Words of Sharp and Steel

Richard Bell, 2011, Prelude to a trial (Bell's Theorems), Acrylic on linen, 182.5x152cm

Richard Bell – You'd believe me if I was a white man

Milani Gallery

Wooloongabba, Qld

22/07/2011 – 06/08/2011

Loud isn't entirely correct when describing the current works of Richard Bell. Nevertheless a psychoanalyst may disagree in a Rorschach type scenario. The works are colourful and the appeal insistent, however the energy is more vibratory and the mood contemplative. The colours do not argue; they don't fight, they don't vie. They take their turn and play their part. No lead or no lag. And together they craft landscapes of undulating beauty. Of passive and persistent and penetrating power. Of solidarity.

Imposing you say? Perhaps. Undoubtedly the works are large in scale and demanding of attention; but expansive may prove more appropriate an adjective in this case. Expansive as in a field or a prairie or a plain. Expansive as in vast, but not boundless. Not at all. A boundary does exist as is most always the case. At least when we get involved, we free thinking apes. Naming and defining and dividing as we go. As one cannot be one unless another be an other.

But angry, for sure; with words of sharp and steel. Yes angry, no doubt, as you or I would be. But words are what you place in lines when weapons are laid down.

Iason Yannakos