Troupe 1983

Charles Bell made this amazing painting of toys – ‘Troupe’ – and it just sings with a kind of uncanny realism, or maybe hyper-realism, I guess. But what I love most is the way he captures the sheen and texture of each little object. I’m really drawn to the clown doing a headstand, all stars and stripes. The glossiness makes you think you could reach out and touch it, like you could actually feel the cold metal. It is so smooth, yet the way Bell has painted this part of the image makes it so tactile. The whole image has a great balance between sharp focus and blurry backgrounds. It reminds me a bit of Vija Celmins’ meticulous renderings, but with a playful twist. In both artists, there’s this sense of embracing the ambiguous nature of representation, of seeing and feeling. Art doesn’t need to be pinned down by a single meaning, and the best of it is always open to possibilities!