Collection in focus: Golburn Regional Gallery

Jenny Bell – Interview with Richard Morecroft

Image above: Jenny Bell  Banners for life – Bees No 1 study  2022  vinyl paint on 300gsm magnani paper. Image courtesy Jenny Bell.

Jenny Bell has been interviewed by Richard Morecroft on the occasion of the opening of her current exhibition at Goulburn Regional Gallery, Jenny Bell: Life Forms, which comes ahead of her upcoming solo exhibition at Australian Galleries, Sydney in August 2023.

Life Forms at Goulburn Regional Art Gallery takes drawing as the underpinning of all of Bell’s work; its attendant close observation, rhythms and pattern-searching inform her life as both a regenerative farmer and an artist. The title of the exhibition plays on ‘forms’ as both a descriptor and immanent action. Bell’s lines form and morph, ‘as a hill becomes an eye socket and a mountain range gives way to a horse’s forehead.’

Bell’s bold, strongly-coloured and graphically distilled recent works share a heritage with her carefully observed charcoal line drawings and diverse oil paintings, spanning a practice of four decades. As Jenny explains to Richard Morecroft, her commitment to regenerative farming has played a major role in the evolution of her painting approach, allowing symbolic and imaginative elements to emerge.

Richard Morecroft is a well-known Australian broadcaster and arts interviewer. His interview with Jenny Bell forms part of an ongoing YouTube series, Exhibition, in which he interviews artists about their exhibitions on show.

Watch the interview here. 

Jenny Bell: Life Forms
Goulburn Regional Art Gallery
Civic Centre, 184 Bourke Street, Goulburn NSW 2580
23 June – 5 August 2023

Jenny Bell, Lifeforms
Australian Galleries, Sydney
15 Roylston Street, Paddington NSW 2021
10 – 27 August 2023

Jenny Bell – Feature in Artist Profile, issue 63

Double spread of Artist Profile issue #63 featuring an image of Jenny Bell for her interview with Anne Sanders. Image courtesy of the photographer and Artist Profile.

We are pleased to share that Jenny Bell has been interviewed by Anne Sanders in the latest issue #63 of Artist Profile.

The interview comes ahead of Jenny’s upcoming exhibition Jenny Bell: Life Forms, held at Goulburn Regional Art Gallery, and her solo exhibition at Australian Galleries, Sydney in August. In it, Jenny discusses her deep love for drawing, select forthcoming projects, and her studio at the property “Bohara”.

Anne writes of Jenny’s work: “The necessity of drawing underpins all her work, with its attendant close observation. … Bell also works in oils on canvas and creates assemblages and installations. Recently her reductive line has become more graphic and her use of bold primary colours has marked a transformative break-through in her practice.”

Amidst discussions about her rural property being a focus of inspiration for her practice, Jenny also says: “The old idea of farming – that we apply a formula which we endeavour to control, and that the outcome is predictable – is challenged by an ’emergent mind’ which is always open to new learning, responding to signals, and knows it will never fully understand or be in control. This applies whether it be drawing or a farm, and is exciting beyond words to me.”

To view a selection of available works by Jenny, follow the link to her artist page here.

Jenny Bell: Life Forms
Goulburn Regional Art Gallery
23 June – 4 August

Jenny Bell
Australian Galleries, Sydney
15 Roylston Street, Paddington NSW 2021
10 August – 27 August 2023

Request to join the preview mailing list for Jenny Bell’s upcoming exhibition at Australian Galleries, Sydney.

Jenny Bell  Splitting Posts no 24  2012  oil on board  60 x 60 cm. Find out more about this work here.

Cover, Artist Profile, issue #63.

Camie Lyons, Jenny Bell & Angus Fisher – Paddington Art Precinct at George Place

Image above: Installation view, Camie Lyons Untethered.

Camie Lyons, Jenny Bell and Angus Fisher have been included in the latest iteration of Paddington Art Precinct at George Place, curated by Justin Miller Gallery.

Lyons has two works included, ‘Seed’ and ‘Untethered’. These works are remnants of her most recent body of work, ‘Bush Calligraphy’, presented at Australian Galleries Sydney in March 2022.

Installation view: Camie Lyons  Seed  2021.

Inspired by the immersive experiences during her residencies in 2020 and 2021 – first at Umbi Gumbi on the South Coast of NSW and then BigCi Creative Ground in the ancient landscape of the Blue Mountains – these works highlight Lyon’s inherent understanding and appreciation of nature’s tempo as she brings this sensibility into the urban rush, reminding us to be free of imposed rigidity and nurture the seed within.

Camie Lyons  Untethered  2021  aluminium, graphite & sealer  126 x 190 x 110 cm  $14,000. Enquire about this work.

Camie Lyons  Seed  2021  aluminium and flock leather on Perspex plinth  162 x 116 x 97 cm  $14,000. Enquire about this work.

Installation view, George Place.

Installation view, George Place.

“Art, in all its forms, is the expression of the spirit – a fusion of our rational and intuitive selves. It reflects a version of ourselves back to us. If we open ourselves to its power, we might learn to be native to this place.” – Jenny Bell

Jenny Bell  Splitting posts no 24  2012  oil on board  60 x 60 cm  $5,750. Work available online.

Jenny Bell  Splitting posts no 38  2012  oil on board  60 x 60 cm  $5,750. Work available online.

Jenny Bell  Shedding light no.14  2007-10  oil on plantation hoop pine  60 x 60 cm  $5,750. Work available online.

Angus Fisher  Carrion #1  2021  ink pen and watercolour on paper  75 x 55 cm  $5,750. Work available online.

‘Carrion #1’ was exhibited at Australian Galleries Sydney in Fisher’s 2021 solo exhibition ‘Natural Order’, which explored human interaction with the natural world and our ongoing efforts to control and contain it. Another work from this series ‘Carrion #3’ was the winner of the 2021 Hawkesbury Art Prize.

“Over 10 million animals are killed on our roads each year. This is a uniquely Australian sight; native creatures struck, tagged and discarded by the roadside. Absurd and grotesque, these animals serenely sprawled and ritually marked by passing rangers represent the accepted price of our fast moving world.” – Angus Fisher