Robin Bell (artist)

Robin Bell (born 1979)[1] is an American multimedia visual artist currently living and working in Washington, DC.

Artwork

Although trained as a printmaker,[2] Bell is better known for his fine art video work as a projectionist, which over the years has been exhibited/projected at a wide and diverse set of venues, such as The Hollywood Bowl,[3] Artomatic,[4][5] the Kennedy Center,[6] the Phillips Collection[7] and others.[2][8][9]

Bell began gaining national[10][11][1][12][13][14] and international[15][16][17] attention upon President Trump's election,[18] when he focused his projection work to deliver highly negative[19][20] political messages in various "unauthorized" venues such as the Trump International Hotel in Washington, D.C.[21][22] Referencing that particular projection in 2017, The Los Angeles Times noted that it "began to go viral on social media almost as it was happening."[21]

According to The Washington City Paper, these political projections "unlocked"[23] the path to his first solo show at former Corcoran Gallery of Art in Washington, DC, and as noted by the Associated Press: "His work has turned into an unexpected business opportunity. Activist groups have paid his crew to travel as far away as Finland to project images on prominent buildings."[12] In 2019, The New York Times art critic Jillian Steinhauer noted that Bell's projections veer "closer to propaganda than art."[24]

References

1. Williams, Stephanie. "Robin Bell contemplates the power of transparency with 'Open'". The Washington Post.
2. "About - Bellvisuals". bellvisuals.com. Retrieved 2019-04-11.
3. "Fathom — Robin Bell". Fathom. Retrieved 2019-04-11.
4. "Artomatic in 15 Minutes ⋆ BYT // Brightest Young Things". BYT // Brightest Young Things. 2008-05-30. Retrieved 2019-04-11.
5. "My Artomatic 2008 Top 100 by Floor // The Daily Render by Nikolas R. Schiller". Retrieved 2019-04-11.
6. "Boat Burning". The Kennedy Center. Retrieved 2019-04-11.
7. "Robin Bell: Sound, Video, Spirituality". The Experiment Station. 2011-08-04. Retrieved 2019-04-11.
8. "Props to Robin Bell and Bell Visuals, Behind those Great Projections". PoPville. Retrieved 2019-04-11.
9. Stein, Perry (2015-06-18). "A D.C. neighborhood and its emoji-filled, anti-Subway protest". The Washington Post.
10. "'We're Going to Go Where He Works': An Artist Projected a Message of Protest Against Brett Kavanaugh Onto His DC Courthouse". artnet News. 2018-09-26. Retrieved 2019-04-11.
11. "Man Arrested After Projecting 'Discrimination Is Wrong' On Congressional Office Building". WAMU. Retrieved 2019-04-11.
12. "Anti-Trump images become big business for DC projectionist". WTOP. 2018-08-21. Retrieved 2019-04-11.
13. "Someone Projected Poop Emojis on Trump's D.C. Hotel". Teen Vogue. Retrieved 2019-04-11.
14. "Police arrest anti-Trump artist for projecting message on public building". WUSA. Retrieved 2019-04-11.
15. "The artist lighting up Trump Hotel". BBC News. Retrieved 2019-04-11.
16. 'Pay bribes here' projected onto Trump's hotel - CNN Video, retrieved 2019-04-16
17. "Jeff Sessions in KKK robe image projected onto Justice Department headquarters". The Independent. 2017-05-23. Retrieved 2019-04-16.
18. Hendrix, Steve (2017-10-25). "Trolling Trump: How viral visual taunts have changed protest in nation's capital". The Washington Post.
19. Stein, Perry (2018-08-17). "'Known racist and a nazi sympathizer': Activist projects message onto Trump's D.C. hotel". The Washington Post.
20. Weil, Martin (2018-01-13). "Vulgarity used by president projected onto Trump hotel in D.C." The Washington Post.
21. Miranda, Carolina A. "Meet Robin Bell, the artist who projected protest messages onto Trump's D.C. hotel last night". latimes.com. Retrieved 2019-04-11.
22. Weil, Martin (2017-05-15). "Writing was (kind of) on the wall: 'Pay Trump Bribes Here,' on wall above an entrance to the Trump Hotel in D.C." The Washington post.
23. "At GWU, Robin Bell's Projections Send a Strong Message". Washington City Paper. Retrieved 2019-04-11.
24. Steinhauer, Jillian (2019-02-22). "President Trump Has Inspired Art. That's Not Always a Good Thing". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2019-04-16.

External links

• Official Website