Deborah Bell

Collaboration History Deborah Bell’s first collaboration with David Krut was in 2000 when he introduced her to Jack Shirreff and his 107 Workshop in Wiltshire, United Kingdom, where Krut had been collaborating with accomplished international artists since 1981. The introduction enabled the completion of Bell’s first editions, published by David Krut, of large copper plate etchings that she had begun in Johannesburg. In 2004, David Krut Publishing released TAXI-010 Deborah Bell, part of the TAXI Art Books Series, the first cohesive publications on contemporary South African artists that had started in 2000. This book was the first monograph on the work of Bell, and reviewed her work up until that time as a sculptor, painter and printmaker. In the run-up to the book’s publication, Bell had started to collaborate with the newly-established David Krut Workshop (DKW) on various etchings, including work on the Ulysses series. In 2009 and 2010, Bell had her first solo exhibitions with David Krut Projects (DKP), titled Collaborations I and Collaborations II. The latter was accompanied by Alchemy, a book publication by David Krut Publishing, which explored her printmaking collaborations, and formed the basis of an exhibition at David Krut Projects Cape Town. In 2015, DKP Johannesburg presented Renunciation, a solo exhibition focused on the artist as a printmaker, further...

Collaboration History

Deborah Bell’s first collaboration with David Krut was in 2000 when he introduced her to Jack Shirreff and his 107 Workshop in Wiltshire, United Kingdom, where Krut had been collaborating with accomplished international artists since 1981. The introduction enabled the completion of Bell’s first editions, published by David Krut, of large copper plate etchings that she had begun in Johannesburg.

In 2004, David Krut Publishing released TAXI-010 Deborah Bell, part of the TAXI Art Books Series, the first cohesive publications on contemporary South African artists that had started in 2000. This book was the first monograph on the work of Bell, and reviewed her work up until that time as a sculptor, painter and printmaker. In the run-up to the book’s publication, Bell had started to collaborate with the newly-established David Krut Workshop (DKW) on various etchings, including work on the Ulysses series.

In 2009 and 2010, Bell had her first solo exhibitions with David Krut Projects (DKP), titled Collaborations I and Collaborations II. The latter was accompanied by Alchemy, a book publication by David Krut Publishing, which explored her printmaking collaborations, and formed the basis of an exhibition at David Krut Projects Cape Town.

In 2015, DKP Johannesburg presented Renunciation, a solo exhibition focused on the artist as a printmaker, further reinforcing her standing as a collaborative arist.

In 2017, her second solo exhibition at DKP Cape Town, Uncovering Ancient Memory – 15 years of Etching, showcased the evolution of Bell’s etching career with DKW.

In the following year, major new prints, which were created in collaboration with DKW and Master Printers Jill Ross and Phil Sanders, were part of Invocations to the Plate at DKP Johannesburg. This solo exhibition was accompanied by a book of the same name which described in detail the making process of the various artworks displayed in the exhibition.

She has also been part of various group exhibitions at DKP and been the focus of the fifth episode of David Krut Podcast’s Artist Series.

Bell’s collaborations with artists Robert Hodgins and William Kentridge on different projects in a range of media and themes play a central role in her early work, and are therefore interesting to note. The unique relationships that were forged with these collaborations had further significant influence on the individual works of each artist to follow. In 2010, with the passing of Robert Hodgins, Bell created Cry me a River in collaboration with DKW as an ode to the friendship.

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Bell (born 1957) is a leading painter, sculptor and printmaker in South Africa. While her early work was more political, her work across different media she is more recently concerned with worlds in between: the realm between “mortality and immortality, matter and spirit, presence and absence, the quotidian and the mythic, the grounded and transcendent.” Bell has noted, of her practice: “The idea of an artist as a magician delights me. It is about alchemy and the turning of base material into gold.” Bell’s work is fundamentally informed by a personal search for the ‘Self’ and she often draws on spiritual imagery from a wide range of sources. Multi-layered references and connection to ancient sources and memories is linked to her spiritual beliefs and how she defines herself as an artist in Africa. This continuity of form and content within Bell’s oeuvre allows the possible meanings within her work to reach beyond the personal search of the artist herself. She is the winner of multiple awards and her works lie in numerous collections, including the Johannesburg Art Gallery, Johannesburg; Museum of Modern Art, New York; National Gallery of Art and Smithsonian Institute, both Washington, D.C..

Deborah Bell

Biography

Exhibitions with David Krut Projects

Blogs & Other Media

Video

Artworks

News

Print of the Month: Deborah Bell “Wolf Cave”

David Krut Workshop | Where we are!

The Matter, The Maker and The Made: The work of Deborah Bell.

David Krut Podcast & Video Playlist: Womens Month 2020

DO-IT-AT-HOME ACTIVITIES

DK Inside Stories | Deborah Bell | Aware of Being Aware | 2017

Intaglio Printmaking Demo with Chad Cordeiro – DKW

Deborah Bell – Sketchbook series, 2017 – ongoing

Rotation of the flywheel – DKCT visits DKW

Chine-collé Demonstration by Master Printer Jillian Ross on Deborah Bell’s ‘Breath, 2017’

Inside Story: Deborah Bell – Wolf Cave, 2018

Print of the Month (July 2018) Deborah Bell

DKW’s Canadian intern Lacia Vogel

Deborah Bell – Invocations to the Plate

DKW Intern | Sarah Hunkin

Technical Demonstration on Chine-collé – Deborah Bell’s Invocations to the Plate

The Proof is in the Printmaking

Invocations to the Plate | Deborah Bell | Opening Night

Artist Series E05 | How to Speak About Deborah Bell

Deborah Bell Collaboration Continues

Print of the Month | Deborah Bell, Breath, 2017

A Conversation with Phil Sanders

Deborah Bell – Aware of Being Aware, 2017

Subtle differences | Chine collé

A visit to the Workshop

Deborah Bell | New Etchings 2017

Painterly Printmaking using Spitbite

David Krut ARCHIVE

Deborah Bell at DKW with Phil Sanders

Bell | Kentridge | Victor – Installation Images

Baltimore Contemporary Print Fair 2015

Deborah Bell Signs New Editions at DKW

Phil Sanders and Deborah Bell at David Krut Print Workshop (Arts on Main)

David Krut to Participate in the Year’s E|AB Fair, NYC

Deborah Bell at DKW, Arts on Main

Deborah Bell and Phil Sanders at DKW Arts on Main

Arts on Main: Contemporary Prints From South Africa – Syracuse University Art Gallery

THE PRINT SHOW at Ebony Cape Town, Installation Images

Deborah Bell signing

Deborah Bell at David Krut Print Workshop, Arts on Main

Untitled: DKW Summer Show (5 November 2011 – 21 January 2012)

David Krut Projects at Joburg Art Fair 2011

IMPRINT: Selected Editions and Works on Paper, Installation Images

David Krut Projects Cape Town Exhibition Installation

David Krut Projects Cape Town: New Exhibitions of Work by William Kentridge and Deborah Bell

Deborah Bell: Cry Me a River: a tribute to Robert Hodgins

Deborah Bell’s Alchemy: Exhibition at DKP, Cape Town

FILM: David Krut Talks About Deborah Bell’s ‘Harmonia’ and ‘Harmonia 1′

Deborah Bell Biography

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Deborah Bell | New Etchings 2017 