Background
Charles Bell was born on February 2, 1935 in Tulsa, Oklahoma, United States.
Charles Bell was born on February 2, 1935 in Tulsa, Oklahoma, United States.
Charles Bell earned a Bachelor of Business Administration degree from the University of Oklahoma in 1957.
From 1957 - 1959, Charles Bell served for two years in the United States Navy as a lieutenant. Then, he was working in the San Francisco Bay Area, where he was drawn to the vibrantly colored paintings of Richard Diebenkorn and Wayne Thiebaud. Other artistic influences Bell has cited range from Pop art to the realisms of Jan Vermeer and Salvador Dalí. It was through the painter Donald Timothy Flores, however, that Bell learned technique, most notably trompe l'oeil, while working in the former's San Francisco studio. Under Flores, Bell painted mostly small-scale landscapes and still lifes.
In 1967 Bell relocated to New York, where he set up his first studio. Two years later he began showing at New York's Meisel Gallery run by Louis K. Meisel.Bell embraced a photo-based technique in his work not only for the way it renders imperceptible details visible, but also for how he saw the close-up photographic view as emblematic of contemporary visual experience steeped in a daily bombardment of media imagery.
Charles's subjects are typically familiar objects associated with childhood, consumer culture, and play, and thus capable of resonating with a broad audience. By focusing on larger-than-life subjects, Bell's paintings also deny narrative readings of his work. He has described his approach to selecting subject matter as more of an emotional than intellectual process. The hyperrealistic precision of his technique, combined with an exaggerated scale, produces a sensation that oscillates between familiarity and unfamiliarity, thus engaging the viewer sensually and emotionally.
Before the Journey
1986Triple Swirl Fade to Black
1994The Ultimate Gumball
1978Sugar Daddy, Gumball X
1975Sophisticated Lady
1993Kandy Kane Rainbow
1994Marbles I
1980Miami Beach
1989The Judgement of Paris
1986Rol-A-Top
1981Horn and Hardart
1974Cat's Eyes & Best of 'Em
1993Marbles XI
1984Nation's Finest, Gumball IV
1974"Chicago" Pat. No. 1, 910, 193
1980Finis Coronat Opus
1995Gumball I
1971Seaplane in Bathtub
1973Gumball II
1973Untitled
Majorette
1993Midsummer Dream's
1986Marbles VII
1982Drop a Penny in the Slot
1988Paragon
1988Raggedy Ann with Baseball
1971Oh Boy
1990Troupe
1983Dazzling Dozen
1994Sixteen Candles
1992Double Bonus
1987Tops
1972Solitaire Blue, Marble VI
1982Gumball III
1973Thank You, Gumball V
1974Andy's Mr. Peanut (Major), Gumball XXII
1991100 Points When Lit
1981Glassies, Marbles XIV
1985Lucky Lady
1990Marbles VIII
19821 to 4 Can Play
1988Buck Rogers
1972G.B.W.C. #4
1982Ta-Daa
1985