have any thoughts about the current state of the stock market and its concomitant corruption such as the recent Madoff scandal?

Jason Robert Bell: None of what has happen surprised me, capitalism when it is separated from ethics, morals, foresight, empathy, and the basic social contract is a self-destructive beast. I am sure that Madoff’s actions are way more common than people could imagine, I would hazard to say that the whole economy is a Ponzi scheme is some form or another, aren’t most of us robbing Peter to pay Paul to rob Peter? Too many people act under the precept that “Good Business is Bad Humanity”. They don’t seem to understand that if you screw all the people over, and then you’re not going to get repeat business.

Economics is a system of illusions; an agreement to invest worth into abstractions, in many ways it is a system of “art” as opposed to a “science”. But, just as in any system, if you lose sight of what are the means and what are the ends, you are in trouble. I have always lived as a bohemian, hand to mouth, never have been able to save a dime, it has always been feast or famine for me, so when the “Econopocalypse”, happen it did not really effect me, that much, I actually have continued to sell work, at slightly lower prices, people know they can get a deal right now, so I am happy to give them one.

None of these matters to me, an artist is going make art, no matter what happens to the world, when there is a will there is a way, where there is life, there is hope. The grass always pushes up through the pavement. The dynamics might change, but if as long as people want to have art experiences, there will be art. And there is always someone making money, it just might be different people. Hopefully this will cull some of the herd, and the strong will come out stronger.

qi peng: What is your opinion on juried competitions such as New American Paintings and curated artists registries such as The Drawing Center's Viewing Program or White Columns in the development of a young artist's career? Do you feel that being judged by "officials" or "art referees" help to create a strong reputation for the artist's work? What elements do you think are necessary to make a particular artwork strong and communicative? With the rise of online curated galleries such as Collegeartonline (CAO) or Ugallery, do you think that those type of galleries are a good stepping stone into the larger art network?

Jason Robert Bell: My personal opinion of most of the institutions you have listed is frankly pretty low, seeing as how I have been rejected by most of them. Since I know that what I do is exceptional, there is an obviously real problem with how they operate. However, I know artist that have had good experiences going through those programs, and they have lead to other opportunities. That is the rub, whenever I have actually gotten through any official art world membrane it has always lead to something, another exhibit, a sale, a new connection. So it is an important reality that artist have to deal with, if they want to get their work out into the world. But, I am baffled as to how they choose the people they do and why, it always seems to come down to some issue of taste and surfaces readings of work, married with “knowing someone on the inside”. That could just be sour grapes, on my part, but I think not.

For me it came down to why am I wasting my time trying to whore myself to people who just don’t understand what I am doing. I did a whole series of abandoned sculpture pieces called “Trashsures” as an act of frustration with the art exhibition system. I had to stop doing that project, if you are not careful you can really lose your self to all these forces, and turn into a clown. I have had better luck with people finding me through my personal website (http://www.tetragrammatron.com/), and creating my own projects and events, creating my on system instead of only being a pawn to an external system.

qi peng: What are some of your favorite artists, books, television shows, sports, art magazines, toys, movies, and other cultural artifacts that you wish to share with your fans of your work here? Do you have any recent galleries or exhibitions that you have seen and would to recommend to us? What things in those shows inspired your visual eye and imagination?

Jason Robert Bell: Besides, artist from history, there are very few current living artist that I am that invested in. Two of my good friends, Chris Uphues and Joe Infurnari both live on the same street as me in Brooklyn, I share my work and art with them and they with me, what there doing in their studios means a great deal to me. My close friend Britton Walters who is in Chicago, has done a daily drawing on his website (www.nerfect.com) for the last 5 years and I go every Wednesday to see the weekly update, he is a genius. Of all the art magazines I have always enjoyed Art in America the most, mainly due to a certain scholarly bent to the articles. With Artforum I always feel like I am reading a “cool hunter manual”, I check out Boingboing.net every day, I love old pulp fiction such as Doc Savage and Tarzan; I spend some time everyday reading the Encyclopedia and the OED. I really enjoyed the documentary Man on Wire.

Recent exhibits, Matt Jones at BUIA and Rachel Beach at Like the Spice, both New York that are worth checking out.

When I was last in Chicago, Scott Wolinak had a great exhibit at the Cultural Center. I really enjoy independent theater and whenever my friends Hope Cartelli and Jeff Lewonczyk are doing a performance I am there.

