‘CARS & GUITARS’ Two Taos artists share their collections
ARTISTS Larry Bell and Ron Cooper have been friends since the mid1960s. They met in Los Angeles where both had attended Chouinard Art Institute, an influential art school that operated from 1921 until 1970 when it became California Institute of the Arts. Bell, born in Chicago in 1939, and Cooper, born in 1943 and raised in Ojai, California, both grew up in the ‘50s West Coast hot rod, surf-centric culture that was LA sixty years ago.
Both artists started their careers as part of the Light and Space-branded LA art scene. But both felt the need to exit the scene and find a place with fewer distractions and more physical space to explore their sculpture practices. Both, separately, landed in New Mexico, eventually in Taos. Bell set up a studio in Taos in 1975 and moved his vacuum deposition equipment there the following year. Cooper visited Taos throughout the 1970s and purchased studio space in 1980. The rest, as they say, is history.
In early 2024, Cooper suggested to Bell that they turn a 5,000-square-foot garage he no longer needed into a venue for pop-up art exhibitions. In February, they hosted their first show with their own recent artwork alongside a precision time piece made by their mutual friend Johnny MacArthur. Visitation was brisk and enthusiastic throughout the weekend. The second exhibition in Cooper’s Garage will open to the public on the second weekend in March (9-10) from noon to 5 p.m.
“Cars & Guitars” will feature objects that inspire each artist. For Cooper, it’s cars — classic cars, race cars and Ford Model Ts of all varieties. Bell’s passion is twelve-string guitars and has been since 1957 when he borrowed money from his dad to purchase his first guitar. Cooper will show six of his cars and Bell will bring twelve twelve-string guitars to the space. Both artists will be on-site to talk about how their collections fuel their art practices. Also on display will be art from each artist’s collection of work created by the other artist. This is a “Look but don’t touch” exhibition.
Larry Bell on his guitar collection:
“Someone asked me to put into words what I feel about my guitar collection, which started when I was about 18. It began with a 12-string guitar I found in a pawn shop in downtown Los Angeles. It was called a Stella. I saw it hanging in the window of the store. I had never seen a guitar with 12 strings before. I asked the salesperson if I could see the instrument. I had no idea that guitar would impact me for the rest of my life!
“When I dragged my nails across the strings, I could feel the vibrations as well as hear it differently than any guitar I had heard before. I borrowed $35 from my dad and brought it home. The sensuousness of that instrument had me spellbound.
“One instrument led to another. Sixtysix years later I have almost 500 acoustic guitars, roughly 400 of them have 12 strings. Each one has a different voice. Each one has a different tactile feeling, for me the way the 12 string vibrates is what keeps me searching for another wooden sculpture that sings.”
Ron Cooper on his car collection:
“As a 14 year-old in 1957, my ambition was to be the greatest car customizer in the world. In 1961 after high school, I sold my ‘56 Buick Special, ’57 black Ford styleside pickup and a Black Angus steer and headed to Europe. Stopping in New York and going to the great museums there, I had an ‘aha’ moment … art! You could say that put me on a delightful, almost six decade detour. But I have always had great cars. I have spent the last 30 years doing Del Maguey Mezcal as my major art project. Now, besides making visual art, my cars speak for me. Racing them gives me that moment of paradise — transcendence — that comes from inventing and creating them. Like a successful work of art.”