Larry Bell: Irresponsible Iridescence

Judd Foundation presents Irresponsible Iridescence, an exhibition of new work by Larry Bell at 101 Spring Street in New York. The exhibition is comprised of twelve ‘Solar Study’ works, in which Bell moves beyond pure abstraction to explore narrative two-dimensional compositions of surface and light. Exhibited for the first time, the ‘Solar Study’ series (2024) is a striking departure from work Bell has done before utilizing new processes and technologies. Following a transition to solar powered-energy, Bell created almost one hundred new works over a short period of time in his studio in Taos, New Mexico. “Sometimes when I’m lucky the work creates itself,” Bell summarizes of the process. “I am only responsible for turning on the equipment and turning it off. The results of the use of the equipment become autonomic. In other words, I can find a narrative interpretation in the order of arrangement of the surfaces created.” Bell considers the series a more intimate body of work—channeling spontaneity, improvisation, intuition, and trust into intimate canvases.