Meet Bela Fidel

We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Bela Fidel a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Hi Bela, appreciate you sitting with us today to share your wisdom with our readers. So, let’s start with resilience – where do you get your resilience from?

My resilience comes from having lived in three different countries and having to adjust to different cultures, ways of thinking, living, etc. I do not come from a moneyed family, so throughout my life, including travels, education , etc., I’ve had to depend on myself alone. The fact that I never thought this should have been different can possibly attest to my inborn resilience.

Great, so let’s take a few minutes and cover your story. What should folks know about you and what you do?

I was born in Brazil and have lived in both Israel and the U.S.
I am a professional, full-time artist. I have been painting since the early 70’s, taking classes, improving my craft, exploring all manner of self expression and techniques.
I have also been an art instructor for a couple of decades. I teach painting in oils, acrylics, encaustics and mixed media in both Representational and Abstract styles.

As an artist I want people to feel connected to my work and that can only happen if I express myself authentically, showing my strengths and vulnerabilities, my fears and risk-taking. I also love textures and I feel that they are the perfect medium to express memories and life experiences.

In the many years I have been painting, I have shown my work in galleries in Brazil and the U.S. in a variety of venues such as library galleries, outdoor shows, and especially in my studio during Studio Tours such as Hidden in the Hills, sponsored by The Sonoran Arts League in Cave Creek, AZ. Currently I have work showing at the Flinn Foundation in Phoenix, AZ and have just been accepted to participate in the Ferrari Week at WestWorld in March of this year. I am very excited to have been selected since that show will be the “expression of art and luxury”, as quoted in some of the media.

What I find exciting in being and living as an artist is the need to keep growing, to deepen my self-knowledge as I go, to face fears and joy in equal measure with equanimity (whenever possible).

Art has given me a purpose. It is a gift that keeps on giving. I feel I will not reach a final destination as there is so much to explore, risk, challenge myself with. And that is a good thing. Arriving is not as interesting as the journey itself.

Looking back, what do you think were the three qualities, skills, or areas of knowledge that were most impactful in your journey? What advice do you have for folks who are early in their journey in terms of how they can best develop or improve on these?

The qualities that have brought me where I am today, both as a person and as an artist, are resilience, trust in myself (despite the many doubts), and sheer stubbornness and persistence.

Skills come with practice and I believe I’ve already put in my 10,000 hours or more; but I still show up to work every day, with the muse or without her.
I have a B.A. in English and Span ish Literature and I am an avid reader.
Subjects that have been impactful in my journey are many: spirituality, self growth, quantum physics, poetry, good novels.
I am innately curious and love knowledge. This pushes me into many territories of information. The end result is that I want to express so much of all I learn in books and so far the medium of choice is painting.
Growing up I wanted to be a writer. Maybe one day I’ll overcome my fear and reluctance and write my memoirs!

How would you spend the next decade if you somehow knew that it was your last?

My current challenge is to have good painting light in my new studio. I am trying different lights, different corners of the studio where what I paint one day looks the same the next day – and not flat or in any way different.
I’ve also moved to another part of town and am still getting used to it. It does not yet feel like “home”.
As far as collaboration is concerned, I would love to collaborate with a musician. I plan to transpose Rachmaninoff’s Concerto #2 onto canvas and working with a musician will provide me with the added understanding and feel for the music itself. And perhaps the musician will find ways to benefit from my visual language for his/her own project. That concerto touches me deeply.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.https://fidelabstractoils.com
• Instagram: @fidelbela
• Facebook: Bela Fidel Fine Art
• Linkedin: Bela Fidel
• Twitter: @bela_fidel
• Youtube: Bela Fidel
• Other: Substack: Bela Fidel

Image Credits

Bela Fidel