Artist: Michael Bell-Smith
Exhibition title: Mall, Punk
Venue: Kunsthall Stavanger, Stavanger, Norway
Date: November 9, 2017 – January 14, 2018
Photography: all images copyright and courtesy of the artist and Kunsthall Stavanger
Kunsthall Stavanger is proud to present a solo exhibition of American artist Michael Bell-Smith.
Bell-Smith takes familiar visual elements from games, advertising, interiors, and corporate design, among other places, and positions them within unexpected conceptual frameworks. His digital animations and appropriations wryly reflect upon our cultural moment: as he tracks the circulation and proliferation of images and sounds, he charts a rapidly changing history of viral content.
Michael Bell-Smith (East Corinth, ME, 1978) lives and works in Brooklyn, NY. He holds a BA in Semiotics from Brown University, Providence, RI, and an MFA from Bard College, Annandale-on-Hudson, NY. Selected exhibitions include: Web 2.0. Organized by Paul Slocum and Thierry Tilquin, Senne, Brussels (2017); Tell Me What I Mean, To____Bridges____, Bronx, NY (2016); Greater New York, MoMA PS1, Queens, NY (2015-2016); Sound Spill, Zabludowicz Art Projects, New York, NY; Spectacle: The Music Video, Museum of the Moving Image, Queens, NY; (both 2013); Is This Thing On? Contemporary Arts Center, Cincinnati, OH; ICA MECA, Portland, ME (solo) (both 2012); Hiroshima MOCA, Japan (solo project); The Cinema Effect: Illusion, Reality, and the Moving Image: Part I – Dreams, Caixaforum, Madrid and Barcelona, Spain (both 2011); Abandon Normal Devices, FACT, Liverpool, UK (2009); The Liverpool Biennial, Liverpool, UK; Montage: Unmonumental Online, The New Museum, New York, NY; Blown Away, Krannert Art Museum, University of Illinois, Urbana, IL (all 2008); The Singles Collection, SFMoMA, San Francisco, CA; Playback, Musée dʼArt Moderne de la Ville de Paris, Paris, France; Reality Bytes, Dallas Center for Contemporary Art, Dallas, TX ( all 2007); and Butch Queen Realness with a Twist in Pastel Colors Video Show, Tate Liverpool, UK (2005).
Michael Bell-Smith, Paper Pile (MP), 2017, installation view, Kunsthall Stavanger, 2017. Photo: Jan Inge Haga / Kunsthall Stavanger
Michael Bell-Smith, Paper Pile (MP), 2017, installation view, Kunsthall Stavanger, 2017. Photo: Jan Inge Haga / Kunsthall Stavanger
Michael Bell-Smith, Paper Pile (MP), 2017, installation view, Kunsthall Stavanger, 2017. Photo: Jan Inge Haga / Kunsthall Stavanger
Michael Bell-Smith, Paper Pile (MP), 2017, installation view, Kunsthall Stavanger, 2017. Photo: Jan Inge Haga / Kunsthall Stavanger
Michael Bell-Smith, De-Employed, 2012, installation view, Kunsthall Stavanger, 2017. Photo: Jan Inge / Kunsthall Stavanger
Michael Bell-Smith, De-Employed, 2012, installation view, Kunsthall Stavanger, 2017. Photo: Jan Inge / Kunsthall Stavanger
Michael Bell-Smith, De-Employed, 2012, video still, Kunsthall Stavanger, 2017. Photo: Jan Inge / Kunsthall Stavanger
Michael Bell-Smith, De-Employed, 2012, video still, Kunsthall Stavanger, 2017. Photo: Jan Inge / Kunsthall Stavanger
Michael Bell-Smith, De-Employed, 2012, video still, Kunsthall Stavanger, 2017. Photo: Jan Inge / Kunsthall Stavanger
Michael Bell-Smith, Mall, Punk, installation view, Kunsthall Stavanger, 2017. Photo: Jan Inge / Kunsthall Stavanger
Michael Bell-Smith, MBS Material, 2017, video still, Kunsthall Stavanger, 2017. Photo: Jan Inge Haga / Kunsthall Stavanger
Michael Bell-Smith, MBS Material, 2017, video still, Kunsthall Stavanger, 2017. Photo: Jan Inge Haga / Kunsthall Stavanger
Michael Bell-Smith, Mall, Punk, installation view, Kunsthall Stavanger, 2017. Photo: Jan Inge / Kunsthall Stavanger
Michael Bell-Smith, MBS Material, 2017, installation view, Kunsthall Stavanger, 2017. Photo: Jan Inge Haga / Kunsthall Stavanger
Michael Bell-Smith, MBS Material, 2017, video still, Kunsthall Stavanger, 2017. Photo: Jan Inge Haga / Kunsthall Stavanger
Michael Bell-Smith, Mall, Punk, installation view, Kunsthall Stavanger, 2017. Photo: Jan Inge / Kunsthall Stavanger
Michael Bell-Smith, 2×3 (MP) and 3div2 (MP), 2017. Photo: Jan Inge Haga / Kunsthall Stavanger.
Rabbit Season, Duck Season, 2014, installation view, Kunsthall Stavanger, 2017. Photo: Jan Inge / Kunsthall Stavanger
Michael Bell-Smith, Mall, Punk, installation view, Kunsthall Stavanger, 2017. Photo: Jan Inge / Kunsthall Stavanger
Michael Bell-Smith, Mall, Punk, installation view, Kunsthall Stavanger, 2017. Photo: Jan Inge / Kunsthall Stavanger
Michael Bell-Smith, Mall, Punk, installation view, Kunsthall Stavanger, 2017. Photo: Jan Inge / Kunsthall Stavanger
Michael Bell-Smith, Rabbit Season, Duck Season, 2014, video still, HD video with sound, dimensions variable / 5 min. 18 sec
Michael Bell-Smith, Rabbit Season, Duck Season, 2014, video still, HD video with sound, dimensions variable / 5 min. 18 sec
Michael Bell-Smith, Mall, Punk, installation view, Kunsthall Stavanger, 2017. Photo: Jan Inge / Kunsthall Stavanger
Michael Bell-Smith, Mall, Punk, installation view, Kunsthall Stavanger, 2017. Photo: Jan Inge / Kunsthall Stavanger