Soon, Bell abandoned surface designs in favor of his signature vacuum-coated surfaces. In 1967, he bought an industrial vacuum chamber to coat glass with micron-thin metallic films, and through thermal evaporation he could create infinite variations in the color, transparency, and reflectivity of the glass. “It changed the way the light interfaced with the surface,” he says, “but the quality of the surface stayed the same.”
By 1968, as he made larger sculptures, he eliminated the chrome frames so that the planes of glass interact only with each another. In 1970, after Bell moved to Taos, New Mexico, where the high desert’s vast space and light inspired him, the work grew to monumental scale.
In the years since, he has explored, innovated, and communicated in new ways. “I always want my work to be something new,” he says. “I want to feel each piece is different from anything I’ve done, even if the format is the same.”
This progressive spirit earned him a pivotal 2014 show at London’s White Cube gallery, which exhibited his collages, Mirage works, and Light Knots. Bell says the exhibition “changed everything” in terms of reasserting the diversity and importance of his work.
In addition to the survey exhibition at the Palm Springs Fine Art Fair, Frank Lloyd Gallery’s booth will show Bell’s 40-by-60-inch collages paper mounted to canvas.
Bell will also appear at the fair at 1 p.m. Feb. 13, joining architect Frederick Fisher, the designer of the visitor center at Sunnylands Center & Gardens and the Resnick Pavilion at LACMA, to discuss Light, Space and Architecture in Palm Springs in a conversation moderated by art critic Peter Frank.
If you’ll be in New York this season, the Hauser & Wirth exhibition continues through April 9.