Title: Sentinel drawing I
Medium: Mixed media on paper
Signed and dated: 2004
Unframed: 200cm x 62cm
Framed: 220cm x 81,5cm
Title: Sentinel drawing II
Medium: Mixed media on paper
Signed and dated: 2004
Unframed: 200cm x 62cm
Framed: 220cm x 81,5cm
The meaning of the word, sentinel, is a soldier or guard whose job is to stand and keep watch (Oxford dictionary 2001:1306). These two mixed media drawings, Sentinel drawing I, and Sentinel drawing II, fulfilled exactly this purpose in Bell’s exhibition titled, Sentinels, held at Goodman Gallery in Johannesburg in 2004.
Kresta Tyler (2004:1), in her commentary on this exhibition explained the experience of visiting this exhibition as follows: “The Gallery has been transformed to create a mythical world. Initially upon entering, one is met by Bell’s drawings that depict statuesque sentinels. Suddenly you turn and find yourself in a dimly lit circle with the same figures now in concrete form peering down on you. I was moved to stand there and be regarded by these godlike statues, as I attempted to discern their spiritual nature. With the shades drawn on the large windows that normally flood the Gallery with light I was able to forget Jan Smuts Avenue and the hustle outside. For a moment I was alone with these mystical figures. The mixed media pieces that are tucked around the corner become lost in the aura that the sentinels exude.”
Often reference is made to these mythical beings as being ‘summoned’ by Bell (Leibbrandt 2015:1), she explained: “I believe that being an artist in any way is a form of magic. You create something in the world which wasn’t there before. Or you take material and transform it to stand for something else. It’s its own form of magic. I mean William Kentridge deals with illusion and I deal with summoning. I’m calling something and I don’t know what it’s going to be.”
