Larry Bell Painter, Taos
Date1988
Mediumchromogenic color print
Dimensions20 × 16 in. (50.8 × 40.6 cm)
ClassificationsPhotography
Credit LineAlbuquerque Museum, museum purchase, 1989 General Obligation Bonds
Object numberPC1990.69.2
DescriptionA color photograph of painter Larry Bell with a typed poem and signature by Bell underneath. Bell is sitting in a guitar shop holding a guitar in his hands and has a cigar in his mouth.The poem reads:
REALITY
My dictionary says reality
is something that exists in-
dependently of all other things
and from which all other things
derive. I like that. In my studio
all things that I do are exercises or
investigations of the light that I per-
ceive on the surfaces that I work with.
My prejudices about surface quality are
evident to those who know how to read those
surfaces. No one other than myself can see
with my eyes, so the reality of the piece is
different to each person who sees it, indepen-
dent of my reality or my perception of my work.
They come to my work with their personal prejudice
about surface, orientations as to what is art or not
art. My work is part of the experience of life that
cannot be removed once witnessed. At some point in
that person's life the information gleaned from the ex-
perience of a work of art will affect a decision in that
person's life. To make this thought short, what I mean is
that the perception of life and life's activities is the only
reality I know of.
On View
Not on viewTerms