Art Institute of Chicago

Untitled (Terminal Series)

Larry Bell

1968

Attribution

Larry Bell American, born 1939

Medium

Vacuum plated glass coated with silicon monoxide, with metal binding

Physical dimensions

50.8 × 50.8 × 50.8 cm (20 × 20 × 20 in.)

Credit line

Mr. and Mrs. Frank G. Logan Purchase Prize Fund

From the museum

Since the 1960s Larry Bell’s sculpture has relied on the rectangular forms associated with Minimalism. Yet it has also consistently drawn into question the solidity and rigidity of the sculptural object. Here, as in most of his work, an empty glass cube sits on a Plexiglas plinth: this box mirrors its surroundings while at the same time allowing the viewer to look directly into and through it, to the gallery beyond. For the glass of Untitled (Terminal Series) , Bell employed a vacuum-coating process, which adhered metallic layers to the panes of the cube in order to manipulate their potential to scatter and capture light. In 1968 the artist described his interest not simply in perceiving space but in creating it: “The space declared by these new sculptures becomes the work.”

Description: Art Institute of Chicago · CC BY 4.0