Larry Bell

For over six decades, Larry Bell has been fascinated with light. He works across many mediums – including furniture, installation and drawing. But above all, Bell is most celebrated for his iconic glass-cube sculptures. They have become a go-to for light art. He has influenced fellow sculptors like minimalist Donald Judd to light and space artist Peter Alexander from the 1960s. Bell’s unique process is at the heart of this. In particular, he works with an industrial technique called Thermal Evaporation. This places metallic film onto the glass, creating the illusionistic effect Bell is known for.

This new sensory dimension has created new ground for how we encounter art. He famously refers to glass as “standing walls” which create fleeting and sensory experiences. The structure is essential to providing a framework to observe – asking the viewer to reflect their body in space. Even with 2D drawings, he creates the illusion of three dimensions. The drawings are called vapor drawings. They are created by thermally evaporating metal in a vacuum plating process onto various surfaces such as mylar, paper and Tyvek. Most images that are not pure vapor drawing are collages. Often, they are based on his own body proportions and restraints. New perceptions of light and space reorientate us, forever.