Gala Bell

Race

2021

Shiranui II 不知火 (2023) by contemporary artist Gala Bell. Oil on silk, 65cm x 65cm. Shiranui 不知火 meaning 'unknown fire', is an atmospheric ghost light told about in Kyushu. They are said to appear on days of the noon moon such the kaijitsu the 29th or 30th day of the seventh month of the lunisolar Japanese calendar...

About the Work: Working in reverse, the image is constructed within a frame of taut silk. Pushing the paint in choreographed gestures, they reveal themselves on the other side, like the texture of a tapestry. Each tiny gap formed by the warp and weft of silk thread is filled with an extruded pixel of colour, resembling the organic patterns of lichens, the skin of a reptile or a galaxy. The pressing of paint unveils to us the underside of the mark, the moment of contact between material and surface that we would never ordinarily see. Light plays a pivotal role in the creation of the artwork, guided by the idea of transverse orientation, which is the behaviour of flying insects that orient themselves toward a distant source of light. Light passing through the silk serves as a guide, revealing areas where paint has not yet touched the surface; it acts as an anchor point, a signal, a place to catch the light. As the screen fills with the movement of paint, the glow from the other side is slowly obscured to the artist behind the screen. The paintings exist through their unbridled unpredictability, engaging in a dialectic that dissolves the hierarchy between painting as an illusion or imitation and painting as an archetype; a free, material process. About the Artist : Gala Bell is a London based multidisciplinary artist. The alchemy of matter is at the centre of her practice, moving between traditional painting and contemporary installation. Graduate of the Royal College of Art, she has been selected for exhibitions with The Design Museum, The Victoria and Albert Museum, The London Design Festival, The Korean Cultural Institute Berlin, Kunsthalle am Hamburger Platz Berlin and Galerie der HBKsaar in Saarsbrucken. Bell has had commissions by BBC One and Tate and Lyle...

About the Work: Working in reverse, the image is constructed within a frame of taut silk. Pushing the paint in choreographed gestures, they reveal themselves on the other side, like the texture of a tapestry. Each tiny gap formed by the warp and weft of silk thread is filled with an extruded pixel of colour, resembling the organic patterns of lichens, the skin of a reptile or a galaxy. The pressing of paint unveils to us the underside of the mark, the moment of contact between material and surface that we would never ordinarily see. Light plays a pivotal role in the creation of the artwork, guided by the idea of transverse orientation, which is the behaviour of flying insects that orient themselves toward a distant source of light. Light passing through the silk serves as a guide, revealing areas where paint has not yet touched the surface; it acts as an anchor point, a signal, a place to catch the light. As the screen fills with the movement of paint, the glow from the other side is slowly obscured to the artist behind the screen. The paintings exist through their unbridled unpredictability, engaging in a dialectic that dissolves the hierarchy between painting as an illusion or imitation and painting as an archetype; a free, material process. About the Artist : Gala Bell is a London based multidisciplinary artist. The alchemy of matter is at the centre of her practice, moving between traditional painting and contemporary installation. Graduate of the Royal College of Art, she has been selected for exhibitions with The Design Museum, The Victoria and Albert Museum, The London Design Festival, The Korean Cultural Institute Berlin, Kunsthalle am Hamburger Platz Berlin and Galerie der HBKsaar in Saarsbrucken. Bell has had commissions by BBC One and Tate and Lyle...

About the Work: Working in reverse, the image is constructed within a frame of taut silk. Pushing the paint in choreographed gestures, they reveal themselves on the other side, like the texture of a tapestry. Each tiny gap formed by the warp and weft of silk thread is filled with an extruded pixel of colour, resembling the organic patterns of lichens, the skin of a reptile or a galaxy. The pressing of paint unveils to us the underside of the mark, the moment of contact between material and surface that we would never ordinarily see. Light plays a pivotal role in the creation of the artwork, guided by the idea of transverse orientation, which is the behaviour of flying insects that orient themselves toward a distant source of light. Light passing through the silk serves as a guide, revealing areas where paint has not yet touched the surface; it acts as an anchor point, a signal, a place to catch the light. As the screen fills with the movement of paint, the glow from the other side is slowly obscured to the artist behind the screen. The paintings exist through their unbridled unpredictability, engaging in a dialectic that dissolves the hierarchy between painting as an illusion or imitation and painting as an archetype; a free, material process. About the Artist : Gala Bell is a London based multidisciplinary artist. The alchemy of matter is at the centre of her practice, moving between traditional painting and contemporary installation. Graduate of the Royal College of Art, she has been selected for exhibitions with The Design Museum, The Victoria and Albert Museum, The London Design Festival, The Korean Cultural Institute Berlin, Kunsthalle am Hamburger Platz Berlin and Galerie der HBKsaar in Saarsbrucken. Bell has had commissions by BBC One and Tate and Lyle...

About the Work: Working in reverse, the image is constructed within a frame of taut silk. Pushing the paint in choreographed gestures, they reveal themselves on the other side, like the texture of a tapestry. Each tiny gap formed by the warp and weft of silk thread is filled with an extruded pixel of colour, resembling the organic patterns of lichens, the skin of a reptile or a galaxy. The pressing of paint unveils to us the underside of the mark, the moment of contact between material and surface that we would never ordinarily see. Light plays a pivotal role in the creation of the artwork, guided by the idea of transverse orientation, which is the behaviour of flying insects that orient themselves toward a distant source of light. Light passing through the silk serves as a guide, revealing areas where paint has not yet touched the surface; it acts as an anchor point, a signal, a place to catch the light. As the screen fills with the movement of paint, the glow from the other side is slowly obscured to the artist behind the screen. The paintings exist through their unbridled unpredictability, engaging in a dialectic that dissolves the hierarchy between painting as an illusion or imitation and painting as an archetype; a free, material process. About the Artist : Gala Bell is a London based multidisciplinary artist. The alchemy of matter is at the centre of her practice, moving between traditional painting and contemporary installation. Graduate of the Royal College of Art, she has been selected for exhibitions with The Design Museum, The Victoria and Albert Museum, The London Design Festival, The Korean Cultural Institute Berlin, Kunsthalle am Hamburger Platz Berlin and Galerie der HBKsaar in Saarsbrucken. Bell has had commissions by BBC One and Tate and Lyle...

Distance and immersion, and the idea that a painting can be made of separate but layered and entangled parts emphasise this series of work. Gesture, the inner space and improvisation...

Origins, 2020 Oil on canvas (3 panels) 72 x 108 x 1 1/2 inches, overall Signed and dated, verso leftmost panel

Sonata 23 Triptych 2017 Oil on canvas (3 panels) 48 x 120 x 1 1/2 inches, overall Signed and dated, verso

Color Symphony 49 Triptych, 2016 Oil on canvas (3 panels) 72 x 120 x 1 1/2 inches, overall Signed and dated, verso leftmost panel

Diving for Pearls, 1986 Oil on canvas 88 x 76 in. (223.5 x 193 cm) Signed, dated, and titled, verso

James Joyce's Smile, 1984 Oil on canvas 66 x 87 in. (167.6 x 221 cm) Signed, dated, and titled, verso

Oil on canvas. In very good condition with bright colors. Provenance: Manufacturers Hanover Trust Company, New York, with the label verso; private collection, New York.