Press:
2009
May 8, 2009:
The Boston Globe: Portland Museum Biennial pulls
it all together: Sebastian Smee
(Dozier Bell mention, page 2)
April
2009
Maine Home + Design
The Canvas
The Bleak and The Beautiful
2008
TRANSCENDENT &
SUBLIME
Dozier Bell, Joy Garnett, Jacqueline Gourevitch, Carrie Yamaoka
September 14 - November 4, 2008
The
transcendent and sublime are related as extreme states beyond the limits
of ordinary comprehension. “Transcendent” refers to a rare experience or
perception outside known boundaries, or a state existing beyond a
standard form of being. To know a boundary is to be aware of what lies
beyond it, which is to have already transcended it. “Sublime” describes
the quality of vast magnitude to which nothing can be compared, and
which lies beyond measurement. Uncontrollable, primal forces of nature
are often referred to in terms of the “sublime,” inspiring horror as
well as awe. Artists may seek these unbounded states, translating their
attendant sensations into visual representation, aiming to express
perceptions from the edge of their conceptual capacity, capturing, as
painter Joy Garnett has described it, “the feeling of movement when
there is none, extending the promise of light, if only one passes
swiftly through the closing darkness.”
Closing darkness and an
overwhelming enormity of space illuminated by stars and infinite
galaxies are themes in Dozier Bell’s large-scale acrylic paintings.
Ring (2003) and Rim (2005) offer a temporary release from
gravity as we float in their immensity of uninhabited space, a space
framed by vastness, dark matter and luminous energies indifferent
to eons of time. In Ring, the artist builds up a silky tactility
in which a smoky vortex and brilliant light appear and disappear into
dark energy. In Rim, the viewer is buoyed up, on the threshold of
relativity, simultaneously in and of the universe. Slender white
crosshairs and sight lines of paint suggest remote viewing technologies
that frame wondrous forces, rendering her omniscient views double-edged.
Veil (2007) and Veil 2 (2008) are tiny nuanced charcoals on
acetate, illuminating from afar the earth’s murky atmosphere in shadows
of fog, drifting clouds, and blurred pools of light. Bell creates rich
tonal depth with layers of finely tuned touches of charcoal dust,
evoking on this small scale an oncoming eclipse, or the haze of a battle
far away in the distance. Beauty and annihilation coexist in her
universe.
Arts Students
League, New York
Art From Anxious
Times
October 1 - 27, 2008
A
group exhibition that examines how contemporary artists are expressing
or reflecting concern about terrorism, war, environmental degradation
and globalization. Artists include: Maya Lin, Jean-Pierre Roy, David
Opdyke, Joan Fontcuberta, Dozier Bell, Robert Selwyn and others.
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