Larry Bell at Frank Lloyd Gallery

“Recent Works” by Larry Bell may inevitably conjure notions of the artist’s celebrated translucent cubes and highly refined approach to working with glass. But the artist has also long experimented with techniques of collage. The works brought together here consist largely of the “small figure” series, which consist of sliced, torn and collaged paper, some of which has been coated with film deposits to achieve a striking iridescent effect. In the front rooms of the gallery, three hanging sculptural works constructed of similarly treated polyester film and a maquette of “Sumer,” from his earlier “Stickman” series, complement the works on paper. Taken altogether, the diversity of media hints at the improvisatory nature of Bell’s approach.

Upon entering into the back gallery, however, with 14 works from the “small figure” series hung evenly around the room, the full impact of the series is felt. The overall palette is dominated by warm tones set against smoky grays and black, offset by an occasional bright green, metallic blue, or iridescent rainbow. The collage series ranges from works that evoke both the female nude, as well as the rounded curves of an acoustic guitar — the latter of which the artist both plays and avidly collects. Also included are attractive compositions that aspire to purely formal concerns. In the latter, the layering of collaged paper creates a sense of reflected and refracted light that activates both depth and movement. These works convincingly display the artist’s unquenched curiosity toward the effects of light.

Originally published in ArtScene (June 2013)