Marbles I 1980

Charles Bell made this painting of marbles, using oil paint, sometime before 1995. The way he’s gone about it is very considered, almost like he’s building up the forms, layer by layer, until these glassy spheres seem ready to roll right off the surface. Look at the way he’s handled the paint; it’s so smooth and controlled, especially in those highlights and reflections. You can almost feel the cool, hard surface of the marbles, and the way the light bends and twists through the glass. The standout is definitely that central marble with the swirling reds and yellows. It's like a little universe contained within that tiny sphere, and the way Bell has captured that is just mesmerizing. Bell’s hyperrealism reminds me a little of Gerhard Richter’s blurred paintings, though with a completely different sensibility. Both are playing with perception and representation, but where Richter is all about the blur, Bell is all about clarity, inviting us to really look, and look again.