Fantastic Beasts

In her first solo show, artist and illustrator Julie Bell brings together figures and wildlife in luscious colors and compositions.

- Michael Clawson

Julie Bell’s newest paintings take place in an intergalactic realm deep within another universe, where her figures and wild animals float together amid the swirling cosmos of creation. This isn’t Eden, but perfection—in the figure, in the light, in the beasts— permeates through every brushstroke as Bell’s women reign peacefully with their animal counterparts on her ethereal planes

“I truly have this feeling of mankind and nature—humans and nature—we have this connection between us and the animals. I’m interested in looking at that and painting those connections. Animals have everything to do with our emotions. Mammals have the same kind of brain that we do, a feeling brain, which is why we feel so close to them,” Bell says of her new work. “When we look at animals or are around animals we feel that openness and honesty, and though it should be impossible to communicate, we are linked perfectly.”

Bell will be unveiling her new works, all of them featuring female figures with wildlife subjects, May 4 at Rehs Contemporary in New York City. The show will be called Lush: Paradisiac Fantasies. Lush is a word that she heard during the buildup to the show and immediately fell in love with. “I like that it was sort of connected to paradise. The women are in this world of luxury,” she says. “Lush is also an emotion you can get from that, which added another dimension to the title.”