Eric Bellis is a British artist & musician who has shown his work in galleries in Manchester, Liverpool, London, Chicago, Austin and more. His work is heavily influenced by 18th and 19th century British folk painting. In 1983 he joined the collaborative art/music group, the Mekons, and continues to record and tour with the band, and is a solo recording artist on Bloodshot Records. Eric has lived in the US (California) for a number of years. While here he has studied the history & culture of the US, putting much of that into his paintings.

Right now, we're showing his White Boots series. Here's something he wrote about it.

WHITE BOOTS

In the latter half of 2022, after a significant hiatus in my painting practice, I resumed work on the "White Boots" series. As always, during the creative process of painting, a dynamic dialogue unfolds between the artwork and myself. This dialogue involves my reacting to unexpected shapes and subtleties within the piece that I may not have envisioned or anticipated at the outset resulting, on this occasion, in the introduction of further movement and a slightly more discernible, yet still ambiguous, narrative. Nevertheless, the original concept and intention behind WHITE BOOTS remains unchanged from its inception as detailed below.

ABOUT THE SERIES

The series was initiated several years ago with the concept of showcasing two characters in the same landscape, repeating their figures with minor variations in positioning and posture. Some of these alterations may be so subtle that a casual viewer might mistake each painting for a repetition of the previous one. However, the intention behind this approach was to highlight the uniqueness of each artwork, as no brushstroke can be replicated exactly. By creating superficial similarities between paintings I aimed to encourage viewers to engage more deeply and observe longer in order to discern the subtle differences. In many ways, this mirrors life itself, where every fraction of a second holds its own significance and cannot be repeated (there are no "groundhog days"). Each moment is special and one-of-a-kind. 

 Eric Bellis (aka Rico Bell) 2022