Dr A Nickolus Bell

Dr. A. Nickolus Bell is the owner and Chief Artistic Officer of Okan Awaron Art Studio. As a visual artist, my practice is rooted primarily in oil painting and explores the human experience through portraiture, figurative work, abstraction, spirituality, and cultural memory. I am particularly interested in the ways color, gesture, expression, and symbolism can communicate experiences that are not always easily articulated in words.

My work moves between carefully considered figurative compositions and more intuitive, expressive approaches. Rather than adhering to a single visual style, I allow the subject and emotional character of each work to determine its language. Across these approaches, I am interested in dignity, identity, wisdom, faith, relationship, memory, and the interior lives of people.

Painting is both an intentional and responsive process for me. I often begin with an idea, image, or question, but I allow the work to develop beyond the original plan as color, movement, texture, and composition begin to establish their own direction. My goal is to create work that invites viewers not simply to observe an image, but to encounter something within it.

Love Yourself Art Show, Queens, NY 2023