Site Visit: Larry Bell and Mia Locks in Conversation

To celebrate the debut of Larry Bell’s Bill and Coo at MOCA’s Nest(2019) on MOCA Grand Avenue’s Sculpture Plaza, MOCA Senior Curator and Head of New Initiatives Mia Locks talks with Bell about his work and this installation. Bell is an iconic Los Angeles artist, having worked in the city since the late 1950s. He is best known for his refined surface treatment of glass and explorations of light, reflection, and shadow through the material as an influential member of the California Light and Space movement in the 1960s. Building on MOCA’s recent public commissions, such as Barbara Kruger Untitled (Questions) (1990/2018), Bell’s work takes over the Sculpture Plaza at MOCA Grand Avenue and reinvigorates the museum’s commitment to displaying new large-scale work in public space. Bell’s laminated glass cubes are saturated by the Southern California sun during the day and brilliantly illuminated at night. This recent acquisition joins important early artworks by Bell in MOCA’s permanent collection.