“LOUD/FAST” (2021)

Art Residency @ Bell Projects, Boulder & Denver

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Excerpt from Bell Projects’s press release:

Bell Projects’ artist residency broadens our local artist communities in Boulder, Denver, and the surrounding areas to include new, emerging practices and to expand upon established followings and interests. Artist Will Day generously opened his Boulder studio for artists to freely make and for Bell Projects to share their curatorial practice, sparking conversations and ideas around collaboration, inspiration, expression, and experimentation. This unique experience offers artists an opportunity to experiment independently and to collaborate with other participating artists over their month-long residency. The resulting artworks are shown alongside process videos, giving visitors a glimpse into each of these artists’ practices. An artist’s studio represents an intimate connection to their work – it is a sacred space and an intentionality of time spent within the confines of a certain square footage. Romelle fondly reflects on the time spent at Will Day’s studio in Boulder, Colorado as all of the above.

Day opened his studio to two other artists with a mutual enthusiasm for abstraction. And not the minimal kind, but the loud and fast kind, where intensity feels almost understated. Day’s studio encouraged new techniques and materials, with no excuse not to try them all. Even though neither artist had previously collaborated, they all dedicated time to their own 5’ x 5’ canvas, and a completely collaborative work as well. Romelle describes, “the residency at Will’s proved to be a valuable way to try out new materials, and talk openly about the methods of making abstract work.”

Between the three artists’ practices, moving intuitively became a common thread. Romelle continued, “the commonalities felt almost spiritual in a sense, where it’s less about the work itself and more about capturing the way you move through space.” Eric Anderson also reflects that “while making new work in the slightly breathtaking studio of Will Day one would have difficulty not being influenced by not only the scale and gesture of his work, but by the voltage of palette emitted by fellow artist in residence Romelle.”