Chris Bell Sculptor

I was born and brought up in the North of England. I went to studied Industrial Design at Manchester College of Art and Design and found that what I enjoyed most was extramural time in the sculpture studio. After a long and varied working career I moved to rural France in 2010, and it was only then that I found the time and space to continue my love of sculpture.

I am largely self-taught. My early work is figurative, but I gradually refined and simplified my forms with emphasis on the female figure. My approach to the piece is intuitive, often depending on the properties of the stone I am carving, though I do sometimes sketch or make a clay maquette beforehand. In 2023 I travelled to India and Spain working with black granite and alabaster. During these trips I began to explore abstract and natural form in my work.

My passion for travel has led me to work in various countries, using local stone. I have gained inspiration from the various communities and cultures with whom I have come into contact. I live in Voisey, Eastern France, with my wife who is a painter.

Ceramics

In the winter of 2018, I started using clay for the first time as a medium for my work. After carving stone, which is a subtraction technique, which is such a different approach, now I was building! This work developed into my “Castleman series” of ceramic heads which are smoke fired and waxed. In 2019 and 2020 I made other terracotta figures which I am now using in my new “Machine sculptures”.

Metal

After I discovered arc-welding I started making sculptures in metal and stone which has since evolved into multi-media creations.

Mixed Media

In 2019 I started making some mixed-media sculptures incorporating plaster, metal, wood, clay and various found objects. I was interested in exploring ways to create sculptures that were a reaction to social events happening now: addiction to social media, protest movements and artificial intelligence.

Machine Sculptures

During the Covid19 lockdown in 2020 I started working on a new series of sculptures using assemblage techniques and different found materials together with handmade terracotta figures. These are a breakaway into a more surreal and imaginary world of machines and mystics. I wanted to show another world, a metaphor of the world where we have become reliant on machines both real and virtual. Using small terracotta figures, I am trying to show man dwarfed by these large machines, but still able to use them for ways to create a better world, by connecting to energies unseen that we can harness, in order to evolve to the next level. I am planning to continue this project incorporating sound and machines that move or are interactive.

Relevant Education and work:

Manchester College of Art and Design, UK 1967 - 1970

Founder of an Arts Center, Chester, UK 1975 - 1979

Art and Photo Gallery owner, Brighton, UK. 1982- 1984

Print and Framing Company 1988- 1991

Design and publishing studio 1991 - 1999

Sculptor 2010 to present

I have had exhibitions in England, France and India.