Artist talk with
Bel Fullana
'MotoMiau', 2021
Oil and spray on canvas
130x195cm
Tell us about yourself.
My name is Bel Fullana (Bel is the short of Isabel). I'm 36 years old and I'm a painter. I'm from Mallorca, a spanish island in the Mediterranean sea. I live and work in this little island in a house in the countyside where I also have the studio. Nowadays I entirely dedicated myself to painting.
Working and living in the same place makes me spend a lot of time without socializing and I find increasingly difficult to share time and space with people. I'm becoming a real antisocial freak.
Where did your passion for art begin?
My mother had some dusty art books on the shelf, I remember looking at them over and over and being amazed at Dubuffet's work.
I also remember being very impressed by Miró's work when I visited the Pilar & Joan Miró Foundation in Palma during a school trip.
I think I have always wanted to become an artist and live my life painting.
How would you describe your work to someone?
I think my work could be described as a carefree figurative expressionist painting with a strong childlike character.
Rude, ugly, amorphous painting and badly painted but at the same time it can be cute and naive.
Antistyle shit made with lot of love.
'Butty Crocs II', 2021
Oil and spray on canvas
146x114cm
What are you currently working on?
Right now I'm working on a series of motorized and armed women's paintings, half human, half alien, inspired by aesthetich trends and characters that I see on internet and social media based on the street culture.
When you start a new work or project, do you plan what you’re going to create or do you improvise?
My work has a lot to do with improvisation at the beginning, to start the pieces. Usually I start painting without any established idea, forming characters from paint spots. However while I’m working on them, during the process, I take pictures of each session to watch the image trough the computer and see what parts I could improve using digital programs for painting, making digital modifications, to later do it on the real canvas.
Can you highlight some of your influences and discuss how your influences have made an impact on you and your practice?
Something that really impressed me and I think has marked a before and after in my work was visiting Robert Nava's studio in Brooklyn about 4 years ago. Being able to feel the energy of his work and the environment in which it takes place was very inspiring.
For me Nava is an icon, a young artist who is creating a trend in the art world and painting. I consider his work has influenced me a lot since I met it trough Instagram.
Another artist I lately feel very interested to is María Forqué aka Virgen María, a multidisciplinary artist who works on performance through her body and the sexualization of it, making use of fashion, creepy trends and anime aesthetics mixing with electronic music. She's a universe of fantasy, art made person. Totally inspiring!
'Bamby', 2021
Oil and spray on canvas
151x179cm
What are your plans for the remainder of this year?
This year I have two solos and two group exhibitions for the moment, and I'll probably show my work in some art fair.
So right now my plan for this year is working hard.
I also plan to improve my English and getting fit but I suspect that this will not be the case :)