Scott Bell

Region: MFA Annual

My paintings and sculptural assemblages address the concept of the ideal suburb and the notion of domesticating the natural world. I offer a sense of self-reflection that turns viewers’ attention inward to slow down their understanding of surrounding landscapes, and to question life in conjunction with the environment. Ideas of isolation are ever-present in my work. The aim is not to engage feelings of sadness, but to generate an invitation to contemplate empathetic interpretations of banality. A sense of absurdity is generated by combinations of the illusionary and the raw, while the work in a larger sense provides awareness of our navigation of the natural and constructed landscape. The method for depicting this is serious, but selfaware, illustrating the contrasts and complementariness of the two realms.