The Lost Ruins Series
© J.P. Bell
Time does not disappear, it accumulates as ruins.
The Lost Ruins Series is a meditation on memory, erosion, and what remains after collapse. Fragments of history surface through abstraction, like archaeological echoes of forgotten worlds.
Each canvas is embedded with Oamaru Stone, a 40-million-year-old limestone formed beneath ancient seas that once covered Aotearoa New Zealand. These are not decorative additions; they are geological witnesses. Physical carriers of deep time, they anchor each work in a reality far older than human memory.
Through this fusion of paint and ancient stone, the works become more than depictions of ruins; they become ruins themselves, where the past is not represented but materially present. Each work asks what continues beneath the surface of time.
"Rebellion of the Aztecs"
JP Bell, 2025
Acrylic, graphite, oil sticks, acrylic ink, ground Oamaru stone and plaster of Paris on framed canvas (black)
78.5 x 103.5 x 4 cm
SOLD
3,000 NZD
In Private Collection, Berlin (Germany)
"Remnants of the Grecian Temple"
JP Bell, 2025
Acrylic, graphite, oil sticks, acrylic ink, ground Oamaru stone and plaster of Paris on framed canvas (black)
78.5 x 103.5 x 4 cm
SOLD
3,000 NZD
In Private Collection, Christchurch (NZ)
"Ashes of Civilisation"
JP Bell, 2025
Acrylic, graphite, oil sticks, acrylic ink, ground Oamaru stone and plaster of Paris on framed canvas (white)
81 x 41.5 x 4.5 cm
SOLD
1,000 NZD
In Private Collection, Christchurch (New Zealand)
"Silent Citadel"
JP Bell, 2025
Acrylic, graphite, oil sticks, acrylic ink, ground Oamaru stone and plaster of Paris on framed canvas (white)
84 x 34 x 4.5 cm
SOLD
1,000 NZD
In Private Collection, Timaru (New Zealand)
"The Last Charge of Sparta"
JP Bell, 2025
Acrylic, graphite, oil sticks, acrylic ink, ground Oamaru stone and plaster of Paris on framed canvas (wood)
54.5 x 44 x 5 cm
SOLD
1,000 NZD
In Private Collection, Timaru (New Zealand)
NEW WORK
"Wall of a Forgotten God"
JP Bell, 2025
Acrylic, graphite, oil sticks, acrylic ink, ground Oamaru stone and plaster of Paris on framed canvas (black)
103.5 x 78.5 x 4 cm
SOLD
3,000 NZD
In Private Collection of Kulimoe'anga Stone Maka,
New Zealand
"The Secrets of the Last Pyramid"
JP Bell, 2025
Acrylic, graphite, oil sticks, acrylic ink, ground Oamaru stone and plaster of Paris on framed canvas (black)
78.5 x 103.5 x 4 cm
3,000 NZD
Available at MCATAMNEY GALLERY, Geraldine (NZ)
"The Ruins of Atlantis"
JP Bell, 2025
Acrylic, graphite, oil sticks, acrylic ink, ground Oamaru stone and plaster of Paris on framed canvas (black)
78.5 x 103.5 x 4 cm
3,000 NZD
Available at MCATAMNEY GALLERY, Geraldine (NZ)
"The Forgotten Templars"
JP Bell, 2025
Acrylic, graphite, oil sticks, acrylic ink, ground Oamaru stone and plaster of Paris on framed canvas (white)
103.5 x 78.5 x 4 cm
4,000 Swiss Franc
Available only through the Swiss agency ott-aro
"The Lost Relics of Atlantis"
JP Bell, 2025
Acrylic, graphite, oil sticks, acrylic ink, ground Oamaru stone and plaster of Paris on framed canvas (white)
103.5 x 78.5 x 4 cm
Sold at the Christchurch Art Show, 2026.
3,000 NZD
"The Last Light of Atlantis"
JP Bell, 2025
Acrylic, graphite, oil sticks, acrylic ink, ground Oamaru stone and plaster of Paris on framed canvas (white)
103.5 x 78.5 x 4 cm
Sold at the Christchurch Art Show, 2026.
3,000 NZD
"Fractured Relics of Babylon"
JP Bell, 2025
Acrylic, graphite, oil sticks, acrylic ink, ground Oamaru stone and plaster of Paris on framed canvas (white)
103.5 x 78.5 x 4 cm
SOLD
3,000 NZD
"Fragments of the Lost City"
JP Bell, 2025
Acrylic, graphite, oil sticks, acrylic ink, ground Oamaru stone and plaster of Paris on framed canvas (black)
78.5 x 103.5 x 4 cm
SOLD
3,000 NZ
In Private Collection, Timaru (New Zealand)
