A major figure in American contemporary art, Larry Bell has spent over six decades exploring light as a material. His work, somewhere between minimal sculpture and perceptual experimentation, is rooted in the Californian Light and Space movement of the 1960s. Through his iconic glass cubes, vacuum-coated surfaces, and translucent installations, Bell investigates how light moves, reflects, and refracts. His pieces, both physical and immaterial, seem to float in space, subtly altering our perception of the visible world.The starting point was a small, chance discovery in the parking lot of his Taos studio: a fragment of a Studebaker car emblem, with only the letters “STUD” remaining. This word: raw, powerful and evocative, immediately resonated with the artist. Conjuring images of mechanical strength and masculine energy, but also evoking the industrial world that inspires Bell: polished chrome, reflective surfaces, gleaming headlights — all designed to interact with light. He wanted his piece in two versions, one in polished palladium to reflect the light, and the other in matt black lacquer to absorb it completely.

A major figure in American contemporary art, Larry Bell has spent over six decades exploring light as a material. His work, somewhere between minimal sculpture and perceptual experimentation, is rooted in the Californian Light and Space movement of the 1960s. Through his iconic glass cubes, vacuum-coated surfaces, and translucent installations, Bell investigates how light moves, reflects, and refracts. His pieces, both physical and immaterial, seem to float in space, subtly altering our perception of the visible world.The starting point was a small, chance discovery in the parking lot of his Taos studio: a fragment of a Studebaker car emblem, with only the letters “STUD” remaining. This word: raw, powerful and evocative, immediately resonated with the artist. Conjuring images of mechanical strength and masculine energy, but also evoking the industrial world that inspires Bell: polished chrome, reflective surfaces, gleaming headlights — all designed to interact with light. He wanted his piece in two versions, one in polished palladium to reflect the light, and the other in matt black lacquer to absorb it completely.