Genesis: Steeped in a great weight of human experience

A major new exhibition, Genesis, by artist Julian Bell is at St Anne’s Galleries, Lewes this summer. The exhibition presents an extraordinary series of 37 panel paintings in oils that represent a bold new interpretation of the first thirty three chapters of the Bible.

'Julian Bell started working on his Genesis project some 18 months ago after re-reading the Bible's opening book for the first time since his youth. The initial series of drawings were burnt in a catastrophic fire in March 2014 that destroyed his studio and all its contents. This is Bell’s first major project since the fire. He describes what initially drew him to the subject:

“Genesis is about stories that are steeped in a great weight of human experience. They're about what there was in the world, back in the Stone Age and the Bronze Age, and in fact about what there very largely still is - the relationships that humans have with each other and the relationships that they have with God and the environment. So to me, Genesis is absolutely full of substance. It points me to things that are enduring and strongly typical in many, many human lives. That's why to me it is the best of subjects.”'

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Bruce Cockburn - Creation Dream.