What Makes An Artist - Julian Bell on painting the great 21st century city which is London, October 2019

Julian Bell gave a gallery talk on the last day of his exhibition When the City is Built at Menier Gallery, London on 17 October, 2019

“There are about thirty paintings, coming at the great 21st century city which is London from a few different angles - which are the experiences of several different types of people in one day in contemporary London. Among my imaginary characters is Ibrahim who is coming into Heathrow for the first time from ‘old Asia’, coming here to find his granddaughter, Shirin

“I imagine Shirin as a young woman working as a nanny for a rich woman who is an architect named Vicky. There are different perspectives: someone seeing the city from outside; someone who is building it, pushing it forward; someone who is subject to it, in its grip, experiencing it as a situation she is stuck inside.

”The paintings talk to each other in a particular way. There’s a scenario. I love research: sketching and painting at different times of the day, weather patterns and skylines. Each painting finds its own brushstrokes and visual language.

“In some ways it follows on from my last exhibition, Genesis: the stars in the sky, how it all began. I’d like to show Abraham how it has become, the texture of the present, a vision of what the 21st century world looks like. The Crescent of Palestine has landed at Heathrow. Immigration controls are like a rehearsal for the Last Judgement. [view a selection of images Genesis at the foot of this page].

“Ibrahim’s granddaughter Shirin lives in a South London block of flats. Vicky the architect drives a Porsche and has fly-by-night partners. Vicky’s day is executive, Shirin’s is down to earth. Anwar prays on the rooftop… storm clouds come over in the afternoon… Vicky’s son and Shirin in the afternoon…

“St Clements is a Wren church and still the heart of the City at midnight. FaceTime: I’ve portrayed Vicky as a bit of a Madonna in this painting. Leave: there’s a bit of Brexit in there with ‘stay’ and ‘leave’ going on as the situation unfolds at the rooftop bar. Under : the night is very long. We don’t know it, we don’t know ourselves. I was thinking of Ulysses, of Mrs Dalloway and All Day Long by Joanna Biggs when I created this.”