Julian Bell – Painting Genesis

How do you visualize in the 21st century a text that was written down at least 2500 years ago? Julian Bell discusses the challenges and the fascinations of working with the first book of the Bible, ’the book of beginnings’. He has recently published in a single volume a series of 37 paintings that takes the biblical story from the creation of the world to the story of Jacob and Esau. Whatever religious issues his project may raise, it also, he argues, raises issues - particularly the relation between drawing and painting - that affect many contemporary artists.