Larry Bell

Ukraine

Viewing location: Los Angeles

2022
Metal coated laminated glass
30.8 × 30.8 × 30.8 cm / 12 1/8 × 12 1/8 × 12 1/8 in

More than thirty years ago, while his daughter was in high school, Larry Bell and his family invited a Ukrainian exchange student to stay with them for a year. A deeply personal work, Bell chose the blue and yellow hues for ‘Ukraine’ (2022) with the Ukrainian flag in mind. In addition to the special significance and meaning of this poignant work, ‘Ukraine’ also encapsulates the mesmerizing optical qualities and technical innovation that characterize Bell’s nesting box glass sculptures. Known foremost for his refined handling of glass and original experiments with the properties of light, Bell pioneered a new approach to contemporary sculpture and perceptual phenomena. Bell’s sculptures move beyond the traditional bounds of the medium, exploring the elusive nature of three-dimensional objects in phenomenological space, seeking ever more powerful ways to make the material and immaterial converge.

An extraordinary sculpture, ‘Ukraine’ epitomizes the unique magic of Bell’s innovative experimentations with glass, which have been at the heart of the artist’s celebrated practice for several decades. An early turning point came in 1966, when, whilst living in New York, Bell purchased a vacuum coating chamber. His new vacuum chamber allowed the artist to deposit films of different metallic and non-metallic substances onto the glass himself. This coating technique, known as ‘thin film deposition,’ was widely used in camera lenses and telescopes by the bourgeoning optics industry. The glass panels that make up ‘Ukraine’ are coated with Inconel, an alloy whose ability to withstand extremely high temperatures and pressure make it uniquely suited to vacuum deposition. In context of the work’s title, the strength and resistance of the material is particularly symbolic, adding another layer of meaning to the sculpture.

While Bell’s iridescent ‘Ukraine’ nesting box sculpture exemplifies the artist’s pioneering investigation of the formal qualities of his materials, it also showcases his more recent focus and interest in the saturation of color. Bell’s nesting boxes are one of the most important examples of the artist’s freestanding glass wall sculptures, a subset of his practice in which the artist combines panes of glass in varying scales and configurations. These colorful cubes within cubes respond intuitively to the dynamics of space and are transformed by the particular conditions of natural light at different times of the day. Bell celebrates the subtilties of light by combining different colored panels—in the case of ‘Ukraine,’ ‘Capri’ for the interior cube and ‘Limoncello’ panels for the exterior cube—which amplify the impact of different opacities and transparencies of color. Harnessing the recent advancements in colored architectural glass, Bell’s new glass cubes offer a sublime meditation on color interactions. A uniquely personal sculpture and important tribute, ‘Ukraine’ showcases the artist’s unparalleled process and technical skill.

About the artist

Larry Bell is one of the most renowned and influential artists to emerge from the Los Angeles art scene of the 1960s, alongside contemporaries Ed Ruscha and Robert Irwin, and had garnered international repute by the age of 30. Known foremost for his refined surface treatment of glass and explorations of light, reflection and shadow through the material, Bell’s significant oeuvre extends from painting and works on paper to glass sculptures and furniture design.

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