Kevin Bell

Gallery Affiliations: Gallery Jones

Region: West

Website: http://www.kevinjackbell.com

City / State: missoula, MT

The trace of human intervention is common in the landscape. Our view of nature cannot be wide-angle or unbroken, as it is crowded with discordant elements that often contradict and muddy our perceptions and expectations. We instead experience our surroundings selectively, filtering out what is not necessary, ignoring what is irrelevant. Through this process of filtering, we perceive the landscape not as a whole, but as a collection of instances, fragments, specimens, and objects.

Often what I notice and select is dependent on the presence of a manmade element. The curve of a hill or the texture of vegetation is most visible when it is marked, divided, or plotted. Such markers also situate the viewer: they offer scale and context. Despite significant differences in value and worth assigned to each, nature and human activities are oddly interdependent. Together, they form fragments floating through our field of vision.