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.
Find original Larry Bell art on 1stDibs.
$1,000
Larry Bell - Tony Shafrazi Gallery invitation (hand signed by Larry Bell) Framed
By Larry Bell
Located in New York, NY
Rare vintage offset lithograph invitation to the exhibition: Larry Bell at Tony Shafrazi, 130 Prince Street, SoHo New York, February 16 – March 23, 1991 The card has been boldly sign...
Lithograph, Offset
$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 ...
Screen
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
$1,350
H 30 in W 40.5 in
Home Run: abstract modern minimalist color field drawing with rainbow colors
By Gene Davis
Located in New York, NY
Rainbow shades shine in this abstract, color field print. Vibrant red, yellow, orange, purple, and green lines take on the organic quality of handmade paper, resulting in this subtle...
Lithograph
$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...
Screen
$700
H 28 in W 26.13 in
Are the Cookies Ready Yet /// Contemporary Pop Art Screenprint Nude Food Chef
By Dan May
Located in Saint Augustine, FL
Artist: Dan May (American, 1955-) Title: "Are the Cookies Ready Yet" *Signed and numbered by May in pencil lower left Year: 2001 Medium: Original Screenprint on unbranded white wove ...
Screen
I Promise To Love You, Framed
By Tracey Emin
Located in London, GB
2014 Colour offset lithograph on 250 gsm glossy wove paper 70 x 50 cm Edition of 500 Signed and dated in pen by Tracey Emin Published by Emin International Framed Excellent condition...
Paper, Lithograph, Offset
"John Lennon, Fillmore East, NYC, August 1972" Bob Gruen
By Bob Gruen
Located in North Adams, MA
In 1972, John Lennon and Yoko Ono conceived a concert at Madison Garden called “One to One.” It was a benefit for the Willowbrook State School in Staten Island, a facility for mental...
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...
Screen
Stones III (~22% OFF LIST PRICE)
Located in Kansas City, MO
Avraham Inlender Stones III Color Offset Lithograph Year: 2003 Size: 5.9 x 5.5 inches (15 x 14 cm) Signed in pencil COA provided Avraham Inlender (1932–2003) was a Polish-born arti...
Lithograph, Offset
$250
H 9 in W 8 in
Nude and Cat /// Contemporary Street Screenprint Figurative Black and White Art
By Dan May
Located in Saint Augustine, FL
Artist: Dan May (American, 1955-) Title: "Nude and Cat" *Signed and numbered by May in pencil lower left Year: 1987 Medium: Original Screenprint on unbranded w...
Screen
$1,500
H 24 in W 18 in
Shepard Fairey Collage Peace Mandala Silkscreen Print "Red" Street Contemporary
By Shepard Fairey
Located in Draper, UT
"These two Collage Peace Mandalas are based on fine art pieces I created for my 'Swan Song' show at Galerie Itinerrance in Paris. Peace has been an important theme in my work for man...
Screen
Beacon
By Adolph Gottlieb
Located in New York, NY
A very good impression of this color lithograph on Arches. Signed, dated and numbered 14/100 in pencil by Gottlieb. Published by Marlborough Graphics, Inc., New York. Catalogue refe...
Color, Lithograph
Poster for Peace
By Robert Rauschenberg
Located in New York, NY
A very good impression of this color offset lithograph with strong colors. Signed, dated and numbered 230/250 in pencil by Rauschenberg. Published by S...
Color, Lithograph, Offset
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...
Screen