I'm Inka Bell, a Helsinki based visual artist, mostly working in the expanded field of printmaking.

My work usually draws from my observations about physical and abstract spaces. I'm enchanted by the idea of how much can be expressed with how little. Paper plays a central role in my work, which I use for printing or shaping into new forms.

I have been giving courses, lectures and workshops at Aalto University, Academy of Fine Arts Helsinki, Estonian Academy of Arts, Helsinki Design School and Kalasataman Seripaja.

CONTACT AND ENQUIRIES

Inka Bell
+358 50 346 4822 (Finland)
inkajarvinen@gmail.com

Instagram: @inkabell

UPCOMING

• HAM Gallery, solo exhibition, 11/2020, Helsinki Art Museum (FI)

SELECTED EXHIBITIONS AND PUBLICATIONS

2019

• 24, group exhibition, Bricks Gallery, Copenhagen (DK)
• Ripples, group exhibition, Marcy Universe home exhibition, 11/2019, Helsinki (FI)
• Playing Grounds, group exhibition, Galleria G, Helsinki (FI)
• Antimatter, solo exhibition, Artek 2nd Cycle, Helsinki (FI)
• Keep Your Garden Alive, group exhibition, Institut finlandais, Paris (FR)
• Keep Your Garden Alive, group exhibition, Spazio Nobile Gallery, Brussels (BE)

2018

• Syzygy, published by Rooftop Press (FI)
• Enlightment, group exhibition, Northern Photographic Centre, Oulu (FI)
• The Eagle Has Landed, group exhibition, SIC, Helsinki (FI)
• Editions/Artists’ Books Fair, New York (US)
• Zanni, solo exhibition, Artek, Helsinki (FI)
• Mix & Match, group exhibition, Lokal, Helsinki (FI)

2017

• TypoCraft, group exhibition, Lokal, Helsinki (FI) & Sōnen-an, Kyoto (JP)
• Synchronicity, solo exhibition, Sinne, Helsinki (FI)
• Synchronicity II, solo exhibition, Limited Works, Copenhagen (DK)

2015

• Tori, group exhibition, Lokal, Helsinki (FI)

2013

• Space(s) in Between, solo exhibition, Myymälä2, Helsinki (FI)

COLLECTIONS

• Finnish State Art Deposit Collection
• Frans Masereel Centrum Collection
• HUS (The Hospital District of Helsinki and Uusimaa) Collection
• Private Collections

SELECTED GRANTS, RESIDENCIES, NOMINATIONS & STIPENDS

2020

• Queen Sonja Print Award nominee (NO)

2019

• Tamarind Institute residency, Albuquerque, New Mexico (US)
• Project grant from Grafia

2018

• Artist working grant from the Finnish Cultural Foundation, Uusimaa Regional fund (SKR)
• Project grant from the Arts Promotion Centre Finland (Taike)
• Graphic Designer of the Year 2018 (Grafia)

2017

• Grönqvistska Stiftelsen Stipend
• Project grant from Grafia
• Project grant from the Arts Promotion Centre Finland (Taike)

2015

• Artist working grant from the Finnish Cultural Foundation (SKR)
• Project grant from the Arts Promotion Centre Finland (Taike)
• Project grant from Grafia
• Printmaking residency at Frans Masereel Centrum (BE)

WORDS ABOUT SELECTED EXHIBITIONS AND WORKS

Synchronicity, Sinne, 2017

The artworks in the exhibition resemble early digitally produced images – a time when the computers were as big as rooms and were used to generate minimalistic monochrome geometric printouts. In those days, human beings dreamed of a future in which our burdens would be entirely taken on by digital and mechanical aids. Today, half a century later, the computer plays a key role in Bell’s artistic work. But, instead of exploiting all the possibilities that the computer offers, she employs digital means to minimize the marks of the human hand. The pictures are first drawn on the computer, and she then switches to an analogue process that uses traditional printing techniques. By Markus Åström, Curator

Antimatter, Artek 2nd Cycle, 2019

The work is combined of and defined by the standard A3 paper size which also acts as a printed motif. This method is the basis for the whole of the Antimatter project. Bell has reproduced the “imageless” blank print on top of a same-sized sheet of paper, sometimes layering directly, slightly moving the paper, or purposefully creating a non-optimal print finish. She has also studied the behavior of colors, such as when a slightly translucent white or black changes when placed on top of different colored fine art papers. Bell has then taken the printed sheets and either combined them into larger artworks or correspondingly cut the sheets into pieces, creating reliefs where different colored surfaces become interlinked.

Playing Grounds, Gallery G, 2019

The works seen in the exhibition are studies on how a digital trace appears alongside traditional printing methods. Papers that are predominately screen printed have been modified by laser, either by cutting or in a way drawn by it. In the series 0:23–6:30 MIN the parameters of the laser cutter have been manipulated so that the beam which is suppose to cut through the paper is altered to the extent at which it solely “draws” a digitally created line onto the surface, resembling a light pen stroke. By interrupting the process at certain times exposes the almost arbitrary order the machine draws, which reflects the translation or interpretation of human visual output into the machines code.

Sticks 1–43, 2019

Sticks series study how the dynamics of the composition changes by the amount and the position of the blind embossed and stamped stick elements used. For me, the most interesting outcome came when the cut acrylic pieces used for blind embossing were randomly thrown on to the paper and then printed with a press. When stamping, similar randomness was no longer an option, so it was used in a dialogue with the previously printed work. All of the works are unique and are done in different scale, some using either or both of the printing methods.

Portrait by Paavo Lehtonen