My Montauk 1960

Larry Bell, born in 1939, made *My Montauk* with a limited palette of white and black, but within this constraint, I see so much play! I imagine Bell, thinking and rethinking as he applies those first strokes. The white paint is like a frame, yet it pushes against the edges. And in contrast, the black—it’s a field, maybe the night. It suggests a space beyond the canvas. What if it's a window? Or a minimalist landscape? I can almost feel the pull he must have felt, caught between precision and letting go. He must have been inspired by the California Light and Space movement, but he also seems to be responding to hard-edge painting and even the monochrome. Artists are always talking to each other, across time and space. Bell’s work continues this conversation, echoing back and forth, questioning what painting can be. And it embraces the ambiguity and uncertainty, allowing for multiple readings.