With this new body of work, artist John Bell is expanding on the three noted forms or phases of cubism:
English art historian Douglas Cooper describes three phases of Cubism in his seminal book,
The Cubist Epoch. According to Cooper there was "Early Cubism", (from 1906 to 1908) when the movement was initially developed in the studios of Picasso and Braque; the second phase being called "High Cubism", (from 1909 to 1914) during which time Juan Gris emerged as an important exponent; and finally Cooper referred to "Late Cubism" (from 1914 to 1921) as the last phase of Cubism as a radical avant-garde movement.
In cubist artworks, objects are broken up, analyzed, and re-assembled in an abstracted form—instead of depicting objects from one viewpoint, the artist depicts the subject from a multitude of viewpoints to represent the subject in a greater context. Often the surfaces intersect at seemingly random angles, removing a coherent sense of depth. The background and object planes interpenetrate one another to create the shallow ambiguous space, one of cubism's distinct characteristics.
With the use of photography & individual plastic cubes, Bell brings cubism into the new millennium making it not only three
dimensional, but also playing within the time continuum, giving us 360 degree views of a subject at various times & places in their lives. "You get to see the subject aging & see different sides to their personalities" says Bell. "The photos in the first piece (self portrait, 2010) were taken months apart & at different locations. As time allows, I plan to photograph people over the course of months & years to ad greater depth to the work. It's very interesting to me to see the subtle changes in someone over time & how different we appear in the multiple rolls we play in our daily lives. At work, at home, at play, indoors & out, each situation effects use in many ways. Mood, what we wear, if we cut our
hair, shaved, lost or gained weight, what has changed: divorce, jobs, children, etc... The boxes themselves are a metaphor for the compartmentalization of self, how we see ourselves & how society perceives us".
The works also appear as kinetic light sculptures. The boxes themselves play with & refract the changing light due to the nature of the surfaces injection molded manufacturing process. Bell also layers each level with sheets of colored Plexiglas which gives the work different moods depending on the changing light. “They’re fairly moody works” says Bell, “a lot like us”.
Featured piece:
Literal Cubism - Self Portrait*
photos in acrylic cubes (4" x 4" x 2" each)
18wx36hx14d
*This piece was created for our most recent show "Modern Values", featuring works by John Bell and Carlisle and is currently on display (until May 22nd) at
Light Spot, located on 2927 South Highland Drive, Salt Lake City, UT.
For more information on John Bell and to see all available works,
click HERE
Amedeo Modigliani was an Italian artist who worked primarily in France as a figurative artist. Modigliani became famous for his modern style with mask-like faces and elongated forms. Olivia states that she was influenced by his "gentle, simple portraits of Humanity."
Egon Schiele was a major figurative painter in the early 1900s. Schiele's work uses an intensity in the twisted bodies and expressive lines that give his work an element of Expressionism. His bold use of line is one of the primary influences on Olivia. Olivia says "There is an unspeakable [...] feeling that arises when I see line being used in art. It seems to try to define what cannot be defined, what could never be truly known."
Jenny Saville is an English artist best known for her monumental images of women. Olivia has been influenced by the way Saville has used weight in her images.
Alice Neel was a famous American portrait artist. Her paintings involved anyone from friends and family to other artists or even strangers. Her work is known for expressionistic line and color, psychological insight and emotional intensity. "Truth about form and [the] grotesqueness of humanity" are the influential elements of Neel's work that Olivia sited.
Olivia expresses admiration for the use of composition and negative space in Degas' works. Edgar Degas was a French painter who was one of the primary founders of the Impressionist movement, though he rejected the term as it applied to his work. Degas was a master at portraying movement, especially in his well known works of dancers.
Besides artistic influences, Olivia is inspired by the people she paints. She says "I paint whatever breaks my heart" - whether it is musicians, nature, children, or people she has met in her travels. Two years ago Olivia had the opportunity to spend four months in Malawi, Africa, with the "goal to paint" and to find inspiration in a new people and way of life. One of the highlights of her trip was a visit to the Amatofo Care Center, a Buddhist orphanage, where she spent time drawing and reading with the children.
Olivia is still working on paintings of the Malawian people after returning from a second trip to Africa 
earlier this year. She has also recently returned from doing humanitarian work in Haiti, where she had the opportunity to work with the children.
