Bello Gabriel

Why We Linger

2023

My name is Bello Gabriel, I'm an impressionist and a figurative artist. My art started when I was very little. I love playing with colors and drawing comics. Little did I know then that I was going to be an artist because I was not focused on that area, I just see art as a talent and not a profession. But in a long run after high school, I studied art at one of the prestigious institutions in Lagos, Nigeria. Yaba College of Technology, Yabatech. And now I’m a full-time studio artist. I love painting in blue and orange renditions because blue is a natural color that accords freedom confidence, intuition, and faith. And orange, associated with optimism and energy. So I combined these two colors together to produce meaningful and exceptional works of art. My paintings talk about the daily life of people in society, the struggles, attempts, and efforts towards human survival, and many more. My painting is a consistent search for the best way to interpret the common ideas I have about people in the society we found ourselves in and the world we all live in. My works are not limited to one particular background. Inspiration and ideas change. Each piece I create is simultaneously a stretch from my discovery and observation of my society and the world at large. I do not want my art to speak for me alone, but for people who are being deprived of their rights and value, who were long ago silenced. If an onlooker stops for just a moment to view and ruminate on a piece I have created, then I have done well in my work.