125 Newbury Gallery brings history into the present with their newest exhibition, Irwin/Bell: The ‘60s. Pace Gallery was the first on the East Coast to show California artists Robert Irwin and Larry Bell. Founder of Pace and curator Arne Glimcher worked closely with both artists for their exhibitions. 125 Newberry is directed by Glimcher along with Kathleen McDonnell, Talia Rosen, and Oliver Shultz, and named for the original location of Pace gallery. Irwin/Bell: The ‘60s, rightfully, finds a home at 125 Newberry Gallery, mirroring their entrance into the East Coast scene in the 60s through Pace Gallery.   

Irwin was a pioneer of the Light and Space movement. Irwin/Bell: The ‘60s shows the progression of Irwin’s career from his more traditional paintings to his pieces that use the gallery as part of the work. Irwin’s paintings are reminiscent of Barnett Newman and Mark Rothko, and his installations maintain a sense of the sublime that was so central to many abstract expressionist painters. While Irwin’s paintings are not necessarily what he is known for, he started investigating relationships with space in them. This is exemplified in his Dot paintings, one of which is shown in the exhibition at 125 Newbury.

Irwin’s influence on Bell is readily apparent. Bell’s glass cubes interact with light in the gallery, casting multicolored rays onto the gallery floor. The cubes’ materials are elegant, but they also lack the humanity of a handmade object. Instead, they interrogate the viewer’s relationships to objects and spaces.

The back room of the exhibition embodies the Light and Space movement. One of Irwin’s aluminum disc paintings is presented on the room’s back wall, with strategically placed lights to cast obvious overlapping shadows on the wall. Bell’s untitled piece hangs across the room. It is a thick sheet of glass affixed to the wall at hip height, with lights shining to throw angular rays on the wall beneath it. Both objects play with manipulating the light in the room and create an ambiguity between where the work ends and where the empty space of the gallery begins. The gallery becomes an art object instead of just a place to house objects. 

This very special exhibition examines the Light and Space movement in modern art and considers its effects on contemporary art. It is the sort of show that could be in a museum, and it is a privilege to see it for free. Irwin/Bell: The ‘60s is open until January 11, 2025.

 

Irwin/Bell: The ’60s
395 Broadway, New York, NY 10013
November 8, 2024 – January 11, 2025
Photography courtesy Peter Clough and Pace Gallery