\n\t\t\tLUSH
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This May, Rehs Contemporary will unveil a series of new works from Julie Bell at her first solo exhibition, Lush<\/em>. The body of work put forth is a culmination of more than a year\u2019s work\u2026 and a lifetime of examining a myriad of textures and surfaces all through the exploration of diverse themes, both terrestrial and otherworldly.<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n Lush<\/em> takes us on a journey inside the fantasy worlds shaped in Julie\u2019s early compositions. When observing the work, it is apparent how Julie\u2019s experiences have greatly influenced her aesthetic\u2026 most notably, her initial ventures into illustrations, particularly fantasy illustration, and her later love for western and wildlife paintings.<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n Bell credits a particular photograph, Child in Forest<\/em>, by Wynn Bullock as a primary source of inspiration. The image shows the interior of an ancient redwood forest, with a girl laying in the lush growth of oxalis covering the floor. Reflecting back Bell says, \u201c I remember seeing this when I was a child and just wanting to live in that photo.\u201d Bell\u2019s relationship and love for animals, forests, the beach and the sky continued to grow and be a driving force behind much of her imagery. For her, \u201cnature, though wild and unpredictable, has always made sense and been a source of comfort.\u201d<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n Throughout Bell\u2019s career, wildlife and fantasy inspired settings have permeated her work; whether it was in the 90s, doing work for Marvel Comics, or her studies in the 2000s at the Lakota Wolf Preserve for a series of book covers \u2013 an experience which afforded her the opportunity of not only being close to the wolves, but to truly understand how they interact. In retrospect, the latter proved to be a seminal moment for the artist. It sparked a fascination with trying to capture the sense of movement and emotion when two individual beings communicate in non-verbal but powerful ways; that underlying sentiment is very much present in this current series.<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n As Bell pressed on, she broadened the scope of her subjects from those found in traditional western-art. While horses, foxes, wolves and bison still make appearances, much of the work has taken a more exotic turn including species such as lions, zebras, flamingos and elephants. The wide range of subjects allows, and challenges, Bell to explore an endless number of surfaces in order to render them in perfection. As she puts it, \u201cI\u2019ve chosen to accentuate the light, textures and temperatures in a purposely tactile way so that the viewer can reach in and feel my world.\u201d But, the composition doesn\u2019t end there\u2026 the most recent transition in Bell\u2019s oeuvre could be said to show an increasing shift to portraying imagined scenes that express an idea or emotion through a realistic visual vocabulary. The reintroduction of a figurative element enables Bell to expressly shape the narrative of her work and the manner in which the viewer connects. She expounds, \u201cin addition to the landscape, the raw emotional expressions of my animals and their connections with each other, as well as the humans depicted, describes my own experiences in the luxury of Nature.\u201d<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n Lush<\/em> is simply the next step in a journey into better understanding connections and interactions. It encapsulates Bell\u2019s awareness of every detail of our environment, and her mindfulness as to the importance of emotion, as well as how those are intertwined.<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n The show will include 13 brand new works ranging form $4,000 to $25,000.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n \t\t\t\t \u201cThe very fact that a large part of our brain is all about emotion and communication is proof that connection with others is a vital part of our survival.\u201d This statement reflects the heart of Julie Bell\u2019s work\u2014expressing emotional connections in visual forms as a way of authenticating our common bonds.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Bell\u2019s journey began in Beaumont, Texas in 1958. The daughter of an architect and an artistic mother, she was encouraged in her artistic development as a child, as were her two younger sisters. At age twelve, however, life changed significantly when her parents divorced and Bell moved to Atlanta with her mother and sisters. The next few years proved peripatetic as she attended five different high schools, continually adapting to new environments and expectations. Despite these challenges, Bell was introduced to drawing classes during these years, and after graduation, she attended Dekalb County Community College in Atlanta where drawing became the focus of her studies.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Looking back on that period of her life, Bell comments that she had \u201cgreat teachers\u201d at the Dekalb County Community College. It was there that she was first enrolled in the life drawing courses that would become the foundation of her later work. And she was introduced to color theory, a core component of a traditional art curriculum, and at the very heart of Bell\u2019s painting style in particular.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n The next move was back to Beaumont, Texas where Bell\u2019s father lived and where she enrolled in Lamar University, studying with wildlife artist and professor of painting, Jerry Newman (1934-2008). According to Bell, Newman\u2019s courses were her \u201cfirst serious life drawing study\u201d. Building on the foundation that she had established in Atlanta, she deepened her drawing skills under the guidance of a practicing artist.