TREVOR
BELL
THE WIND T H E S PAC E
THE WIND THE SPACE ‘Windover One’ (taken from the sailing term wind-over-tide) is a title relating to that source ie: interactive dynamic forces. It was the first of what has become an unexpected series. It was honest to give it the title ‘Raw Coast’, after all, that is where the idea of the image came from. Extreme winter wind and rain constantly blasted the studio and I found a splendid location holding on to a rock over seeing the coast under such conditions, but is that really all the story? A sea-breaking rock carried memories of the ruined stupas in Ladakh and many images stored away must have their oblique say. In earlier statements I have likened myself to a conduit in the middle, and I quickly realised that to identify the painting with particular experiences beyond itself and to place on it other meanings was a false imposition interfering with the unique experience only given by the work itself. So to free them I decided to name the rest of the series simply One, Two, Three and so on in the order in which they arrived. At ‘Thirteen’ I introduced a title ‘Collide’ which allowed me other formal possibilities How many painters have struggled to think of a title, after the event? From an early art school training in the traditional post Renaissance methods of illusionistic space without any knowledge of Cubism or Constructivism and with the domination of Sickert, and the Euston Road group when the set piece diploma life paintings had to be sent to London from all over the country for assessment, it obviously took some years to realise that for me it is the form itself that carries the meaning. PAINTING not PICTURES. Trevor Bell. April 2014
THE WINDOVER
SERIES
Windover One , Raw Coast 150 x 250 cm . mixed media on shaped canvas
4
5
6
Windover Two 150 x 250 cm . mixed media on shaped canvas
7
Windover Three 150 x 250 cm . mixed media on shaped canvas
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9
10
Windover Four 150 x 250 cm . mixed media on shaped canvas
11
Windover Five 150 x 250 cm . mixed media on shaped canvas
12
13
14
Windover Six 150 x 250 cm . mixed media on shaped canvas
15
Windover Seven 150 x 250 cm . mixed media on shaped canvas
16
17
18
Windover Eight 150 x 250 cm . mixed media on shaped canvas
19
Windover Nine 150 x 250 cm . mixed media on shaped canvas
20
21
22
Windover Ten 150 x 250 cm . mixed media on shaped canvas
23
Windover Eleven 150 x 250 cm . mixed media on shaped canvas
24
25
26
Windover Twelve 150 x 250 cm . mixed media on shaped canvas
27
Windover Thir teen, Collide 150 x 250 cm . mixed media on shaped canvas
28
29
30
Windover Four teen 150 x 250 cm . mixed media on shaped canvas
31
Windover Fifteen 150 x 250 cm . mixed media on shaped canvas
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33
34
Windover Sixteen 150 x 250 cm . mixed media on shaped canvas
35
FURTHER WORKS 36
Fall
Black Shogun
60 x 60 cm . mixed media on board
150 x 150 cm . mixed media on canvas
37
Wr ack 150 x 150 cm . mixed media on canvas
38
Havent 120 x 150 cm . mixed media on canvas
39
Strong Yellow 120 x 150 cm . mixed media on canvas
40
War r ior 120 x 150 cm . mixed media on canvas
41
42
Chat
Small Breaker
46 x 46 cm . mixed media on board
50 x 50 cm . mixed media on board
Cloud
Little Dancer
50 x 50 cm . mixed media on board
50 x 50 cm . mixed media on board
43
44
Head One
Head Two
50 x 50 cm . mixed media on board
50 x 50 cm . mixed media on board
TREVOR BELL Trevor Bell was born in Leeds in 1930. He was awarded a scholarship to attend The Leeds College of Art from 1947 to 1952 and, encouraged by Terry Frost, moved to Cornwall in 1955. St Ives was the epicentre for British abstract art being the home to artists such as Patrick Heron, Peter Lanyon, Ben Nicholson, Naum Gabo, Barbara Hepworth and Terry Frost, he made his reputation as a leading member who helped establish British Art on the international stage. From these artists, especially Nicholson, Bell received advice and support. Nicholson, alongside his then dealer Charles Gimpel, encouraged him to show in London and Waddington Galleries gave Bell his first solo exhibition in 1958. Patrick Heron wrote the introduction to the exhibition catalogue, stating that Bell was ‘the best non-figurative painter under thirty’. In 1959 Bell was awarded the Paris Biennale International Painting Prize, and an Italian Government Scholarship and the following year was offered the Gregory Fellowship in Painting at the University of Leeds whose advisors at the time were Sir Herbert Read and Henry Moore. It was during this period that Bell developed his shaped canvases, setting his work apart from other artists of his generation. Throughout the 1960’s Bell showed work in major exhibitions in the UK and USA and during this time his work was first purchased for the Tate collection. In 1973 he presented his new work at the Whitechapel Gallery in London, having just taken part in a major exhibition at the Corcoran Gallery in Washington DC. Over the course of the next thirty years Bell combined painting with teaching in various locationseventually moving to Florida State University in 1976 to become the Professor for Master Painting. Here with the provision of a warehouse sized studio and time to really develop his painting he produced the large-scale, intensely coloured works for which he is known, reflecting the influence of the climate and landscape on him and his work. He went on to spend the next 20 years in America. Important exhibitions were held at the Corcoran Gallery and the Academy of Sciences in Washington, the Metropolitan Museum in Miami, The Cummer Gallery and the Museum of Art at Fort Lauderdale, Florida. In 1985 Bell was included in the London Tate Gallery’s St Ives 1939-64 exhibition and in 1993 he was part of the inaugural show of the Tate St Ives. Moving from Florida in 1996 he established his studios near Penzance, Cornwall and continued to exhibit in London, the USA and St. Ives. Bell had a major solo exhibition at the Tate St.Ives in 2004 and, in 2011, a further 14 works were obtained by the Tate Gallery for their permanent collection. Bell has had works purchased and commissioned by numerous other international museums and public and private collections including (among others) The Arts Council of England, British Council, British Museum, Boca Raton, Laing Art Gallery, Ljubljana’s U.V.U Keleia Collection and the Victoria & Albert Museum. Bell is twice a recipient of fellowships from the Fine Arts Council of Florida, an Honorary RWA of the Royal West of England Academy, an Honoury Fellow of University College Falmouth and an Emeritus Professor of Florida State University.
Published by Millennium to coincide with the exhibition ‘The Wind The Space’ by Trevor Bell All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise without permission Photography by Steve Tanner Publication produced by Impact Printing Services
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