Daniel H Bell was born in 1980 in Telford and currently lives and works in Edinburgh. His practice mainly involves painting, and his work is a chaotic fusion of realism, caricature and abstraction. Bell was awarded the Contemporary British Painting Prize in 2024, having also been shortlisted in 2022. He was shortlisted for the Jackson's Art Prize in 2025, and again in 2026 where he won a Jackson's Choice Award.
Bell's predominantly small-sized paintings revolve around an ever-changing cast of hybrid creatures, rotting surfaces and miscellaneous body parts. He works intuitively with a mixture of acrylic, oil, varnishes and gels, embracing any accidents that happen along the way. The imagery he creates shifts between human faces, native wildlife and anything that his subconscious drags up in between. Alongside his paintings, Bell's videos use stop-motion, time-lapse and other techniques to show further dreamlike scenes of metamorphosis, death and decay.
Education
2007 Norwich School of Art and Design MA Digital Practices – Distinction
2003 Glasgow School of Art BA (Hons) Fine Art – First Class
2000-2001 Rhode Island School of Design
1998-1999 Shrewsbury College of Arts and Technology
Selected Exhibitions
2026 The Cass Art Prize – The Bomb Factory, London
2026 Jackson's Art Prize – Bankside Gallery, London
2025 Weirdness of the Real – Oriel Canfas, Cardiff
2025 Stranger Love – Unit 2, St Leonards-on-Sea
2025 The Stolen Orange – Bond Street Gallery, Brighton
2025 Silent Disco '25 – Greystone Industries, Suffolk
2025 Jackson's Art Prize – Affordable Art Fair, London
– Bankside Gallery, London
2025 Wild Life – Studio 44, Stockholm, Sweden
2024 10 Years of Project 78 – Project 78 Gallery, St Leonards-on-Sea
2024 Contemporary British Painting Prize – BayArt, Cardiff
– Thames-Side Studios Gallery, London
– Yorkshire Artspace, Sheffield
2024 AIR Open 2024 – Rogue Artists' Studios, Manchester
2024 The Horror! – Project 78 Gallery, St Leonards-on-Sea
2023 Society of Scottish Artists Annual Exhibition – The Maclaurin Art Gallery, Ayr
2023 Bridge – Tjörnedala Konsthall, Skåne, Sweden
2022 Contemporary British Painting Prize – Huddersfield Art Gallery
– Thames-Side Studios Gallery, London
2022 The Anxiety of Interdisciplinarity – The Island Venue, Bristol
2022 Living With the Past – Cupola Contemporary Art, Sheffield
2022 Derwent Art Prize 2022 – Oxo Gallery, London
2022 Janus Revisited – Cupola Contemporary Art, Sheffield
2013 Vestlandsutstillingen – Tour of various venues in Western Norway
2012 The Stuff of Nightmares – V&A Museum of Childhood, London
2011 Sturiale Paper Projects 1 – Sturiale Project Space, Gorizia, Italy
2010 Drawings from the Collection by Brindle and Bell – V&A Museum of Childhood, London
2009 Salthouse 09 – The Church of St Nicholas, Salthouse, Norfolk
2008 Harmlos: Endlich Menschlich – Montana, Berlin, Germany
2008 Kettle’s Yard Open – Kettle’s Yard, Cambridge
2008 Salon 08 – Matt Roberts Arts / VINEspace, London
2007 The Sprezzatura Maze – Studio Warehouse Gallery, Glasgow
2006 Royal Academy of Arts Summer Exhibition – London
2006 Concrete Allotment – Temporary Contemporary, London
2005 East International 2005 – Norwich Gallery, Norwich
2004 Sample Glasgow – Galleri Wetterling, Stockholm, Sweden
2003 Daniel Bell, Piotr Janas – Transmission Gallery, Glasgow
Selected Film Screenings
2020 Another Hole in the Head Film Festival – San Francisco, USA
2017 Antimatter Media Art – Victoria, Canada
2009 London Short Film Festival – ICA, London
2009 Leftfield and Luscious – Tenderpixel Gallery, London
2009 Flatpack Festival – The Electric Cinema, Birmingham
2008 Filmfest Dresden: International Short Film Festival - Germany
2008 700IS Experimental Film and Video Festival – Egilsstaðir, Iceland
2008 London Short Film Festival – ICA, London
2008 Cannes in a Van – Cannes Film Festival, France
2008 Screen Tests I – ABEL Neue Kunst, Berlin
2007 International Short Film Festival Oberhausen - Germany
2007 Lange Nacht der Kultur – Kaiserslautern, Germany
2007 Capalbio Cinema International Short Film Festival – Toscani, Italy