.Larry Bell is an American painter and sculptor, born in 1939, and based on his ideas, he is often compared to contemporaries such as James Turrell. Bell’s art deals with visual perception and fashioning a dynamic visual experience. He accomplishes this by challenging traditional expectations of an art object and involving the viewer as well as the surrounding environment in the work. Bell’s early work included a series of small and intimate shadow boxes that utilize mirrors and windows. In his 1966 exhibition entitled Primary Structure he suspended these cubes on clear pedestals, allowing the viewer to examine the cube from every angle — even from underneath. As his work evolved the pieces got much larger, becoming environments that engage the human body. Surprisingly, he makes these complex visual experiences by manipulating the flat planes used to compose simple geometric forms.
The work shown here, entitled Bill and Coo at MOCA’s Nest, is a simple glass box within a box. Both volumes are made of laminated glass with a transparent colored film placed between the glass planes. The first box has a Cerise and Habanerocolored film and the second volume employs a Carmine and Hibiscus colored film. You can walk around the work but can’t physically enter the cubes. As you walk around the colored box, the panels reflect the surrounding environment — in this case the buildings and people in a small urban courtyard. The complex reflections and transparencies make it difficult to comprehend and process what you are perceiving. This phenomenon makes the act of seeing a more conscious, intentional effort. The experience is disquieting because as you approach the cube your reflection gets ensnared inside the inner cube.