MILL VALLEY, CA.- Anthony Meier is now showing All Glass, a solo exhibition of West Coast Light and Space pioneer Larry Bell (b. 1939)––the artist’s second solo exhibition with the gallery and the first at the gallery’s new Mill Valley flagship, on view from February 8 to April 12, 2024. Continuing Bell’s adept utilization of glass and light, which enables him to broaden the visual and physical realms of perception through his sculptures, this exhibition will feature a new large-scale work that debuts a wholly new composition amongst his oeuvre as well as a monumental installation. In shades of red and blue, these works evidence his iconic methodology characterized by endless spontaneity, intuition, and improvisation.

Transforming the entire gallery, a monumental laminated glass sculpture titled Pacific Reds II (2017)—comprising six chevrons in various shades of red—will be presented in a site-specific, improvisational configuration that evidences the artist’s hand in his continued reactiveness to the specificities of location. Previously exhibited at Pepperdine University, Pacific Reds II will now respond to its new site via a wholly new arrangement that channels the sun pouring in from skylights above to pass through Bell’s six chevrons in a capacity that refracts light through the glass painting the walls, floor, and ceiling all shades of red.

The tantalizing play of light and shadow that manifests via Bell's room-sized installation will be accompanied by a newly conceived and realized work in the front window vitrine. In the artist’s classic play on words, this work of nesting trioliths in lapis blue and sea salt titled Mill Valley Study (2023), exemplifies the first composition of its kind by the artist in his over five decade career and thus evidences his ongoing dedication to pushing the limits of perception and technology through an exploration of new treatments, forms, and arrangements.

This exhibition coincides with Bell’s inclusion in Day Jobs at the Cantor Arts Center—the first major exhibition to examine the overlooked impact of day jobs in the visual arts—on view from March 6 to July 21, 2024; and will be followed by a solo exhibition at the Phoenix Art Museum opening May 22, 2024, and a major outdoor commission for North Carolina State University’s Centennial Campus––the largest and most ambitious public artwork of his lifetime––to be unveiled in Spring 2024.

A conversation between Bell and Veronica Roberts, Director of the Cantor Arts Center, will take place in person on February 8, 2024 at the gallery. For additional information or interview requests, please contact anthonymeier@culturalcounsel.com.

Portrait of Larry Bell in Taos, New Mexico. Photo credit: Christopher Grunder. Courtesy Anthony Meier, Mill Valley.

LARRY BELL

Larry Bell was born in 1939 in Chicago IL, and lives and works between Taos, NM and Venice, CA. Bell attended Chouinard Art School in Los Angeles from 1957 to 1959 where he studied under Robert Irwin. Notable solo shows include: the Pasadena Art Museum, Pasadena CA, 1972; Fort Worth Art Museum, Dallas TX, 1975 and 1977; Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles CA, 1986; Denver Art Museum, Denver CO, 1995; Carré d’Art Musée d’art Contemporain de Nîmes, Nîmes, France, 2011, and The Chinati Foundation, Marfa TX, 2014. Seminal group exhibitions include: The Responsive Eye, Museum of Modern Art, New York NY, 1965; Primary Structures, The Jewish Museum, New York NY, 1966; Larry Bell, Robert Irwin, Doug Wheeler, Tate Britain, London, England, 1970; 11 Los Angeles Artists, Hayward Gallery, London, England, 1971; ‘Phenomenal’, Museum of Contemporary Art San Diego, San Diego CA, 2011; and Whitney Biennial 2017, Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, NY.


ANTHONY MEIER

Anthony Meier was established in 1984 as a private dealer in the secondary market. Working with both public and private collections, Anthony Meier built a highly regarded international reputation specializing in post- World War II contemporary masters. In 1996 Anthony Meier opened a public gallery space in the Pacific Heights neighborhood of San Francisco. In January 2023 the gallery opened a new location in Mill Valley, California in a historic building downtown. As a public forum, Anthony Meier mounts five or more exhibitions per year dedicated to emerging, mid-career and established artists. The work shown in the gallery is consistent with the quality and visual aesthetic on which the business was founded.

Anthony Meier
Larry Bell: All Glass
February 8 - April 12, 2024