Larry Bell conceived of the large scale, abstractly figurative bronze sculptures in the series known as Sumer quite by accident. In order to learn some painting software he had purchased as a tool for the development of an early 1990s collaboration with friend and architect Frank Gehry, Bell created a collection of gestural figurative drawings that became the vehicle for the only vaguely representational works in Bell’s oeuvre. The curious drawings led Bell to develop a narrative for the humanoid characters that was based on the epic of Gilgamesh and the ancient civilization of Sumer, an enterprising people who invented cuneiform writing before vanishing into posterity.