Roberley Bell

bio

Roberley Bell is inspired by nature and time. Her practice draws on the world around her, in particular the scrutiny of nature and the built environment.  Bell has had numerous residencies including the Cite International in Paris, Stadt Künstlerhaus, Salzburg, Austria, The International Studio Program, NYC and Sculpture Space, Utica NY. Bell’s work has been exhibited internationally, including, Alan Gallery Istanbul, Medea Gallery Malmö, Sweden, deCordova Museum and Sculpture Park, The Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, Black and White Gallery Brooklyn. She has completed public projects in cities internationally, including, Istanbul,Turkey; Kaliningrad, Russia; Chicago, Pittsburgh, Cambridge and Cleveland. She has participated in several art fairs, including Art Miami, Scope New York and Contemporary  Art Istanbul.

Bell is the recipient of numerous fellowships including awards from the New York Foundation for the Arts, a Pollock Krasner Fellowship, and a Senior Scholar Fulbright to Turkey.  As a Fulbright Specialist Bell has been leading walking workshops internationally. Workshops have been held in Sharjah, UAE; Istanbul, Turkey and Malmö, Sweden. Her book Do You Know This tree?  Published by Visual Studies Workshop, Rochester, New York is the cumulation of a ten-year walking project in Istanbul.  

Bell lives in Western Massachusetts, maintaining  a studio in Easthampton, MA.

Artist Statement

My work both abstracts and borrows from the natural world to reveal hybridized forms. Inspired by nature and rooted in the art historical tradition of organic abstraction, my sculptures are assembled of a diverse range of materials.  Some are fabricated into distinct forms, while others are utilized in their found state.  My recent projects draw on the world around me, in particular the observation of nature. My current sculpture series The Foreign Objects, Still Life and Some Thing, investigate the boundary between color, material and form. There is a palpable spontaneity inherent in these works-a quirkily liveliness, much like what we see in nature. They are delicate amalgams of many media. The works exist as they are; spatial compositions of color, contrasting material textures and distinctive forms straddling the space between representation and abstraction.