Kari Bell
Artist, Hiker, Cyclist, Humanitarian and mindful Buddhist
“I realized I didn’t want to compose pictures. I wanted to find them.” Ellsworth Kelly
Kari is a Colorado artist inspired by everything…the mundane, the extraordinary, the personal, the broadly public. Color, light and texture inform her work along with a no fears approach. If she knows something, there’s more to learn to make it better or different. If she doesn’t know something, the challenge is on.
In abstraction, Kari has found a path to expressing her inner self as well as her world view. Painting has been the most freeing, the most challenging and the most peace inducing experience of her life.
Kari likes to say she is a recovering academic. Painting, particularly abstraction and the use of cold wax techniques, is a way to break bonds, to move away from the rigidity of academia. Yes, there are rules in painting but they are meant to be bent and broken as needed.
Influences are limitless but start with Diebenkorn, Sorolla, de Stael, Joan Mitchell and Agnes Martin. Other important and influential aspects are the light and colors of the South West US.
The process of using cold wax with oils is particularly satisfying in that the oil paint dries more quickly than normal; the waxy surface can be scratched, gouged, patterned, pressed and stained layer after layer. This adds incredible depth and texture to any painting which, as a consequence, enhances the visual experience.
Artist Statement
Contemporary abstract oil and cold wax painter based in Colorado, Kari is a retired academic whose goal is to explore the dimensions of the self and the world as well as push the limits of understanding. Kari’s work is imbued with wonder without judgment.