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Lamar University was also where Bell met Donald Palumbo, an English professor whom she married in 1978. Shortly after their marriage, they moved to Marquette, Michigan where Palumbo taught at Northern Michigan University in the upper peninsula\u2014a dramatically different setting from either Texas or Georgia. Bell maintained her study of art there under the direction of the sculptor Wolf Niessen (1923-2004), who emphasized the importance of the psychological aspects of art. Perhaps more important to the young Bell, however, was the fact that Niessen took her seriously as an artist, even though she herself still felt uncertain.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n The years in Marquette were also marked by the birth of Bell\u2019s sons, Anthony in 1980 and David in 1982. Not surprisingly for a new mother, Bell developed a particular interest in children\u2019s books, and was asked to provide illustrations for two publications while she lived in Michigan. Although both books had only local distribution, the illustrations that Bell created for these books would prove to be an early indication of a career direction that she still occasionally pursues today.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n When the family moved to Ohio in 1983, Bell again registered for drawing classes, this time at Lorain County Community College in Elyria, near Cleveland. In addition to art courses, she turned her attention to bodybuilding and powerlifting during these years, eventually achieving a national ranking as a competitive female bodybuilder.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Four years later, the family moved again, this time to Chambersburg, Pennsylvania, and Bell enrolled in art classes at Shippensburg University where her husband was then teaching. By this time, however, the marriage was fraying. Divorce followed and Bell began an entirely new phase of life, raising her sons and continuing to compete in national contests as a bodybuilder. When one of the competition promoters suggested that she might be interested in modeling for an artist named Boris Vallejo (b. 1941), Bell agreed.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n During those modeling sessions, Bell observed Vallejo\u2019s approach to painting, how he used color and what techniques he employed in the process. Subsequently, she decided to ask for his opinion of her own art work. His response was a suggestion that she slow down and be more patient with her own drawing, taking the time to think more thoroughly about what she hoped to express. That was the beginning of a more considered artistic process that led Bell into her mature work. Ultimately, Vallejo became both her painting teacher and her partner. They were married in 1994.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n When the family moved to Ohio in 1983, Bell again registered for drawing classes, this time at Lorain County Community College in Elyria, near Cleveland. In addition to art courses, she turned her attention to bodybuilding and powerlifting during these years, eventually achieving a national ranking as a competitive female bodybuilder.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Four years later, the family moved again, this time to Chambersburg, Pennsylvania, and Bell enrolled in art classes at Shippensburg University where her husband was then teaching. By this time, however, the marriage was fraying. Divorce followed and Bell began an entirely new phase of life, raising her sons and continuing to compete in national contests as a bodybuilder. When one of the competition promoters suggested that she might be interested in modeling for an artist named Boris Vallejo (b. 1941), Bell agreed.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n During those modeling sessions, Bell observed Vallejo\u2019s approach to painting, how he used color and what techniques he employed in the process. Subsequently, she decided to ask for his opinion of her own art work. His response was a suggestion that she slow down and be more patient with her own drawing, taking the time to think more thoroughly about what she hoped to express. That was the beginning of a more considered artistic process that led Bell into her mature work. Ultimately, Vallejo became both her painting teacher and her partner. They were married in 1994.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n As she began to take herself more seriously as an artist, Bell started photographing her own models for her paintings. In the late 1980s, one of her models was posing for an album cover, and asked Bell if she would also create a painting from the photo. Although the painting was not chosen for the album cover after all, it did catch the attention of the British publisher Hubert Schaafsma of Paper Tiger Books, who particularly admired the way that Bell had utilized shiny chrome textures to paint a living creature. Ultimately, the image became the cover for an issue of\u00a0Heavy Metal\u00a0in 1990; and she created a portfolio of twenty fantasy paintings with \u201cmetal flesh\u201d as a theme.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n The 1990s were a productive decade. After the success of the \u201cmetal flesh\u201d paintings, Bell decided to approach Marvel Comics about the possibility of illustrating some of their publications. From 1990-1996, she was one of Marvel\u2019s regular illustrators, becoming the first woman to paint the covers for\u00a0Conan.