Selected Works
Press Release
Curriculum Vitae

Illustrated Cartoon Videos /
November 6th- December 8th, 2008 /
Opening Reception: Thursday, November 6, 2008, 7-10pm /

Paul Bright is proud to present Marc Bell’s Illustrated Cartoon Videos, featuring eighteen works, which were made famous by their frequent publication in Vice Magazine from 2003 to 2005. For this series, Bell uses the lyrics from popular songs as narratives for his illustrations. Inspired by the likes of material performed by R. Kelly, Michael Jackson, Dolly Parton, and Ghostface Killah, his images formulate fictional dream-like landscapes, transporting viewers into alternate utopias.

A widely respected illustrator in the comic world, Marc Bell’s foray into the world of contemporary art was marked by a solo show entitled “Stacks”, which took place in 2004 at Adam Baumgold Gallery (New York), and was subsequently published as a book by the same name by Drawn and Quarterly. Described by LA Weekly as,” a riddle wrapped in a conundrum further wrapped in salty bacon,” his work has taken the form of drawings, prints, and paintings, and has been exhibited in periodical publications and galleries throughout North America.

Often compared to the likes of R. Crumb, Mark Alan Stamaty and Jim Nutt, Bells dark wit and dry sarcasm are immediately apparent. Yet, as Ken Johnson of The New York Times has stated of Marc Bell, “as with the genre’s best artists there is more than just amusing cleverness. You get the feeling that the artist is struggling to track the incomprehensible flux of his own psyche.”

Illustrated Cartoon Videos, marks Paul Bright’s inaugural exhibition under a new name and location.

As the former director of Community Outreach Gallery (London, Ontario) from 1998 to 2008, Paul Bright brought the work of international Barry McGee, Claire Rojas, Taylor McKimens, Terry Richardson, Cory Arcangel and PaperRad, amongst others to Canada, establishing the gallery as a place for innovative, emerging and established contemporary art. Located in the up and coming Bloor and Landsdown area of Toronto, the gallery will continue its mandate of exhibiting cutting edge Canadian and American contemporary art.