I judge other people’s art, by how much does it inspire me, and does it make me want to get into the studio and work. All my friends are creative people that I respect as artist, so it is in that community I find my inspiration.

qi peng: What is your opinion of art world journalism and art critics such as Jerry Saltz? Do you read periodicals such as ArtForum or ARTnews to get an up to date understanding of what goes on within the art world? Do you have any favorite artistic blogs or websites that you enjoy looking at on a regular basis? Do you feel that smaller, regional art markets like Chicago will have a chance to expand their horizons into becoming essential and vibrant art hot spots just like Los Angeles or New York City during the recession? What do you think is the current state of contemporary art within New York City where you live?

Jason Robert Bell: I have known Jerry for years, he has always treated me with respect, he is a considerate thinker that cares about Art and all of us Artist and wants the best for us. I think we would be better off if there were more Jerry’s out there.

I terms of keeping up with the Art World, I am not that good at it, If I want to know what going on, I go to the Galleries and see the shows first hand, am on a lot of mailing list and if something is happening that sounds interesting I’ll try to see it. Facebook has been really helpful for networking and keeping up with events.

I don’t know what is the alchemy needed to boost Chicago to the level of a New York or a Los Angeles, Chicago is the capital of middle America, and is a world onto itself, I think there are some really wonderful artist, galleries, and museums there and anything is possible. For Art to be a truly important part of a city, it has to be a economic force something that grows and feeds back into the larger city, this is very much the case with Theater in Chicago, but in terms of the Visual Arts it has always been a harder sell. This moves in cycles, currently, I think people like Thomas, Susan Gescheidle, and Scott Speh at Western Exhibitions, are currently working on making Chicago an important art city.

qi peng: Are there any restaurants or hangouts such as bookstores around New York or Chicago or anywhere else that you wish to recommend us? What are the qualities that you enjoy best about the places that you have chosen?

Jason Robert Bell: I spend the majority of my time in Williamsburg and Greenpoint Brooklyn, one of my favorite places is a bizarre Rite Aid Pharmacy in Greenpoint on Manhattan Avenue, which was once a disco roller skating rink, and before that a movie theater, once you get inside it is a giant circular space with a huge mirrored ball hanging from the ceiling, the place is filled with tons of low end consumer goods, kitschy plastic seasonal gifts, and bulk loads of stuff that no one would ever want or need, I love it there.

There are fewer and fewer good used books stores in the city, but 12th Street Books off of University near Union Square is a good place for used Art books, Mercer Street Books has a pretty good selection of old sci-fi paperbacks.

I try to go for a long walk every day, and spend most of that time looking at what people throw away. Some of the most rewarding experiences of my life have entailed finding discarded items on the streets of New York.

qi peng: What are some of your thoughts of the current trends within the contemporary art world such as conceptual art or the new media art where technology and art intersect? Do you feel that there is a certain strength in traditional expressionism within the scene where curators are hunting for the latest cutting-edge work that may diverge from painting on a support?

Jason Robert Bell: I think what passes for “conceptual art” is often a one-liner joke at best; the modes of “conceptual art” have been co-opted into a formal aesthetic, if you can tell me about a work of art and I don’t need to see it to understand it, and then I don’t care about it. Art should always be a first hand visual experience. If I have to read a little card next to a work in order to get it, then that means it is a failure as a work of art and the person that made it is making the world a darker place.

I enjoy technology and always tried to integrate digital output and desktop publishing form in my projects, when and where I could. For me technology is a tool and nothing more, what are you doing with the technology, what are you using it to express beyond itself, the duty of the artist is to transform, so regardless of the media, where is the transformation. I have never understood people writing off a whole medium, people should be looking for artist that are doing new and interesting things, regardless of the materials they choose to work in. I have seen so many videos and new media pieces that were meaningless beyond the fact that they were “new media” whatever that means. I think as more and more people have access to the technology it will become less and less of an issue. I don’t limit myself; I spend just as much time working on video and animation pieces as I do paintings and sculptures. Most painters I know are employing computers to develop their imagery, which can also become a crutch, and not longer a helpful tool.

qi peng: Would you consider your artwork a form of statement about sociology and the way that humans relate to each other through relationships between each other? How does this fit into the political utopia of "hopefulness" that has arrived with the administration of President Obama? Should art strive to maintain political roots or not? Would you consider your painting a form of historical documentation? Any insights on mankind's relationship between the present and his past or his future? How are these ideas portrayed within your work?