To view available works by Olivia, please visit her Mondo profile HERE. We will be receiving new works from Olivia in the next month or so. If you would like to be the first to view these new works, please enter your info on our contact page and click the box next to Olivia's name.
Through interviews with prominent Iranian female artists, Robert Adanto’s new documentary Pearls on the Ocean Floor examines the ways the younger generation of Iranians are forming a new cultural identity for their nation. The film reaches outside the cloistered and repressed stereotype of Islamic women, focusing instead on their compelling artistic responses to Iran’s continual national conflicts. For more information about the film, click 
If you haven't been to see our latest show, you still have an opportunity to see "Modern Values", featuring new works by Carlise and John Bell. The show is currently hanging at 
shows/events, please sign up on our contact page and check which artists you are interested in and we'll make sure you are at our next event!
The show will remain up through this weekend, and several pieces will stay up for the next couple weeks. We encourage you to stop by Light Spot to see this fantastic show. We'd like to thank 
• Japanese-born designer and conceptual artist Arakawa died at 73 on Tuesday in Manhattan. Along with his wife Madeline Gins, Arakawa explored a philosophy he called Reversible Destiny, which questioned the definitive nature of mortality, through painting, poetry, and most recently, architecture. Check out 
The Vancouver Art Gallery has mounted an exhibition of work by video artist Fiona Tan, centered on a commissioned film installation entitled Rise and Fall. This will be the first chance American audiences have had to view Tan’s recent work. Based in Amsterdam, Tan’s work has been shown at the Venice Biennale, the Rijksmuseum, and the Centre Pompidou. Read more at 
BAK, basis actuele voor kunst presents, Rabih Mroue, a Lebanese theater director, actor, playwright and visual artist. Mroue's work mixes "methods and cultural cannons, by complicating the distinctions between fiction and reality, and by blending past "facts" with speculation about the current moment." The show starts this weekend and runs through August 1, 2010. Read about the exhibit on 
A urinal is a urinal is a urinal." HyperAllergic.com's Hrag Vartanian writes about Marcell Duchamps Fountainand its many imitations. Read more on 
L&M Arts will exhibit Alexander Calder and Yves Tanguy together in Between Surrealism and Abstraction. Calder and Tanguy have been friends and neighbors, but this is the first time their works have been combined in a significant show. Although different in style, both artists have used biomorphism in their work, adding an element of compatibility. Read more about the show and the artists on 
New York street artist Momo has taken his work off the street and into the private art spectrum. Momo is known for large paper pieces typically found on or near construction site scaffolding with large flat wooden surfaces to put up his works, but he began working with locals in Key West, Florida to create his works inside their homes. In an interview he said "I wanted to try one kind of art work against a changing context." Check it out on 
One of Antony Gormley's most famous works, Critical Mass, is being displayed on the De La Warr Pavilion. The exhibition includes 60 bronze sculptures cast from Gormley's body in different positions and runs through August 31, 2010. Read more on 
Today we're highlighting another Mondo artist, Lane Bennion. Lane is a phenomenal artist who enjoys "finding beauty or poetry in the most mundane of objects, situations or scenes." His work typically portrays the mannequins or merchandise in a storefront.
Some artists who have influenced Lane's work include Edward Hopper, Wayne Thiebaud, Paul Davis, David Dornan, and Doug Braithwaite. Each of these artists have influenced Lane's paintings and subject matter. Lane says David Dornan "challenged me to find poetry in the most mundane objects and scenes. [He is] one of the most inspiring people I know."
Other artists that Lane likes vary in style and subject matter including Andy Warhol, Roy Lichtenstein, Francis Bacon, John Singer Sargent, Richard Diebenkorn, Odd Nerdrum, and Gustave Dore.
Lane says that he also loves artwork from classic space age and sci-fi magazines in the 1950s and 60s or scenes from Warner Brothers cartoons in the 1940s and 50s. He sites a number of films and film makers: Classic Star Trek (and only Classic), Star Wars: A New Hope, Alice in Wonderland, animated shorts from 1970s Sesame Street (click 
The Pompidou arts centre opened a new branch in Metz. The space will be devoted to 20th and 21st century art, but has no permanent collection of its own. The branch at Metz will show, in six-month or yearly rotations, parts of the vast collection of 65,000 contemporary works held by the Pompidou in Paris. Read more