Mirage Construction #15 1988

Larry Bell made Mirage Construction #15 using a range of brushstrokes in a limited color palette. You can see how his approach to artmaking is a dance between control and chance, a real process of discovery. Look at the material qualities of the work: the texture, the surface. Notice how the black background is built up from multiple layers of paint. Is that oil or acrylic? I can't be sure, but it feels like the layers of paint are thick and opaque. These elements shape our emotional experience of the artwork, contributing to its conceptual resonances. See that singular, gestural mark of light blue, placed deliberately against the black, what does this represent? Bell's interest in light and space aligns him with a certain West Coast sensibility, but he also reminds me of the New York School painters like Joan Mitchell or Helen Frankenthaler. Art is an ongoing conversation, after all, and this piece embraces ambiguity and multiple interpretations.