"Western (re)Vision" by Artist Kevin Bell

"I have chosen to paint many elements incompletely, in fragmented splatters, drips, and glazes to emphasize their lack of solidity and definitiveness. From these fragments, our cultural needs and desires are often revealed: movement, disposability, convenience. While not majestic or inherently aesthetic, I try to paint these banal places with a degree of sympathy. In some sense, it is an attempt to try to love this strange world we have created. The views in these paintings were selected because they have historical roots."

"A series of paintings exploring the transient nature of our built environment by artist Kevin Bell. Bell currently teaches art at the University of Montana. His own work often investigates contemporary landscapes and how they reflect shifting cultural values and narratives. "Western (re)Vision" sees Bell choosing to paint in a way that conveys shifting dynamics and the sense that things "will look different tomorrow": "I have chosen to paint many elements incompletely, in fragmented splatters, drips, and glazes to emphasize their lack of solidity and definitiveness."

Kevin Bell produces a series of paintings that examine the transient nature of built environments. Bell teaches art at the University of Montana and focuses on contemporary landscapes and shifting cultural narratives. The Western (re)Vision paintings use incomplete forms, fragmented splatters, drips, and glazes to emphasize lack of solidity and ongoing change. The fragmented imagery reveals cultural impulses such as movement, disposability, and convenience while treating banal places with sympathy. All views derive from locations recorded in 19th-century European American settler journals, and the works revisit those sites to glimpse layers of past and present. The project is on display at A-Gallery in Seattle through January 3, 2026, with journal texts available on the artist's website.

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