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Robin Bell (artist)

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Robin Bell (born 1979)[1] is an American multimedia visual artist currently living and working in Washington, DC.

Artwork

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Although trained as a printmaker,[2] Bell is better known for his fine art video work as a projectionist, which over the years has been exhibited/projected at a wide and diverse set of venues, such as The Hollywood Bowl,[3] Artomatic,[4][5] the Kennedy Center,[6] the Phillips Collection[7] and others.[2][8][9]

Bell began gaining national[10][11][1][12][13][14] and international[15][16][17] attention upon President Trump's election,[18] when he focused his projection work to deliver highly negative[19][20] political messages in various "unauthorized" venues such as the Trump International Hotel in Washington, D.C.[21][22] Referencing that particular projection in 2017, The Los Angeles Times noted that it "began to go viral on social media almost as it was happening."[21]

According to The Washington City Paper, these political projections "unlocked"[23] the path to his first solo show at former Corcoran Gallery of Art in Washington, DC, and as noted by the Associated Press: "His work has turned into an unexpected business opportunity. Activist groups have paid his crew to travel as far away as Finland to project images on prominent buildings."[12] In 2019, The New York Times art critic Jillian Steinhauer noted that Bell's projections veer "closer to propaganda than art."[24]

References

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  1. ^ a b Williams, Stephanie. "Robin Bell contemplates the power of transparency with 'Open'". The Washington Post.
  2. ^ a b "About - Bellvisuals". bellvisuals.com. Retrieved 2019-04-11.
  3. ^ "Fathom — Robin Bell". Fathom. Retrieved 2019-04-11.
  4. ^ "Artomatic in 15 Minutes ⋆ BYT // Brightest Young Things". BYT // Brightest Young Things. 2008-05-30. Retrieved 2019-04-11.
  5. ^ "My Artomatic 2008 Top 100 by Floor // The Daily Render by Nikolas R. Schiller". Retrieved 2019-04-11.
  6. ^ "Boat Burning". The Kennedy Center. Retrieved 2019-04-11.
  7. ^ "Robin Bell: Sound, Video, Spirituality". The Experiment Station. 2011-08-04. Retrieved 2019-04-11.
  8. ^ "Props to Robin Bell and Bell Visuals, Behind those Great Projections". PoPville. Retrieved 2019-04-11.
  9. ^ Stein, Perry (2015-06-18). "A D.C. neighborhood and its emoji-filled, anti-Subway protest". The Washington Post.
  10. ^ "'We're Going to Go Where He Works': An Artist Projected a Message of Protest Against Brett Kavanaugh Onto His DC Courthouse". artnet News. 2018-09-26. Retrieved 2019-04-11.
  11. ^ "Man Arrested After Projecting 'Discrimination Is Wrong' On Congressional Office Building". WAMU. Retrieved 2019-04-11.
  12. ^ a b "Anti-Trump images become big business for DC projectionist". WTOP. 2018-08-21. Retrieved 2019-04-11.
  13. ^ "Someone Projected Poop Emojis on Trump's D.C. Hotel". Teen Vogue. Retrieved 2019-04-11.
  14. ^ "Police arrest anti-Trump artist for projecting message on public building". WUSA. Retrieved 2019-04-11.
  15. ^ "The artist lighting up Trump Hotel". BBC News. Retrieved 2019-04-11.
  16. ^ 'Pay bribes here' projected onto Trump's hotel - CNN Video, retrieved 2019-04-16
  17. ^ "Jeff Sessions in KKK robe image projected onto Justice Department headquarters". The Independent. 2017-05-23. Retrieved 2019-04-16.
  18. ^ Hendrix, Steve (2017-10-25). "Trolling Trump: How viral visual taunts have changed protest in nation's capital". The Washington Post.
  19. ^ Stein, Perry (2018-08-17). "'Known racist and a nazi sympathizer': Activist projects message onto Trump's D.C. hotel". The Washington Post.
  20. ^ Weil, Martin (2018-01-13). "Vulgarity used by president projected onto Trump hotel in D.C." The Washington Post.
  21. ^ a b Miranda, Carolina A. "Meet Robin Bell, the artist who projected protest messages onto Trump's D.C. hotel last night". latimes.com. Retrieved 2019-04-11.
  22. ^ Weil, Martin (2017-05-15). "Writing was (kind of) on the wall: 'Pay Trump Bribes Here,' on wall above an entrance to the Trump Hotel in D.C." The Washington post.
  23. ^ "At GWU, Robin Bell's Projections Send a Strong Message". Washington City Paper. Retrieved 2019-04-11.
  24. ^ Steinhauer, Jillian (2019-02-22). "President Trump Has Inspired Art. That's Not Always a Good Thing". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2019-04-16.
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