The legendary Los Angeles art scene of the 1960s produced many spectacular visual artists, such as Ed Moses, Billy Al Bengston and James Turrell. Painter and sculptor Larry Bell is arguably among the most influential of the era’s marquee names. A quintessential contemporary abstract artist, Bell explored light with glass sculptures that are difficult to categorize, while his abstract prints are a meditation on color. Whether working in two or three dimensions, Bell's artistic intuition always leads the way.
Bell was born in 1939 in Chicago and grew up in California. From 1957 to 1959, he attended the Los Angeles Chouinard Art Institute where he created monochromatic abstract oil paintings that drew on Abstract Expressionism. Soon, he began incorporating mirrors and glass in his designs, which eventually evolved into provocative sculptural works.
During the mid-1960s, Bell developed his signature technique of modifying how light moves through and is reflected in his sculptures. Working with glass cubes he built, Bell used an industrial process that sees vaporized metals becoming thin plastic films to be added to the works’ interior panels. He essentially turned his transparent boxes into tapestries of diffuse color. Bell showed his cubes at a solo exhibition at Pace Gallery in New York City in 1965. The show was a huge success, selling out on its first day.
Bell continued experimenting with new methods and techniques, shifting his focus to larger and more monumental works in the late 1960s. In the 1970s, he developed adjustable glass sculptures with as many as fifty-six panels. He also dabbled in bronze sculpture and furniture design.
Throughout his career, Bell has exhibited widely, with shows at the Museum of Contemporary Art and Norton Simon Museum in California, the Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth, Denver Art Museum, Carré d'Art-Musée d'art contemporain de Nîmes in France and Tate Britain, among many others.
In 2019, gallerist Peter Blake held a show celebrating West Coast minimalism, including the work of Bell as a respected and influential veteran in the space. Later, in 2022, Hauser & Wirth gallery in Los Angeles held a joint exhibition featuring the work of Bell and artist John Chamberlain. The two artists were lifelong friends who met in the 1960s Los Angeles art scene. In a sense, the show brought Bell back full circle.
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$2,500
Larry Bell - Rare Fragments poster, Signed and Inscribed to Charles Rand Penney
By Larry Bell
Located in New York, NY
Larry Bell Rare, historic Signed and Inscribed Poster, 1981 Silkscreen Poster Exhibition entitled "Fragments and other Considerations" Hand Signed, inscribed and dated by the artist ...
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Nude 1, Large Conceptual Art Nude Screenprint by Larry Bell
By Larry Bell
Located in Long Island City, NY
Artist: Larry Bell, American (1939 - ) Title: Nude 1 Year: 1974 Medium: Screenprint with Flocking, signed, dated and numbered in pencil Edition: 17/60 Image Size: 71 x 28.5 inches Si...
Screen
$2,250
H 24 in W 18 in
Shepard Fairey "The Woman Who Defeated Pain" Frida Kahlo Silkscreen Print
By Shepard Fairey
Located in Draper, UT
TITLE: Shepard Fairey "The Woman Who Defeated Pain" Frida Kahlo Silkscreen Print Contemporary Art YEAR: 2023 CLASSIFICATION: Limited edition MEDIUM TYPE: Print MEDIUM/MATERIALS: Fine...
Gold
$500
H 20.25 in W 24 in
Reclining Nude (Black) /// Contemporary Pop Art Screenprint Figurative Alcohol
By Dan May
Located in Saint Augustine, FL
Artist: Dan May (American, 1955-) Title: "Reclining Nude (Black)" *Signed and numbered by May in pencil lower left Year: 1995 Medium: Original Screenprint on unbranded white wove paper Limited edition: 45/50 Printer: the artist May himself, Oakland, CA Publisher: the artist May himself, Oakland, CA Sheet size: 20.25" x 24" Image size: 11.38" x 17.13" Condition: In excellent condition Notes: Titled and dated by May in pencil lower right. Biography: Dan May is an American painter and printmaker born on March 11, 1955 in San Francisco, CA. Raised in aesthetic surroundings heavily influenced by his architect father, May grew up learning to view all things with an eye for design, color, and shape. At age 5, he remembers his father cutting up a book of drawings by Henri Matisse and hanging them on the walls of their home. The French master Matisse as well as Richard Diebenkorn and David Hockney are his favorite art influences. He began his first attempts at painting at age 15, and later began to experiment with printmaking, teaching himself various techniques such as woodblock printing, etching, silkscreen printing, and monoprinting. Monoprinting soon became May's medium of choice due to its wide range of expression and spontaneity that he felt other techniques lacked. May - "With monoprinting, you can only work a piece for as a long as the paint stays wet, so the resulting print has a feeling of movement and immediacy. I also like how monoprinting allows the brush strokes to transfer a transparent light quality to the print. For me, this is a technique that bridges drawing...
