Back in 1970, the Tate Gallery helped define a moment in American art history with its exhibition, ‘Three Artists From Los Angeles: Larry Bell, Robert Irwin, Doug Wheeler’. Those artists, as the exhibition demonstrated, had staked out new territory in the course of postwar art by taking on perception itself. Rather than working with paint and canvas or with steel and welders, they modulated light and space.
Now, three New York galleries have managed to bring that historical exhibition full circle in separate presentations devoted to each of those artists. Last year, Pace put on ‘Robert Irwin: Cacophonous’, a heavily trafficked show that featured new works with fluorescent light, while last week, David Zwirner opened ‘Doug Wheeler: Encasements’, bringing together five of his light environments into its New York space. Now, with Hauser & Wirth’s ‘Larry Bell: From the ‘60s’, the group has been fortuitously reunited (if only in nearly contemporaneous gallery listings).
On view until 9 April, the show is spread over three floors of the gallery’s Upper East Side space, providing a robust overview of Bell’s early work. A collection of paintings – geometric forms that set the stage for later three-dimensional experiments – introduce visitors to his language. This group includes Lil’ Orphan Annie, a seminal piece from 1960, created in bright orange acrylic.
On the second and third floors, several important three-dimensional works, including Standing Walls II, Untitled Trapezoid Improvisation, and Made for Arolsen I hold court, while his prism shelves animate the second floor. Throughout these upper floors, visitors are confronted with the idiosyncratic experiments in perception for which Bell is known. It's a welcome return.
Spread over three floors of the gallery’s Upper East Side space, it provides a robust overview of Bell’s early work. Pictured: Untitled, 1970
A detailed view of Bell’s prism shelves, Untitled, 1970
Among the works shown are a collection of paintings – geometric forms that set the stage for later three-dimensional experiments. Pictured left: Ghost Box, 1962. Right: Untitled, 1962
Another of Bell’s early paintings, Homage to Baby Judy, 1960
Visitors will be confronted with the experiments in perception for which Bell is known. Pictured: Glacier, 1999
‘Larry Bell: From the ‘60s’, along with Pace and David Zwirner’s recent Robert Irwin and Doug Wheeler shows, comprises a defacto regrouping of the conceptual triumverate that defined American art history with the Tate Gallery’s 1970 exhibition ‘Three Artists From Los Angeles: Larry Bell, Robert Irwin, Doug Wheeler’. Pictured: Larry Bell
INFORMATION
’Larry Bell: From the ‘60s’ is on view until 9 April. For more information, visit Hauser & Wirth’s website
Photography courtesy the artist and Hauser & Wirth
ADDRESS
Hauser & Wirth
32 East 69th Street
New York, NY 10021
-
Prada’s A/W 2026 menswear show was about excavating the past to find the future‘It’s a kind of archaeology,’ said Raf Simons of his and Miuccia Prada’s latest menswear collection, which was presented at Fondazione Prada yesterday in Milan
-
‘The Iconic Nordic House’ explores the art, craft and influence of the region’s best residencesA new book of Nordic homes brings together landmark 20th-century residential architecture with stunning contemporary works; flick through this new tome from Bradbury and Powers
-
Chef Ray Garcia brings Broken Spanish back to life on LA’s WestsideClosed during the pandemic, Broken Spanish lives again in spirit as Ray Garcia reopens the conversation with modern Mexican cooking and layered interiors
-
Arthur Tress’ photographs taken in The Ramble are a key part of New York’s queer historyThe images, which captured gay men, like Tress himself, cruising around the Central Park woodland in 1969, are the subject of a new book
-
Jan Staller’s Manhattan Project is an abstracted chronicle of a city under constructionThe photographer Jan Staller shows another side of New York’s relentless change with this portfolio of dynamic, sculptural images
-
Out of office: The Wallpaper* editors’ picks of the week'Tis the season for eating and drinking, and the Wallpaper* team embraced it wholeheartedly this week. Elsewhere: the best spot in Milan for clothing repairs and outdoor swimming in December
-
Nadia Lee Cohen distils a distant American memory into an unflinching new photo book‘Holy Ohio’ documents the British photographer and filmmaker’s personal journey as she reconnects with distant family and her earliest American memories
-
Out of office: The Wallpaper* editors’ picks of the weekIt’s been a week of escapism: daydreams of Ghana sparked by lively local projects, glimpses of Tokyo on nostalgic film rolls, and a charming foray into the heart of Christmas as the festive season kicks off in earnest
-
Ed Ruscha’s foray into chocolate is sweet, smart and very AmericanArt and chocolate combine deliciously in ‘Made in California’, a project from the artist with andSons Chocolatiers
-
Inside the work of photographer Seydou Keïta, who captured portraits across West Africa‘Seydou Keïta: A Tactile Lens’, an exhibition at the Brooklyn Museum, New York, celebrates the 20th-century photographer
-
Out of office: The Wallpaper* editors’ picks of the weekFrom sumo wrestling to Singaporean fare, medieval manuscripts to magnetic exhibitions, the Wallpaper* team have traversed the length and breadth of culture in the capital this week
