Larry Bell: Improvisations at San Antonio Museum of Art showcases artist’s innovative use of materials

Finish Fetish — a West Coast art movement that originated in the late ’60s in and around Los Angeles — evolved in an era when synthetic materials were manipulated to capture the essence of natural phenomena, such as the glimmer of sunlight on the Pacific Ocean at twilight.

Instead of picking up a paint brush, these artists used pearlescent finishes, resin, lacquer, Plexiglas and ultra-thin metallic and plastic film to transform static forms into furtive objects of beauty and desire.

Larry Bell, along with fellow art world juggernauts John McCracken and Ed Ruscha, put this movement — and arguably the ’60s-’70s West Coast school — on the post-modern map.

Larry Bell: Improvisations, which goes on display this Friday at the San Antonio Museum of Art, includes 50 years of Bell’s oeuvre in a multitude of genres. The exhibition, organized by the Phoenix Art Museum, includes something to dazzle esthetes of all ages.

$22 general admission and free for children 12 and under, 10 a.m.-7 p.m. Tuesday and Friday, 10 a.m.-5 p.m. Monday, Wednesday and Saturday from Friday, Aug. 29-Sunday, Jan. 4, 2026, San Antonio Museum of Art, 200 West Jones, (210) 978-8100, samuseum.org.

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This article appears in Aug 21 – Sep 2, 2025.