Robert Bissell
'The Animal Narrative'
1 September - 15 October 2015

At first glance, Robert Bissell’s art suggests the struggles and triumphs of animals through a narrative painting style reminiscent of illustrative children’s books. But within Bissell’s work lies a more profound message. Familiar animals from our collective childhood, including bears and rabbits, are purposefully set in magical yet realistic landscapes to disarm viewers and draw them in. Once inside Bissell’s art, viewers discover that the quizzical, contemplative, menacing, or exultant animals actually represent us. Bissell then takes us on an unexpected journey, where in the end we realize that we are not separate from nature, but rather are part of it. Bissell’s initially disarming style is just the first layer of his intent, beyond which his art poses challenging and essential questions of what we are. His message is that we are ultimately part of nature, something we may have forgotten.

Bissell, now living and working in San Francisco, grew up on a farm in the English countryside outside the small village of West Quantoxhead in Somerset, England.

Group Show
of the gallery artists
1 September - 15 October 2015

Group Show features works by  Afshin Naghouni, Nicolas Ruston,  Lilia Mazurkevich, Robert Walsh, Olga and Sergey Kamennoy (KAMU), Victoria Kovalenchikova, Ilia Petrovic, Maurizio Camatta, Anne Tanner, Diana Armstrong, David Balilty, David Gould, Gamal Meleka, Guiseppe Linardi, Oleg Prokofiev, Patrice Valota, Roxana Halls, Robert Meldrum, Konstantin Khudyakov, Sveta Yavorsky, Sergey Eloyan, Timur D'Vatz, Anastasia Belous, and others.

Sculptures by Alexander Archipenko, Oleg Prokofiev, Eleanor Cardozo, Nicola Godden, Richard L.Minns, Andy Cheese, Jamie McCartney, Ian Edwards, Gianfranco Meggiato, A.& M. Cacchiarelli Principi, David Mayer, Roland Piché, Palolo Valdés, Ruurd Hallema, and Andrey Ostashov.

E-mail: info@hayhillgallery.com