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
-
Ora-ïto transforms the Renault 17 into a futuristic yet retro-tinged visionThe R17 electric restomod x Ora-ïto is the fourth in Renault's series of designer-led reimaginings of iconic models from its past. We think it's the best of the lot
-
First Look: a domestic idyll by Lucy Stark and Fabien Cappello at the Blunk SpaceInspired by the life and times at JB Blunk's haven of a house in Inverness, a new exhibition of paintings and objects has us dreaming of California
-
Food writer, Tamar Adler on her perfect restaurant experienceGuest editor Laila Gohar has asked friends and creatives to share their perfect restaurant experience. Here, chef and food writer, Tamar Adler recounts a momentous meal for a happy occasion
-
Mark Armijo McKnight’s bodily landscapes capture the tactile serenity of the American WestThe artist’s new exhibition at the Whitney Museum, which is organised by the museum curator Drew Sawyer, offers a succinct window into his contemplative suggestion of queering a landscape
-
Dark, glamorous and hedonistic: a photography book captures New York in the 1990sNew York: High Life, Low Life, by Dafydd Jones, goes behind the scenes of New York society
-
Derrick Alexis Coard’s portraits are a sensitive, positive testimony to Black menThe late artist Derrick Alexis Coard’s retrospective ‘I Am That I Am’, at New York’s Salon 94, honours his ‘symbolic expression for possible change for the African-American male community’
-
Intimacy, violence and the uncanny: Joanna Piotrowska in PhiladelphiaArtist and photographer Joanna Piotrowska stages surreal scenes at the Institute of Contemporary Art at the University of Pennsylvania
-
First look: Sphere’s new exterior artwork draws on a need for human connectionWallpaper* talks to Tom Hingston about his latest large-scale project – designing for the Exosphere
-
Marc Hom reframes traditional portraiture in Cooperstown, NY‘Marc Hom: Re-Framed’ has taken over the grounds of the Fenimore Art Museum, Cooperstown, planting Samuel L Jackson, Gwyneth Paltrow and more ‘personalities of the world’ into the landscape
-
Larry Bell explores the ethereal nature of glass in MonacoLarry Bell's retrospective at Hauser & Wirth, Monaco, unites old and new work
-
Alexander May, founder of LA studio Sized, on the joys of creative polymathyCreative director Alexander May tells us of the multidisciplinary approach that drives his LA studio Sized and its offspring, a 5,000 sq ft event space and an exhibition series
