Bell's inspiration is complex and multi-layered. He is an avid appropriator, borrowing from other artists, periods, and cultures, including Roy Lichtenstein, Jasper Johns, Jackson Pollock, and Aboriginal painter Emily Kam Kngwarreye, among others. He works across a wide range of media, including painting, performance, and video, producing powerful messages that confront and unsettle: about Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal Australians' relationship to each other, about their country's history and about art itself.