art | Larry Bell: Glass, Light, and the Search for Eternity

In the recent art and design world, transparent glass and resin materials have become increasingly popular. If I understood what makes Larry Bell's work so special in this moment, our curiosity on this trend would be solved.

 

It was summer of 2017. Several artists were featured at the Whitney Biennale in New York, and Larry Bell's work was specially placed on an outdoor roof terrace. It was a perfect setting to bring the tired museum audience into the open air. 

Installation view, Larry Bell, ‘Pacific Red (V)’ (2017), Whitney Biennial 2017, Whitney Museum of American Art © The JODE Team

 

Six red-colored cubes are lined up in a large size over the average human height, and each cube contains a small cube in it carefully coordinated with the color tone. Two cubes stacked together like Russian dolls create a unique nuance with each interaction. The name of the work was "Pacific Red (V)" (2017).

Larry Bell's installation of three-dimensional sculptures extends the interest to the environment surrounding. Changing the surrounding energy, like light spreads quietly everywhere.

 

Larry Bell, VFZM 1, 2017, Laminated glass, 4 panels Lapis glass: 30.5 x 40.6 x 0.6 cm 4 panels Black glass: 30.5 x 20.3 x 0.6 cm © Larry Bell Courtesy the artist and Hauser & Wirth

Larry Bell, Untitled, 1985, Vacuum coated glass with chrome plated metal framing, 26 x 26 x 26 cm Courtesy the artist and Hauser & Wirth Photo: Genevieve Hanson © Larry Bell

 

If Larry Bell's name isn't familiar yet, here's the scoop—he's been representing the LA art scene since the 1960s alongside David Hockney and Dennis Hopper. Today, his work reaches new heights through representation by galleries like Hauser & Wirth and White Cube, regular exhibitions in major cities like New York and Zurich, collaborations with institutions such as the Whitney Museum, and the recent publication of his first major monograph by Rizzoli.

Larry Bell with The Iceberg and Its Shadow, taken at Washington University in St. Louis in 1976 © Larry Bell Photo: Larry Bell

 

Larry Bell has embraced the 'glass' material for 60 years. Since he released his first work in 1962, he has never looked elsewhere. What on earth is he so fascinated by glass?

There is an episode here that is so ordinary but changed a person's life. In 1957, Larry Bell enrolled at the Chouinard Art Institute (now CalArts) in Los Angeles, and two years later, he left the school and began to expand the world of art independently. A wooden box for display was affordable at a frame shop where he worked to make money, and the wooden box became his material. Then one day, a mirror in a box cracked by mistake. The broken marks were reflected on different parts of the mirror, creating various images. Observing it, he had a kind of revelation. It was the nature of glass to respond to 'light'.

 

"It is all the light itself (not the sculpture) that is observed, is seen, and gives a visual message in my work." – Larry Bell

 

Installation view, ‘Larry Bell. Still Standing,’ Hauser & Wirth New York, 22nd Street, 2020. © Larry Bell Courtesy the artist and Hauser & Wirth Photo: Dan Bradica

 

Based on a square cube, the artist folds, unfolds, and sometimes overlaps them. It is to explore the properties of glass that absorb, reflect, and transmit light. It would be desolate if his quest here is limited to a scientific phenomenon. But Larry Bell's interest lies in the sense that humans will feel as they look at it.

As a result, every time he creates a different feeling with glass. The experience depends not only on where the light that shines on the work comes from, but also on a number of personal factors, including what you ate this morning and what preconceptions you usually have. It's your own experience that only you can create.

 

The sublime experience is based on sophisticated technology. It is essential that the surface of the glass should be smooth as if it were not there. In order to color the work, a technology to coat the glass panel cleanly without air bubbles is needed. That's why the artist has put as much effort into coating and laminating technology as the work itself. As a result, his studio is equipped with a room with low atmospheric pressure like outer space, and a high vacuum coating system that may be found in a specialized factory.

"I only care about how honest my approach was in the work process. As I work on it, I ask myself if I thought about something I shouldn't think about. Because it's bound to be revealed in the work." – Larry Bell

The artist now focuses on color and observes the language of light and shadow that casts it. As a result, it is a more welcoming transformation for the audience. Is there another language as universal and clear as color?

Larry Bell, VFZ 3, 2017, Laminated glass, 4 panels True Sea Salt glass: 182.9 x 243.8 x 1.3 cm 4 panels Hibiscus glass: 182.9 x 121.9 x 1.3 cm © Larry Bell Courtesy the artist and Hauser & Wirth

 

A good example is the work presented in Hauser & Wirth's solo exhibition in Zurich in 2018. The artist reflected the weather and light he met in Venice Beach, California, where he lives, in a large cube. A sea fog that pushes into the shore when the cold air of the sea meets the warm air of the land. The feeling and color were quietly included in the work.

 

Installation view, ‘Larry Bell. Venice Fog: Recent Investigations’, Hauser & Wirth Zürich, 2018 © Larry Bell Courtesy the artist and Hauser & Wirth

Larry Bell, VFZ I, 2017, Laminated glass, 4 panels True Sea Salt glass: 182.9 x 243.8 x 1.3 cm 4 panels Blush glass: 182.9 x 121.9 x 1.3 cm © Larry Bell Courtesy the artist and Hauser & Wirth

Larry Bell, VFZ 4, 2017, Laminated glass, 4 panels True Sea Salt glass: 182.9 x 243.8 x 1.3 cm 4 panels Optimum White glass: 182.9 x 121.9 x 1.3 cm © Larry Bell Courtesy the artist and Hauser & Wirth

Installation view, ‘Larry Bell. Venice Fog: Recent Investigations’, Hauser & Wirth Zürich, 2018 © Larry Bell Courtesy the artist and Hauser & Wirth

 

A work that leaves behind everyday disturbances and makes you focus solely on the light of this moment and the sense it conveys. A work that reveals only light and my existence with a transparent gesture like air. We are fascinated by that pure experience like the artist.

 

- Words by JODE TEAM | Originally published in Naver, April 2020, Translated in 2025 | Courtesy of Courtesy the artist and Hauser & Wirth | Cover Image. Larry Bell, VFZ 3, 2017, Laminated glass, 4 panels True Sea Salt glass: 182.9 x 243.8 x 1.3 cm 4 panels Hibiscus glass: 182.9 x 121.9 x 1.3 cm © Larry Bell Courtesy the artist and Hauser & Wirth