Jason Robert Bell: Nietzsche said that “The Artist must be against their times, not of them.” Which has always been fine by me. The night that Obama was elected was a monumental moment for the country; it meant a lot to me, I am a sucker for the underdog. But beyond that I think that there will not be much in terms of sweeping change in government, I think he is going to try to do a good job, and it is nice to have a President that is not a moronic dogmatic ideology. Government is a business, and the U.S.A. is a gorgonian knot of beliefs and cognitive dissidence. It is my belief that the Left and the Right have mismatched their social and economic platforms with each other, so we get the snake eating it’s own tail, what would they do without each other?

My work is not about those kinds of politics; I am more invested in the idea of inspiring aware people to activate their own personal imaginative lives. My Art is a dialogue with the future and the past; it is a record of one person’s attempt at the immortality game. The key to Utopia is everyone being the best person they can be, I know that I am being my best, doing what I was meant to do when I am making art so that is what I do, and All I expect from other people is for them to see it and to be blown away with it’s excellence, to turn them on to other ways of thinking and seeing. For good or ill, it is up to them.

qi peng: What are some of your future projects that you will be pursuing soon? Will these new pieces be an extension of the themes and ideas that you are examining now or a different direction instead?

Jason Robert Bell: For the last six months I have been working full time on teaching myself animation, I am working on adapting my Caveman Robot character into an animated feature of some sort. This has been a herculanean task, but it has to be done. I am employing everything I have done as an artist, drawings, painting, sculpture, collage, desktop publishing, video editing, non-camera filmmaking, performance, to make this thing, and when it is done nothing will be the same.

qi peng: Your works on paper have often intersected with installation art such as the "One Authentic Jason Bell Drawing" project. In what way would your artwork be considered a form of institutional critique? What is the postmodern thrust of your artwork examining the nature of art itself? Are there any insights that the viewer can derive about the way the contemporary art market functions today?

Jason Robert Bell: I have always taken pleasure in mocking the forms of consumerism, there area number of projects I have done in that vein. Caveman Robot started off as simply taking discounted action figures painting them silver, slapping on a spotted fur lion cloth and reselling them as “Caveman Robot”. I offer the Invisible Donkey Removal Service and Unicorn Turds for sale on my web site. I feel that it is my prerogative as an artist to play with the consumer world we inhabit. It goes back to the illusion we are all playing. I offer membership in the “Friends of Bell” on my website as we, where people can donate a small sum and get a token work of art and a certificate of friendship from me.

Art at it’s most base functions a high end luxury goods, which is all fine and good, artist need to live, but it can also be something else, it can be about a more personal exchange, about a game of make believe, we agree that this worthless object (serves no function) is valuable and then we exchange it for money, we are sharing a ritual act in which we are giving something meaning beyond the material world, we are giving imagination value.

qi peng: One of your drawings featured Superman. Do you have a fascination with comic books and graphic novels? Which ones would be your personal favorites? In which way do you incorporate what you have seen from the material into your studio practice? How do you think that text should interact with visual images within art?

Jason Robert Bell: I read a lot of comics growing up, and I think that comics are an important form of expression. I don’t really keep up with comics now. I always try to read whatever Alan Moore is doing, because his work is some of the most important art being done in any form. My favorite artist is Jack Kirby; everything after Jack Kirby in comics is a footnote. For me Superman is a surrogate for a Messiah Figure in our culture, I am not the first person to say this, but Superman is the American Christ.

I have self-published a few Caveman Robot comics, which was more about creating more artifacts in that larger underground pop culture project, and to start creating a mythos for the character.

I think Scott McCloud’s work is important and often refer to it when I am thinking about my own projects.

I think text can be a powerful element in visual art, my father was a billboard painter and I grew up in text as image environment. However there is always a limit to how effectual text is in visual art, because of the issue of language, if you can’t read the language then you are not getting the same experience. The wordless comics of Moebius were profoundly overpowering to me as a young artist. In my heart of hearts I think the best comics should not use words, and tell the story only with images.

qi peng: What are some of your hobbies outside of painting? How does these things relate to your studio practice? Do you find yourself having to enter into the studio out of discipline or inspiration or a mixture of both? What are some of the practical challenges that artists have to face inside or outside their studio time?

