Larry Bell - Glass and Light at Hauser & Wirth From 13 May to 30 July 2022, the Hauser & Wirth Gallery London presents "Larry Bell. New Work", an exhibition of recent works by the American sculptor Larry Bell. Source: Hauser & Wirth · Image: "Deconstructed Cube SS", 2021. Turquoise, Periwinkle, and Lagoon laminated glass coated with inconel, silicon monoxide, stainless steel and titanium dioxide, 30.5 x 40.6 x 40.6 cm / 12 x 16 x 16 in. Photo: Jeff McLane ·· “Deconstructed Cube SS”, 2021. True Fog, Mist, and Zinc laminated glass coated with silicon monoxide, inconel and quartz, 30.5 x 51.1 x 51.1 cm / 12 x 20 1/8 x 20 1/8 in. Photo: Jeff McLane. All images: © Larry Bell. Courtesy the artist and Hauser & Wirth Born in Chicago in 1939 but raised and educated in Los Angeles, Larry Bell made his name on the California art scene in the early 1960s. After an early period in which he adopted an Abstract Expressionism that was already beginning to be considered "unfashionable", in the middle of the decade he began to create his best-known works, sculptures of geometric forms in which glass plays a fundamental role. The exhibition at Hauser & Wirth presents new works from his most recent series, "Deconstructed Cube" and "Open Box". In a press release, the gallery explains: “Fundamentally optical, Bell’s sculptures move beyond the traditional bounds of the medium, exploring the elusive nature of three-dimensional objects in phenomenological space, seeking ever more powerful ways to make the material and immaterial converge. For the first time, in Bell’s Deconstructed Cubes, the artist combines elements from his signature glass cubes and his more architecturally scaled, fragmented, crystalline forms or what he refers to as ‘standing walls.’ Both the ‘Deconstructed Cube’ and ‘Open Box’ works in small and monumental sizes are visually complex sculptures made up of a sequence of layered reflections and quadrates, converging hues and densities while maintaining the physicality and mass of the glass. The work explores ideas of perception, layering, and opacity and responds to the dynamics of the space. In the process of arranging the glass panels, Bell allows the particular conditions of natural light at different times of the day to transform the sculpture. Here, the ethereal beauty of Bell’s nuanced vision transpires from an aesthetic language giving way to the spontaneous play of light and its infinite perceptual possibilities.” “Bell’s smaller-scale works form a precursor to his larger-scale works, demonstrating his process and forming a central part of his practice today”, continues the press release. “The juxtaposition of small-scale sculptures with their larger-scale counterparts in this exhibition showcases the artist’s process and the unparalleled technical skill he has brought to the fabrication of his art over six decades.”
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