\u00a0In addition, she illustrated many of the trading cards from that period, including those for the Silver Surfer and Iron Man. It was a reliable income and useful experience in working for a large corporation. Similarly, the Franklin Mint hired Bell and Vallejo together to produce an annual image for a series of commemorative sculptures. Because the company\u2019s production facility was still based in Pennsylvania in the 1990s, Bell and Vallejo were able to work collaboratively on site with the sculptors who would translate their paintings and drawings into three-dimensional forms.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Bell and Vallejo also collaborated on projects for major advertising campaigns beginning in the late 1990s. Clients included Ford Motor Company, Nike, Coca-Cola, Toyota and Proctor & Gamble\u2019s Old Spice line. Bell\u2019s paintings may also be seen on three of Meat Loaf\u2019s album covers including his 2016 release,\u00a0Braver Than We Are;\u00a0and as the poster for the the 2007 animated film\u00a0Aqua Teen Hunger Force.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n As the millennium approached, Bell persevered in exploring new directions and ideas. With both of her sons studying at the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts by 2001, she absorbed some of the traditional artistic methods that they were learning through discussions about their courses. During this same time, she was working on a series of book covers for Tor Books of New York and author Jane Lindskold. After the success of the first book,\u00a0Through Wolf\u2019s Eyes(2001),\u00a0Bell visited the Lakota Wolf Preserve in New Jersey to photograph the animals directly. This proved to be a seminal experience for the artist. She was fascinated not only with the overwhelming experience of being personally close to the wolves, but also with how the animals interacted with each other. Since then she has been painting scenes of animals and humans interacting, trying to capture the sense of movement and emotion when the two individual beings communicate in non-verbal, but powerful ways.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Wildlife and western art has become increasingly important in Bell\u2019s oeuvre. Images of horses, bison, foxes and of course wolves, often depicted in a western landscape, now form a distinct part of her work. Likewise, more exotic species such as lions, leopards, zebras and flamingos have also become the subject of her paintings and drawings.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n As Bell expanded the role of wildlife paintings in her work, she realized that there was room for more personal artwork as well as her commercial production. That transition has taken much of the last decade as she increasingly shifted her attention to painting imagined scenes that express an idea or an emotion in a realistic visual vocabulary.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Bell\u2019s role as a leader in the Imaginative Realism movement was confirmed in 2012-2013 when the Art Renewal Center International Salon acknowledged her with a first, third and fourth place prize in the Animal Category; a first prize in the Imaginative Realism category; a first runner-up in the Portrait Category; honorable mentions in both the Animal and Imaginative Realism Category; and three purchase awards in two categories. Two years later, she was named a juror for the Art Renewal Center International Salon.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Also of note in recent years is the Denise McCalla Memorial Top Choice Award from the the Mountain Oyster Club (2015) as well as the Spectrum Fantastic Art Silver Medal (2016). In September of 2016, she will be among a handful of artists included in the\u00a0Imaginative Realism\u00a0exhibition at the Delaware Art Museum, where contemporary work will be shown alongside Victorian painters such as Edward Burne-Jones and John William Waterhouse, as well as American Golden Age illustrators such as Howard Pyle and N. C. Wyeth. The museum curators are positioning Bell and her imaginative realist colleagues as the direct inheritors of the traditions represented by these earlier generations.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Looking back over a career that has already spanned over three decades, Julie Bell\u2019s work is a study in sustained growth and evolution. Her understanding of the importance of emotions\u2014and her commitment to expressing them ever more clearly\u2014suggests that her art will continue to deepen over time.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n By: Janet L. Whitmore, Ph.D.<\/p>\n Have a question about the exhibition? Want to inquire about a work you’ve seen? Use the form below to ask us your question(s).<\/p>\n![\"Glory's](\"https:\/\/rehs.com\/eng\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/04\/julie_bell_jb10_glorys_arrival.jpg\" "\\"julie_bell_jb10_glorys_arrival\\"")
\n\t\tGlory’s Arrival
Oil on panel
30 x 40 inches
$20,000.00
\n\t\t\t\t![\"Lion](\"https:\/\/rehs.com\/eng\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/04\/julie_bell_jb10_lion_nebula.jpg\" "\\"julie_bell_jb10_lion_nebula\\"")
\n\t\tLion Nebula
Oil on panel
36 x 24 inches
$15,000.00
\n\t\t\t\t![\"Sacred](\"https:\/\/rehs.com\/eng\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/04\/julie_bell_jb10_sacred.jpg\" "\\"julie_bell_jb10_sacred\\"")
\n\t\tSacred
Oil on panel
30 x 40 inches
$20,000.00
\n\t\t\t\t![\"Unfolding](\"https:\/\/rehs.com\/eng\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/04\/julie_bell_jb10_unfolding_rainbow.jpg\" "\\"julie_bell_jb10_unfolding_rainbow\\"")
\n\t\tUnfolding Rainbow
Oil on illustration board
30 x 30 inches
$16,500.00 <\/p>\n\n\t\t\tAbout Julie Bell
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