Portrait of the artist

Meet Bella, my sculptor friend.

She liked my recent blips of her work and asked if I could come along to take more photos of the pieces she has at the Brussels art gallery that's currently showing her work. Because her exhibition has done so well, the gallery owner extended it until the end of October and all sold sculptures will be removed and replaced with new work. I've watched this gifted artist struggle to make it in a ruthless art market for many years, so I'm really delighted about her success.

I sneaked this shot of her while she was deciding where her new pieces would go. The piece she's holding is titled Le Souffle and it's made from a fallen apple tree from her orchard. The untitled installation of 10 pieces behind her (sold!) is made from beech wood. While she was busy putting up her new pieces, a Dutch lady in her 60s came in and walked around looking awed. She asked if she could speak to the artist. Sounding quite emotional, she explained to Bella that she was born and raised in the rainforest in Borneo and only moved to Europe when she was 19. Seeing the sculptures on a damp autumn morning seemed to trigger a flood of childhood memories. She left with a lightness in her step.


Until a month ago I had never photographed art, so my first photo shoot today was a vertiginous learning curve. Mistakes made, lessons learned. I've decided not to take myself too seriously and just have fun with it. A number of good shots came out of it so I guess I didn't do too badly. Thank you, Blipfoto!


If you haven't seen Bella's work that I blipped in the last month, here they are again:

Sculpture # 1
Sculpture # 2
Sculpture # 3