Jason Robert Bell: I have always lived in my studio, I have no hobbies, everything I do relates directly to my art. All the films I see, books I read, music I listen to, places I travel to, and people I spend my time with are connected to my work in some form. For me nothing else matters. I have one simply rule, every day I do whatever is needed to continue to make art, and I make art everyday. To be an artist is akin to being a monk, you have to be willing to forsake everything, and sacrifice your whole life for art or why bother? Just drink beer and watch TV, like everybody else, they seem happy.

qi peng: What trends do you see are forthcoming within the contemporary art world? How would place your paintings within the overall context of art history? What is the overall tenor and conceptual drive shown within your artwork? Before you embark on a painting, what factors do you use to determine whether the final work is to be large or small based on scale?

Jason Robert Bell: I think the great pitfall of any artforum is when it is no longer creating culture, but instead playing catch up to it. Trying to mirror what is already happening. People think you can bottle success, just look around at whatever is popular, and repeat it. Which is death to art, I think the biggest issue in contemporary art is what is the purpose of art, is it merely to mimic social trends and kowtow to flavor of the month fashions, or is it to present new and dynamic and dangerous visions.

In terms of my own works context in the world, this used to haunt me, but then I realized that I would not be able to create anything of merit if I thought about art history and my context in it. I follow my bliss; my aim is to explore my imagination to create things that I wish to see created. My mind is filled with images, and I have to bring them out, if not, I don’t I think I would not be able to function as a person. I have always done this and always will. For me the only context I am invested in is my work’s context to itself, I am creating my own myths, my own gods, my own reality, and in the end it does not matter if it is successful or not in the history of art, I did it and I did the best I could and I never compromised my vision, never gave up that struggle, that is what counts. I am creating my own context and will march straight into hell for that heavenly cause.

Scale is one of the greatest tools of visual communication; the artist must be a Gulliver, traveling in scale always in flux, pushing the giant into the dwarf and back again.

qi peng: You are also a writer of various texts. What do you enjoy writing about and how do these paragraphs act as a counterpoint to your self-expression through visual stimuli? Do you feel that a lot of artists cannot articulate their conceptual thrust of their artwork within words? What accounts for the potential difficulty of working with text versus working with visual motifs?

Jason Robert Bell: Words fail, no one can ever really express what is going on inside them to another person completely, with words, I enjoy writing, there is a certain hyperbolic theater in artist statements and interviews like this that is great fun. I think a lot of artists have trouble articulating their thoughts because they fear nailing down their work, people might read their thoughts and be unable to think about the work in any other way. What is that Murphy’s Law maxim? “Better to be quiet and have people think you might be a fool, than open you mouth and prove it.”

I am not afraid of people thinking I am a Fool. It all starts with the Fool, the Fool is the active dynamic principle in culture, most people don’t remember anything anyway, they are so caught up in there own lives that everything else is a ghostly projection at best, I am sure that the only people who are really going to pour over this text line for line if it sees print are myself, a few close friends, and a few more enemies and an ex-girlfriend or two of mine. Since no one is paying attention, we are actually free to say anything. Long Live the Cheerleader Monkey Albrecht Dürer Overdrive Cowboy Freemasonry Freedom Fighters Forever Pinball Footglove!

qi peng: Your formal art education was at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago as well as Yale University. what was your years of education like? Were there any influential professors and fellow students whose ideas or drive influenced your current expressionist style? Are there any memorable stories from your studio visits or school days?

Jason Robert Bell: I loved my art education, I had a great time in school, some of my dearest friendships where made there.

At the Art Institute, what I got most was exposure to a world class museum and great facilities, it was a big school and there was so much going on all the time, it was a great place to try everything and see what happens. There where some good painting teachers there, Phil Hanson, John Rozelle, Don Southard, Jim Lutes, and Michiko Itatani. The teacher that actually had the great effect on me was John Kimsey who taught literature there. Kimsey reminded me that the artist must harness “the fantastic” or they are not an artist, merely an artisan.

Yale was a very different environment, I had a great time there as well, but the overall culture was more adversarial, I often felt as if my work and my very person was held in contempt.

