Nicole Belle
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APARTMENT
Home is the realm of Nicole Belle’s photographic
explorations, where the normative trappings of
domestic tranquility are upended by the figurative
convolutions of the photographer herself. In her series
Apartment (2008), Belle enacts before the camera
contortions of her body and makes unconventional use
of home objects, turning her domain into the palette
of her psyche. What at first appears to be absurd
becomes a reflection of Belle’s desire to evoke a sense
of connection between a person and the space in
which she lives. She draws inspiration from the staged
happenings of the Viennese Actionism of the 1960s,
which employed the human body in disturbing and
seemingly destructive ways--nudity, blood, violence-
-to rebel against conservatism and traditional beauty.
No less vigorous for its greater measure, Belle’s
photographs emphasize an exploration of the human
psyche with insight to be gained through amusement
and pleasure. By exposing herself as a lone figure,
accomplishing feats of household playfulness, she lets
us know that we are not alone.
BIOGRAPHY
Nicole Belle was born in 1977 in Dayton, Ohio. She received her
B.A. in French literature from New York University, a B.F.A. in fine
art photography from the Rochester Institute of Technology, and
her M.F.A. in visual art at the University of California, Riverside.
In New York she studied at the School for Visual Arts and worked in
the Associated Press photography department. Her work has been
shown in the Los Angeles area at Sandroni.Rey, High Energy
Constructs, Torrance Art Museum, the New Wight Gallery at
University California, Los Angeles, the Riverside Art Museum;
also in California the Brand Gallery, Glendale; the Millard Sheets
Gallery, Pomona; Sweeney Art Gallery, Riverside and the California
State University, Long Beach Galleries, as well as in various group
shows in Rochester, New York, and Minneapolis, Minnesota.
Belle currently lives and works in Los Angeles.