Bissell’s principal ambition is to understand the artist as a creative genius. Crucial to his approach is the thorough analysis of individual works and their visual impact, keeping in mind their ever changing display situations through the ages. He is equally concerned to clarify the historical dimension, social circumstances, artistic relationships, influence of the patron etc., backed up by comprehensive archival investigations.
Driven by a lifelong passion for art and a broad interest in culture, history and language, Bissell researched and taught a vast array of different epochs, nations and styles from late mediaeval to contemporary art practices embedded in the most diverse social, political and cultural contexts.
His firm grounding in the baroque first led him to pioneering in-depth studies of two key artists working in Rome, the Maltese Melchiorre Cafà (1636-1667) and the Frenchman Pierre Le Gros (1666-1719), both eminent sculptors of the highest rank. He soon directed his attention both further back in time to Michelangelo, analysing some sketches of ca. 1505-1513 for the tomb of Pope Julius II, and to later neo-classical reliefs of the 1780s and 90s by Antonio Canova and their relation to drawings by John Flaxman. Related to the 2007 Sculpture in Arcadia symposium, which he co-organised at the University of Reading, Bissell conducted research into the English landscape garden at Rousham in Oxfordshire, William Kent’s 1738 masterpiece.
Strengthened by his multi-lingual skills, Bissell’s biographies for AKL concentrate predominantly on British, US, Italian and French artists (but also several Dutch, Czech, German, Danish, Australian and others) from 14th century cathedral builders to 21st century conceptual artists, and feature all disciplines imaginable from architecture, photography, painting and sculpture to pottery and glass art, city planning to calligraphy, garden design and contemporary visual art in new media.
Further details: Annotated List of Publications
Visually highly educated but self-taught as an artist and photographer, I employ many styles, aesthetic approaches and subject matters, inspired by a variety of artistic traditions. To describe this, I coined the term Art Informed Photography.
My first attempts were closely linked to documenting the sculptures I studied at the time. With the new century I started to use photography as a means of artistic expression in its own right ...
Read the full statement here