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Soul Ascending-Serigraph, Regional Art Editions-Detroit
Located in Chesterfield, MI
Soul Ascending-Serigraph from original watercolor by Gwen Lux. Regional Art Editions-Detroit. Measures 23 x 14.25 inches and is unframed. The piece is in Good...
Screen
$150
H 27.5 in W 19.75 in
"Seated Nude Woman, 1916-1917" Silkscreen Print. Printed In Italy.
By Amedeo Modigliani
Located in Chesterfield, MI
Published By Top Art Milano, 1999. Silkscreen Print. Printed In Italy. In Good Condition. Measures 27.5 x 19.75 in.
Screen
$1,500
H 24 in W 18 in
Shepard Fairey "One Earth" Red & Gold Screenprint Street Contemporary Obey Giant
By Shepard Fairey
Located in Draper, UT
Silkscreen Print with Gold Metallic Inks 18 × 24 in 45.7 × 61 cm Edition 300 "Refers to the ripped 'One Earth' stamp in the lower right of the print and the fact that we only have ...
Screen
$250
H 9.75 in W 11.63 in
Nude /// Contemporary Pop Art Screenprint Colorful Figurative Reclining Print
By Dan May
Located in Saint Augustine, FL
Artist: Dan May (American, 1955-) Title: "Nude" *Signed and numbered by May in pencil lower left Year: 1987 Medium: Original Screenprint on unbranded soft-cream wove paper Limited ed...
Screen
$1,450
H 8 in W 8 in
Shiny Nude (Stealingworth, 33) silkscreen on kromekote paper + envelope AP/1000
By Tom Wesselmann
Located in New York, NY
Tom Wesselmann Shiny Nude (Stealingworth, 33), 1977 Silkscreen on glossy cast-coated Kromekote paper 8 × 8 inches Edition of 1000 (AP/1000) Pencil numbered ...
Screen, Paper
$750
H 12 in W 12 in
Shepard Fairey "REIMAGINE" Fine Art Screenprint Street Contemporary Obey Giant
By Shepard Fairey
Located in Draper, UT
Shepard Fairey "REIMAGINE" Fine Art Screenprint Street Contemporary Obey Giant Screen Print on fine art paper 12 × 12 in 30.5 × 30.5 cm Edition 84/250 Part of a limited edition set ...
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Adam Wasn't Into It
By John Baldessari
Located in Calabasas, CA
Artist: Johns Baldessari Title: Adam Wasn't Into It Year: 2017 Medium: Screenprint on Arches 88 paper Edition: 50; signed, dated and numbered in pencil Sheet: 32 1/2 x 28 inches (82....
Screen
$350
H 16.75 in W 34.88 in
A Man and His Dreams /// Contemporary Pop Art Screenprint Nudes Figurative Funny
By Dan May
Located in Saint Augustine, FL
Artist: Dan May (American, 1955-) Title: "A Man and His Dreams" *Signed by May in pencil lower left Year: 1991 Medium: Original Screenprint on unbranded white wove paper Limited edit...
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Study Of A Nude. Geoffrey Key Limited Edition Print. 3 of 20
By Geoffrey Key
Located in Brecon, Powys
Limited edition print signed and numbered 3 of 20. Dated 1978. In a contemporary black frame. Really very pretty work by this well collected British artist Geoffrey Key’s acclaimed...
Screen
$3,808
H 19.69 in W 19.69 in
Sea Breeze Chan Silkscreen Print, Contemporary, Signed, 21st Century
By Takashi Murakami
Located in Bristol, GB
Silkscreen Edition of 100 (Edition number unknown as the print is unopened, to preserve condition) Signed and numbered on the front Mint, as issued Sold in the original KaiKai KiKi p...
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Barcelona, Abstract Geometric Lithograph by Larry Bell
By Larry Bell
Located in Long Island City, NY
Larry Bell, American (1939 - ) - Barcelona, Year: 1989, Medium: Lithograph, signed and numbered in pencil, Edition: 62/75, Size: 30 x 22 in. (76.2 x 55.88 cm)
Lithograph
Untitled (In Barcelona Suite), Larry Bell
By Larry Bell
Located in Fairfield, CT
Artist: Larry Bell (1939) Title: Untitled (In Barcelona Suite) Year: 1989 Medium: Color Aquatint on Arches paper Edition: 53/75, plus proofs Size: 30 x 22 inches...
Aquatint
Untitled (In Barcelona Suite), Larry Bell
By Larry Bell
Located in Fairfield, CT
Artist: Larry Bell (1939) Title: Untitled (In Barcelona Suite) Year: 1989 Medium: Color Aquatint on Arches paper Edition: 75, plus proofs Size: 3...
Aquatint
Nude 2
By Larry Bell
Located in Long Island City, NY
Artist: Larry Bell, American (1939 - ) Title: Nude 2 Year: 1974 Medium: Silkscreen with Flocking, signed, dated and numbered in pencil Edition: 17/60 Image Size: 71 x 28.5 inche...
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