Paintings By Anne Bell

“I am interested in painting as a visual language. As a former student of Vaclav Vytlacil at the Art Students League in NYC, I was trained to use abstraction as a means of expression. Throughout my career I have been exploring ways of using color, line, form, space, and rhythm to express what it is to be alive.

 “My subject matter sometimes starts with plants and flowers. I am painting their movement and rhythm. That is what interests me most- the way they present themselves and their gallant enthusiasm for life. Different kinds of plants have different ways of moving. Some are voluptuous and unfold with care. Lilies on a single plant often reach out and caress each other as they bloom. Their leaves take up a circular movement and their berries form a musical counterpoint to the whole choreography. Quite amazing. By contrast, a zigzag cactus grows in spurts and jumps, and then reaches out in a big sweeping movement with its mature arms to find the sun. The cyclamen are extraordinary because their leaves undulate almost like waves, while their flowers – some like pinwheels – some like birds, fly in a group seeking their light.

“As a painter, with all of this going on in front of me, I try to capture this sensation with line, form and color. The challenge is to convert my means – charcoal, paint, and linen – into a visual language which will express my response to what I see. We are all dazzled by the beautiful colors in flowers, and the way their colors sometimes float on top of each other. By using, layered color and line, and variations of value, chroma and intervals, I seek to convey rhythm and movement.

“I often use a large scale even for plants that are in reality quite small. I do this because I want to take the viewer into their dance, to sense them physically, as if one is a participant in their seduction.

“The last fifty years, of abstract art have opened up new ways of creating a visual language.  At this point I am working with abstraction and inspired by realism, always trying to capture a life force.”