Larry Bell came to prominence in the early 1960s with his parallelogram-shaped acrylic paintings and began experimenting with mirrored and transparent glass during the same period. Soon Bell came to the realization that his paintings were in fact “illustrations of volumes” and “decided to stop painting illustrations of volumes and make the volumes themselves.” Combined with the artist’s preoccupation with light-surface interactions, this drive resulted in vacuum-coated glass cubes with simultaneously reflective, refractive, and light-absorbent sides—Bell’s best-known body of work. Vacuum coating involves the application of an extremely thin layer of metal onto surfaces in a vacuum chamber; the specific metal used and the particularities of application (amount, regularity, etc.) determine the color of the cubes, in addition to defining their visual properties of transparency and iridescence.

With 3D VD 11/10/15, the artist relocates his attention from fixed, flat surfaces to irregular surfaces curving under the pressure of gravity and their own inner tension. A cut-out mylar fragment becomes the primary site of his experimentation with light, where Bell deposits extremely thin (or vapor-like) coats of aluminum and silicon monoxide, hence the title, “three-dimensional (3D) vapor drawing (VD).” The box containing the fragment is itself irregularly shaped and broadens towards the bottom, in a way complementing the downward motion of mylar. Only secured from one point from the top of the box, the fragment hangs tenuously and drapes onto itself. Its baroque shape and apparent fragility form a striking counterpoint to Bell’s earlier glass cubes.