It is not a cube, nor a standing wall, nor a Mirage two-dimensional piece. Larry Bell’s Time Machine is unlike the art most art-watchers expect from the artist. The Time Machine invites the viewer to take a seat and consider light, reflection, refraction and serendipity. The Time Machine is on view in Taos for a two-day pop-up exhibition at Cooper’s Garage, 200 Bendix Drive, April 13 and 14, noon to 5:00pm. The public can sit in the Time Machine and marvel at where it takes them.
The story of the Time Machine starts in the 1970s in Los Alamos, New Mexico, at a place called The Black Hole. There one could buy all sorts of surplus supplies that originated at Los Alamos National Labs. Larry often searched The Black Hole for studio supplies and fixtures for his two vacuum coating machines.
Here is how Larry describes the origins of the Time Machine.
I found the two glass ovals at the Black Hole (Los Alamos Labs’ surplus yard run for over 30 years by a guy named Ed Grothus) in the late 1970s. I believe the shape of the glass was determined by accurate consistent transmission. These parts cost the government a lot when they were made for LANL––and when they were made is still a mystery to me. And what were they used for? We have no idea. For the inspection of something?
For years I used them in the studio for improvisational stimulation of light inspections. In other words, ‘I played with them.’ When I conceived of the idea of the current configuration, they were parts of a ‘time machine,’ I decided that they should be used in a formal setting. The viewer bounces between the glass and the source of the light at a speed of 186,000 miles a second.
The Time Machine is not only a work of art it is an enigmatic historic artifact. In fact, it is priceless.
Here are images of the Time Machine installed in exhibitions over the past twenty years.
The Time Machine has been exhibited at these institutions:
Kiyo Higashi Gallery, Los Angeles, After 9/11, April 2002 – October 2002
New Gallery, Houston, December 2002-January 2003
David Anthony Fine Art, Taos, 9/11 and the Time Machine, 2008
Carre D’art Musee, Nimes, France, In Perspective, February 2011 – June 2011
5 LITE, Los Angeles, September 2011 – December 2011
Larry Bell Taos Annex, November 2012 – June 2018
Harwood Museum of Art, Larry Bell, Hocus, Focus and 12, June – October 2018
ICA Miami, Larry Bell. Time Machines, October 2018 – March 2019
Walker Art Center, March – July 2020
Cooper’s Garage, April 2024
See the Time Machine at GUS AND RON AND LARRY exhibition
What: A pop-up exhibition in Taos
Where: Cooper’s Garage in Taos, 200-B Bendix Drive, Taos (on Paseo del Canon West, between Camino Medio and Salazar)
When: Saturday and Sunday, April 13 and 14, 2024, noon to 5:00pm
Read more: BeyondTaos
