Saturday, August 26, 2006


Interview With Bella Mullen

As I have mentioned earlier, the intention of these pages was to examine Bella Mullen's work in order that it's beauty may be more clearly seen.It was also mentioned earlier that an interview of sorts would be hopefully forthcoming.That moment has arrived, so just for the present the examination of " When Two Souls Meet" is being put on hold whilst we work through an interview with Bella which took place some years ago.It was originally on line under the title Thinking Soul Pictures.

Thinking Soul Pictures Part 1

To sit, ponder, watch, yes watch, for that too is possible, one of Bella Mullen’s paintings, is to enter a world, which may initially feel unfamiliar, but which very soon becomes not just familiar, but somehow, deeply personal in the same way as one’s own breath, own skin, own dreams are deeply personal.

The watching, oh yes to return to the watching, if you steady yourself, and look, the backgrounds, for they vary, become the foregrounds, and the images figures animals plants somersault into new ones and yet, and yet somehow, they remain the same, and all of this interchange-ability is interlocked, unified beyond or is it before a starlit, or is it dream-filled, sky?

Soon, as you look, you feel yourself being drawn upon some celestial journey, that before the moment you realised it, you were unaware you had begun. The fast following thought that rushes into consciousness is that this journey pictured, right here right now before your eyes, is but a reminder of something or somewhere that you had previously, perhaps always, known.

At this point, the interest level is expanding expediently, is that cat about to pounce or sit, is it’s tail raised in anticipation of coitus or just a relaxing stretch and the dolphin that swims beyond it, is it diving to the unknown depths or merely gaining impetus with which to leap as it does above? The questions puzzles interlocking images evolve into a phantasmagorical explosion of possibilities that rush into the eyes & urge the brain cells to respond & the faster they do the more the images cascade and soon one can feel the sense of wonderment of all that is happening before you.

The initially most striking aspect of any piece of Bella Mullen artwork in its totality is without doubt it’s sheer utter breathtaking uniqueness. Each piece of her work resonates with a vibration that is solely hers whilst at the same time conveying within it a universal appeal which transcends all barriers. A theory I have had verified by the rapturous remarks of approval from the divergent sources of my six and seven year old nieces, a number of university professors and an acclaimed octogenarian art critic!

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