FACE OFF

Katie Bell is constantly evaluating the materials that make up the concept of home. Her evaluation process involves disassembling, tearing, manipulating, painting, building upon and then reassembling domestic and industrial materials to create perfectly composed installations, sculptures and wall pieces. It is through the use of these mundane, but recognizable materials that she investigates time and place. An excavation of substances with an eye for abstraction forms the base of her studio practice, while it is clear that she is versed in painting and sculpture, pushing the boundaries of both media in a fresh and exciting way. Her immersive installation in our main gallery goes as far as to cut into the wall, rendering it unrecognizable, while incorporating discarded objects and debris found locally.

Katie Bell was born in Rockford, Illinois. She received her BA from Knox College in 2008 and graduated in 2011 from the Rhode Island School of Design with an MFA in Painting. Bell has shown her work at a variety of venues, including Storefront Ten Eyck (Brooklyn, NY), Nudashank (Baltimore, MD), PLUG Projects (Kansas City, MO), Okay Mountain Gallery (Austin, TX), Mixed Greens (NYC), and the deCordova Sculpture Park and Museum (Lincoln, MA). In 2011 she was an artist in residence at the prestigious Marie Walsh Sharpe Art Foundation based in Brooklyn, NY. She currently has an installation on view at the Brooklyn Academy of Music and was recently shortlisted for Thames and Hudson’s upcoming book ‘100 Painters of Tomorrow’. She has been named by Brooklyn-based critic Paddy Johnson as one of ‘8 Great Brooklyn Artists Under 30’ and has been featured in BOMB magazine and New American Paintings. Bell lives and works in Brooklyn, NY.

http://www.katiebellstudio.com/

Read Britta Konau’s review in the Portland Phoenix here.

Read some reviews written by students at The Telling Room here.