François Bel is a painter, sculptor, and installation artist who uses found and recycled objects to criticize the materialism and individualism of contemporary society. Subverting the meaning of these everyday objects to critique the overwhelming consumer culture of today, he draws on a range of influences from Street Art and Graffiti to New Realism, Pop Art, and Dada. Bel is best known for his series of “Big Bang” sculptures, such as Point De Vue Double Cliche (2019), which magically suspend exploding objects, freezing these watches, cameras, or tins of paint in acrylic glass. Locked in time at a moment that shows their disintegration, the captured destruction gives physical form to the anxieties of the modern age. Bel evokes the inevitability of passing time while reminding us of the importance of living in the present.