I had some supportive advisors and critics, there like David Pease, Peter Halley, Sam Messer, Sean Landers, Matvey Levenstein, and Alfred Leslie. But, I also had professors insult my intelligence, my mode of dress, and make comments about my body weight. There was one professor, who ironically made art about race issues that seemed to be really uncomfortable around a larger person, they made a few unwarranted offhand statements about my size. It was very odd. I am not that large, just over six foot, bulky frame, and about 270 pounds, but for some reason my very being unnerved that person.

I know that I am a bit of an oddball, and can sometimes make people uncomfortable, but some of those negative interactions were beyond the pale.

In the end what I got from Yale, was that no one can tell you anything about your work, you have only yourself to answer to and you own standards, goals, and ideals, people can take it or leave it, but you will never please everyone, so better to be a hungry lion than a well feed dog.

qi peng: How was your cooperation with Thomas Robertello Gallery helped the direction of your work? Has gallery representation boosted your artistic career and your ability to pursue more ambitious pieces? How do you feel that the contemporary art world differs in Chicago than in New York City? Do you have any advice for emerging BFA or MFA students who completed their degree recently and are ready to enter into the gallery system formally?

Jason Robert Bell: Having a gallery has meant a lot to me, knowing that there is a set place in the world where my work has a home beyond my studio is helpful in my general thinking. I don’t know if it really has affected my ambitions, I think I would need 10 galleries all over the world to feel that the true scope of my ambitions was fulfilled.

I think the major difference between New York and Chicago, is that because Chicago is a smaller network of artist and spaces it is easier to work your way into exhibiting there, if you went to school there and are willing to stick it out there for a while. I had to leave Chicago in order to show my work there, maybe I’ll have to leave New York in order to get a good show here.

In terms of advice to art students, I’ll say what I always say, if you are worried about not being able to pay your bills, if you are afraid that you will never make it as an artist, if you are not willing to suffer, then don’t bother, go do something else, there are enough artist already. But, if you think you can handle rejection, if you believe that you have what it takes, go for it, and never give up.

As for “entering the gallery system” in my experience people want to have some sort of hand in your work, they want to be the person that discovered you, the people that had the greater vision and took their white gloved hand and plucked you out of the darkness, but at the same time they want you to be “hot” and “up and coming”, people like a winner. So often is the case that artist have to have some sort of cache outside of the art world, but the right cache, some connection to fashion, pop culture, or mass media, something that bridges into the larger world. But in the right snobby way, nothing to sorted or lowbrow, or maybe a little low class, but with beautiful people.

qi peng: What is the nature of your collaborative and installation projects? How have these works elucidated viewers' understanding of your solo work?

Jason Robert Bell: Everything I do is one giant continuum of ideas and experiences, my life is my art and my art is my life. The theater pieces, experimental films, internet gags, comic books, and conversations I have on the street with a stranger are just as important as any painting or sculpture I have created. Art is not made in a void; it is made in the greater world.

Here is a quote from Robert Heinlein, which I try to live my life by:

A human being should be able to change a diaper, plan an invasion, butcher a hog, conn a ship, design a building, write a sonnet, balance accounts, build a wall, set a bone, comfort the dying, take orders, give orders, cooperate, act alone, solve equations, analyze a new problem, pitch manure, program a computer, cook a tasty meal, fight efficiently, die gallantly. Specialization is for insects.

The nature of all my projects is my attempt at living a meaningful life; of making everyday I am above ground a more magical experience for my follow humans and myself. Barnett Newman said, The Sublime is Now! That is the nature of my work.

qi peng: Is there anything else that you wish to share with readers here or fans of your work?

Jason Robert Bell: Never give up, never compromise the important things, the little trivia stuff is for compromise, try to only spend time with your equals or betters, have a zero tolerance for people that don’t believe in you. To live means having regrets, but learn from them and move on. People will come and go in your life, honor and cherish the good times you shared with them, regardless of how it ended.

Invite image for new Caveman Robot show

2009-02-28T13:15:00.000-08:00

Find out more here!

Philip José Farmer has escaped this mundane world.

2009-02-25T09:46:00.000-08:00

Portrait of Farmer's Lord Grandrith, India Ink on paper, digital color, 2005

My favorite writer, Philip José Farmer (January 26, 1918 - February 25, 2009) gave up this mortal coil, this morning.
I felt fortunate to have not only read all his books, but I actually got to meet the man in person a few years ago.

