The Hat Trick AKA Larry Bell’s Glass Fedora By John Eden
Larry Bell’s Fedora
"Larry Bell’s Glass Fedora AKA The Hat Trick”© by John Eden
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‘Every intelligent artist carries the whole culture of art in their head, it is their real subject.’
Rene Magritte Photograph by Duane Michals
James Lee Byars and Joseph Beuys Photograph by Benjamin Katz "Larry Bell’s Glass Fedora AKA The Hat Trick”© by John Eden
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John Eden,“2008 Self-‐portrait” of the ‘auteur’ with Magritte Bowler hat reposed on red café chair with his “Eight Red Rectangles: Robbin’ Peter to Pay Off Paul” painting hanging in the background. It is a homage to Kazimir Malevich and Blinky Palermo, both having done their own versions of the “Eight Red Rectangles” at various points during the Twentieth Century. Blinky saw Malevich’s original 1914 version hanging at the Stedelijk Museum in the late Sixties and immediately set about creating his own “8 Red Rectangles.”
"Larry Bell’s Glass Fedora AKA The Hat Trick”© by John Eden
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Since 2008 I have employed digital scanning technology in my art making process. Several years’ back, my friend and trusted advisor, Jack Brogan mentioned to me that there is a process being developed at Pasadena's Cal
Photograph by Eric Minh Swenson
Tech that prints 3D objects in glass with the tensile strength of metal. With that technology in mind, I asked Larry if I could borrow one of his signature hats to create a digital scan to make my own 3D glass version of Larry Bell’s hat that also cross-‐references his famous glass cubes. I’ve never seen Larry without his hat, in fact I can easily conjure an image of Mr. Bell stepping into the shower each morning champing on a stogie and wearing only his current fedora. For me the genesis of that image of Larry grows out of Janet Webb’s famously funny photo (a 60's Rico Mizuno gallery announcement) of a young, very hairy Larry Bell fearlessly standing on the beach in profile: wearing only white brief underwear, dark sunglasses, an evocatively held ‘big stick’ and his fixture hat that helped cement his very endearing ‘Rebel In Paradise’ visage, think Blues Brother John Belushi and you've got it.
"Larry Bell’s Glass Fedora AKA The Hat Trick”© by John Eden
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This Original Blues Brother predates Jake & Elwood by more than a decade and this photograph by Janet Webb always makes me smile.
"Larry Bell’s Glass Fedora AKA The Hat Trick”© by John Eden
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Photograph by Eric Minh Swenson
Just prior to the ‘Changing of the Hat’s Ceremony’, we met up at the Erwin Hotel in Venice Beach for Breakfast and had a great time swapping stories over hash browns & eggs. The conceptual root for this part of the piece involved the 1953 art story between artists Robert Rauschenberg and Willem De Kooning. Rauschenberg asked De Kooning for a drawing that he could erase, sign and retitle “Erased de Kooning Drawing.” This transfer between two artists is what I was after and Larry graciously played along.
"Larry Bell’s Glass Fedora AKA The Hat Trick”© by John Eden
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After the ceremony, Larry is wearing his new Bowler.
Photograph by Eric Minh Swenson
"Larry Bell’s Glass Fedora AKA The Hat Trick”© by John Eden
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The three previous digital images are from the original scans courtesy of Steve Farentinos, Geoform, Inglewood, CA
"Larry Bell’s Glass Fedora AKA The Hat Trick”© by John Eden
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A more detailed scan being done by Spike Milligan & Crew at Mimic Studios, MDR, CA
Photographs by Eric Minh Swenson "Larry Bell’s Glass Fedora AKA The Hat Trick”© by John Eden
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Photograph by Eric Minh Swenson At Jack’s studio discussing fabrication details and planning on a way to display Larry’s glass fedora. Jack worked with Robert Irwin and James Turrell on LACMA’s original Art & Technology program.
"Larry Bell’s Glass Fedora AKA The Hat Trick”© by John Eden
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Joey Florez, A.P.P. is working on the final mold. "Larry Bell’s Glass Fedora AKA The Hat Trick”© by John Eden
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In addition to the more obvious ‘slight of hand’ title meaning; “The Hat Trick” references two art stories and creates a third, hence the sport’s title that indicates when three or more significant achievements occur during one game.
The image above is a partially polished clear cast urethane version of Larry’s glass hat that was made by Jason Dickman /American Precision Prototyping, Tulsa, OK. The final stage of this project will be to explore all ‘state of the art’ fabrication possibilities (including Cal Tech’s work involving ‘Metallic Glass, Gorilla and Sapphire Glass’), to make multiple editions of the hat in the best possible material and documenting the process in video. Please watch my ‘YouTube video’ for technical details and more http://youtu.be/rkrNEm3TurE Titled “John Eden: Larry Bell’s Glass Fedora” by Eric Minh Swenson
"Larry Bell’s Glass Fedora AKA The Hat Trick”© by John Eden
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