- Gabrielle Bell
Infobox Comics creator
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birthname = Gabrielle Bell
birthdate = 1976
location =London, England
deathplace =
nationality = American
area = Artist, Writer
alias =
notable works = "Lucky", "The Books of..."
awards =Ignatz Award , 2004Gabrielle Bell (b. 1976 in
London, England ) is an American alternative cartoonist known for hersurrealist , melancholysemi-autobiographical stories.Biography
When Bell was two, her American mother divorced her British father [http://www.drawnandquarterly.com/artBio.php?artist=a43ccf74f415ab Bell bio at Drawn and Quarterly website.] Retrieved Sept. 4, 2008.] and took Gabrielle and her brother back to the United States. Ending up in a relatively isolated rural town in
Mendocino County , Bell writes that she "grew up ... spending a lot of time reading, walking in the woods, and making up stories." As a teenager Bell attended a college program for low-income and at-risk students hosted byHumboldt State University , where she took classes inShakespeare and composition. When Bell was seventeen she traveled in Europe, including England, where she met her British relatives. Later moving to San Francisco, Bell took art classes at theCity College of San Francisco , worked in a series of dead-end retail jobs, and began self-publishing her comics. In 2003, she moved to New York to live with her then boyfriend.Works
Books of...
From about 1998 to 2002, Bell annually self-published a 32-page comic, each of whose titles began with "Book of...", including "Book of Insomnia", "Book of Sleep", "Book of Black", "Book of Lies," and "Book of Ordinary Things." Many of the stories from those comics were collected in "When I'm Old and Other Stories", published by Alternative Comics in 2003.
"Lucky"
In 2003, Bell began the self-published semi-autobiographical Lucky series, of which the third won a 2003
Ignatz Award for Most Outstanding Minicomic. "Lucky" details Bell's day-to-day existence in a frank and good-humored manner, as she navigates a world of dilapidated rental apartments, low-paying jobs, yoga classes, roommate misadventures, and artistic frustration. These snippets of daily life in the Williamsburg section ofBrooklyn, New York , are comforting in their familiarity; by settling into the rhythm of the artist's daily life, the reader experiences the heft of small victories and simple pleasures. "Lucky" tells of the anguish of nude modeling; sex-obsessed, adolescent art students; and Bell's own foibles."Lucky" was collected by
Drawn and Quarterly in fall 2006, and launched as a new series (vol. 2), also by Drawn and Quarterly, in 2007."Cecil and Jordan in New York"
Bell's newest book is "Cecil and Jordan in New York" (Drawn & Quarterly), a collection of Bell's short comics work that has been published in various anthologies, including "
Kramer’s Ergot " (Buenaventura Press ), "Mome" (Fantagraphics ), and "Drawn and Quarterly Showcase Book Four".Michel Gondry
"Cecil and Jordan in New York"'s title story, in which a young woman turns herself into a chair so as not to be too much of a bother to those around her, is being adapted into a short film, "Interior Design", by director
Michel Gondry as part of the forthcoming "Tôkyô!" trilogy set for fall 2008 release.Bell and Gondry also collaborated on "Kuruma Tohrimasu", a collection of drawings and photographs made during the production of "Interior Design". Conceived of as a thank-you gift for the film's cast and crew, "Kuruma Tohrimasu" is published as part of Drawn and Quarterly’s Petits Livres series.
Anthologies
Bell is a regular contributor to
Fantagraphics ' quarterly anthology "Mome". She has also contributed to publications such as "Stereoscomic " (Stereoscomic), "Bogus Dead " (Alternative), "Orchid" (Sparkplug Comics ), "The Comics Journal Special Editon" 2005 (Fantagraphics), "Scheherazade" (Soft Skull Press ), and [http://shoutmag.net "Shout!" magazine] .Bibliography (selected)
* "When I'm Old and Other Stories" (Alternative Comics, 2003) ISBN 978-1891867439
* "Lucky" (Drawn and Quarterly, 2006) ISBN 978-1897299012
* "Lucky" vol. 2. (Drawn and Quarterly, 2007, ongoing)
* "Cecil and Jordan in New York: Stories by Gabrielle Bell" (Drawn and Quarterly, 2008) ISBN 978-1897299579
* "Kuruma Tohrimasu" (Drawn and Quarterly, 2008) ISBN 978-1897299593Notes
Sources
* [http://www.drawnandquarterly.com/artBio.php?artist=a43ccf74f415ab Bell bio at Drawn and Quarterly website.]
* [http://www.indyworld.com/bell/index.html Bell mini-site at Alternative Comics website.]
* [http://www.notablebiographies.com/newsmakers2/2007-A-Co/Bell-Gabrielle.html Bio at Notable Biographies.]
* Epstein, Daniel Robert. [http://forum.newsarama.com/showthread.php?s=e638925f2562823281e8655ed1c69a69&threadid=5868&highlight=gabrielle+and+bell "Not Old Yet — Gabrielle Bell," Newsarama (Sept. 25, 2003).]External links
* [http://www.poetryfoundation.org/features/feature.onpoetry.html?id=179402 Bell's adaptation of Emily Dickinson's "It was not death, for I stood up." "The Poem as Comic Strip #2," Poetry Foundation (PDF).]
* Berlatsky, Noah. [http://hoodedutilitarian.blogspot.com/2007/11/real-gabrielle-bell.html "The Real Gabrielle Bell," The Hooded Utilitarian (Nov. 5, 2007).]
* Clough, Rob. [http://www.sequart.com/columns/index.php?col=9&column=1658 "Deadpan: Gabrielle Bell's "Lucky" (Dec. 13, 2006).]
* Cronin, Brian. [http://goodcomics.comicbookresources.com/2008/09/25/a-month-of-art-stars-gabrielle-bell/ "A Month of Art Stars — Gabrielle Bell," Comic Book Resources (Sept. 25, 2008).]
* Meginnis, Mike. [http://webcomicsreview.com/examiner/issue040712/bellsjournal.html "'The Hole,' and Other True Fictions," The Webcomics Examiner.]Interviews
* [http://www.fantagraphics.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=453&Itemid=87 Interview from "Mome" vol. 2 (July 17, 2005).]
* [http://www.bookslut.com/features/2007_01_010460.php January 2007 Bookslut interview (Jan. 2007).]
* [http://www.smithmag.net/memoirville/2007/01/08/an-interview-with-gabrielle-bell-author-of-lucky/ SMITH Magazine interview (Jan. 8, 2007).]
* [http://www.paulgravett.com/articles/094_bell/094_bell.htm Paul Gravett interview (Jan. 19, 2007).]
* [http://thedailycrosshatch.com/2008/07/29/interview-gabrielle-bell-pt-1/ Daily Cross Hatch interview, part I (July 29, 2008).]
* [http://thedailycrosshatch.com/2008/08/04/interview-gabrielle-bell-pt-2/ Daily Cross Hatch interview, part II (Aug. 4, 2008).]
* [http://thedailycrosshatch.com/2008/08/12/interview-gabrielle-bell-pt-3-of-4/ Daily Cross Hatch interview, part III (Aug. 12, 2008).]
* [http://thedailycrosshatch.com/2008/08/19/interview-gabrielle-bell-pt-4-of-4/ Daily Cross Hatch interview, part IV (Aug. 19, 2008).]
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