Ironically, one of the recurring themes in Farmer's work was the actual (albeit fantastic possibility of immorality for us humans), many of his characters have undergone some sort of transformation that results in them being forever young and healthy. So even after I met the aged author in person, there was a small part of me thinking that there was a young hero wearing a sophicated disguise and playing the part of a long lived old man, biding his time, until he was ready to make his escape to the amazing worlds of high adventure and daring do that his books celebrated. I would like to think this is the case.
Farmer was the spiritual heir to Edgar Rice Burroughs, his work often had the same superficial glow of Adventure for Adventures sake, but inside, in the heart of the tales, were amazing complex self aware deep literary currents. His stories would often reference, Shakespeare, Freud and Jung, Nietzsche, William Blake, Joseph Campbell, Mythology,structuralism, semiotics, existentialism, social theory, Marxism and post-structuralism. Farmer loved pulp adventure, but he loved it enough to breath new life and cunning intellect into it. He dissected it, remade it, parodied it, swam in it. HIs love of Tarzan produced Tarzan Alive, a masterpiece in which Farmer attempted to prove that Lord Greystoke actually existed as a living man in our world. HIs book A Feast Unknown, totally deconstructed the entire concept of the Adventure Hero, he took all the criticism that has been leveled on action adventure; that it is inane childish power fantasy with imperialist and homoeroctic sub-texts, and said, yes that's all true, hilariously true.

Farmer tapped into the deepest wishes of all the kids who live half their lives in books, the secret knowledge that all these tales are actually true. That the tales of Tarzan, the Shadow, Doc Savage, and Captain Nemo, and all the rest are thinly veiled reportage. For Farmer the world of the imagination was as real as any thing else, it was up to us to make the connections for us to build a bridge to the amazing, it was our duty to aspirer to fantastic and make it real, to flesh it out, to realize the hidden adventures and secret wars of heroes and villains that are happing everyday under our noses. Alan Moore, Frank Miller, and Garht Ennis, owe Farmer greatly.

I owe Farmer a great deal, I discovered his work in 1997 right as I was begging my fully adult life, I had just graduated from Art School, and was caught in a go nowhere office job, in a soon to be loveless relationship, and in general a frustrated person, that needed to find a way to tap into and take charge of my imagination and my life. I picked up a copy of Farmer's book Flesh, which is an playful fusion of Space Adventures with Robert Graves' White Goddess, and the Battle of the Sexes. I soon discovered Michael Croteau's Farmer website which allowed me to create a check list of all of Farmer's books, and Reading Farmer's books, reminded me of the reason I was a artist, it helped me connect to my noble heroic self. It helped me realize that the Heroic could be an intelligent and complex a force in culture. That my burden as an artist was to create worlds, worlds upon worlds, and fill those worlds with Gods, Monsters, Villains, and Heroes, and Heroines.

Farmer's two great book cycles are The World of Tiers and the Riverworld series, both are classic sci-fi adveture series, but also touch on many wonderful aspects of mythology, history, and culture. The World of Tiers depicts an ever increasing multi-verse where the characters from William Blake's poems are real and caught in a life or death struggle for control of universes that they have created and lost control of. The Riverworld series deals with actual famous person from history, Sir Richard Francis Burton, Mark Twain, King John, Alice Liddell, and countless other in a fully realized afterlife.

I have not even touched upon some of Farmer's great one-shot novels, such as Jesus on Mars, Dark is the Sun, A Barnstormer in Oz, Dare, The Unreasoning Mask, and The Lovers. Or his great short stories and essays, Like the Jungle Rot Kid on the Nod, which tell the story of Tarzan as if it was written by William S. Burroughs instead of Edgar Rice Burroughs. Do yourself a favor READ THESE BOOKS!

I always try to honor Farmer in my professional work as a visual artist, HIs book Mother was a Lovely Beast was part of the inspiration for my Kala Paintings. I dedicated my Caveman Robot Gigantic Mega-Annual Comic in 2004 to Farmer, I mention him anytime I am interviewed, and I did a multi-media project that was a dramatic reading the first six chapters of A Feast Unknown. ... I really love this guy.

Like all great prophets Farmer was under appreciated and cheated by his fellow humans, many of his books are out of print, many of his ideas were ripped off by lesser artist, butchered by hack editors, and the all to few adaptions of his works in film are mediocre at best. My only hope is that as often the case when a real artist passes, people finally begin to see how great they really are. Long Live Philip José Farmer.