Beauty and Beastyness the theme for Zoom Arts member’s show

At a time when there appears to be plenty of it around, Chris Bell of the Zoom Arts group has dedicated his latest exhibition – Beauty and Beastyness – to the depiction of the ugly side of human behaviour. He explained his thinking to Nick Terdre.

“The title of the Show is Beauty and Beastyness and my intention was to show the ugly side of human behaviour by my depiction of various villainous characters and a reference to the Ukraine war and Putin contrasted  with the beauty of nature, colour and form and humanity in the form of a famous beauty of the silver screen,” he told HOT.

An installation exploring ‘Beastyness’ by Chris Bell

“I am not trying to  refer explicitly to violent human behaviour in images but rather to explore our experience of images of violence that we see daily in the media. What is our reaction to this exposure? Does it affect the way we look at strangers? Is our judgement to be trusted? Can our perceptions alter on further aquaintance?

“Who is the true villain?—the dodgy looking unknown character, the religious leader responsible for countless deaths, or the present day tyrant who is depicted in the collection?”

Some examples of the above can be seen in the collage presented on the exhibition poster.

Portrait of Philip Glass by Chris Bell

“I have always enjoyed painting, and the work on show is quite eclectic, showing my early work which was mainly  in watercolour and later work using a range of mediums,” said Chris.

“I undertook a four-year course at Hastings College in Archery Road which expanded my horizons and I gained a lot of experience in the use of different mediums such as ceramics, printing, and 3D.”

Chris made his living as an architect for many years for local government, various private practices, British Rail and London Underground. But as he is happy to acknowledge, “I find my later artistic pursuits far less stressful!”

One of the paintings in his exhibition is a Chagall-like image of Lady Mary Montgomerie looking down from the heavens at the derelict memorial built for her by her husband. The memorial is at the back of the Beauport Park caravan site. You can see Chris’ painting and read his article about it by following this link.

Beauty and Beastyness: Artworks by Chris Bell at Zoom Arts Gallery,
St Leonards Warrior Square Station, Kings Road, St Leonards-on-Sea TN37 6HL. The exhibition runs from Sunday 6–Saturday 12 November, 11am–4pm. Chris will be invigilating most of the time, and available for a chat.

Also in: Visual Arts