Art Talk
Larry Bell at Hauser & Wirth and in Aspen Art Museum
Hunter Drohojowska-Philp talks about the light and space artist’s work in downtown L.A. and his Aspen Blues
By Hunter Drohojowska-Philp • • 3m ListenIt is fascinating to me that some of the L.A. artists of the 1960s working with ideas about perception in simple and reductive ways, continue to make art that grows and changes in depth and complexity.
I had a chance to visit the Aspen Art Museum and see Larry Bell’s new roof deck sculpture, Aspen Blues.
Installation view: Larry Bell, Aspen Blues, 2018. Photo: Tony Prikryl
Installation view: Larry Bell, Aspen Blues, 2018. Photo: Tony Prikryl
on view to December 16 but it is hard to imagine them in a better home.
Larry Bell. Untitled 14" Cube. 1964. Silicon monoxide coated glass with chrome edging. 35.6 x 35.6 x 35.6 cm / 14 x 14 x 14in. Photo: Jeff McLane
The timing is providential since a few weeks ago, Hauser & Wirth in downtown L.A. opened The Complete Cubes, which is exactly that: a survey including one example of every kind of glass cube made by the artist since 1960 when he emerged as a wunderkind of Southern California’s Light and Space movement. From the outset, the artist integrated inspiration from the atmosphere of Southern California with the rigor of Minimalist sculpture.
Larry Bell. Bette and the Giant Jewfish. 1963. Vacuum coated glass and chrome plated metal. Courtesy Private Collection, Massachusetts © Larry Bell. Photo: Fredrik Nilsen
In this show, you can see the artist’s technical ability and curiosity expanding exponentially. After attending Chouinard, where he was encouraged by Robert Irwin, Bell began by using pieces of mirror to construct small boxes that could reflect their surroundings.
Larry Bell. Untitled. 1965-1966Silicon monoxide coated glass with chrome edging38.1 x 38.1 x 38.1 cm / 15 x 15 x 15 in. Photo: Alan Shaffer Photography
After discovering a process of vacuum-coating that gave the squares of glass a smoky glimmering sheen of indeterminate color, his cubic sculptures could been seen into and through but also claimed a distinct physicality. This is the first survey to document this unwavering but never uninteresting examination of the properties of light and space.
Larry Bell RWB in Venice Fog 2018 True Sea Salt, Lapis, Red Poppy and Optimum White laminated glass Courtesy the artist and Hauser & Wirth © Larry Bell Photo: Mario de Lopez.
Installation view, ‘Larry Bell. Complete Cubes’, Hauser & Wirth Los Angeles, 2018 © Larry Bell Courtesy the artist and Hauser & Wirth Photo: Mario de Lopez
