Frank Stella

Frank Stella Frank Stella was born in 1936 in Malden, Massachusetts. He started painting in high school. He went on to Princeton University, where he majored in history. Stella moved to New York in 1958 after his graduation. Stella’s art was recognized for its innovations before he was twenty-five. 

In the beginning of his career painting stripes became Stella's hallmark. He used them as the basis for complex geometric designs.

The Black Paintings (1958–60)

The Black Paintings of the 1950’s had regular bands of black paint separated by very thin pinstripes of unpainted canvas. 

In Stella's own words, "What you see is what you see."

From the Black Painting he moved onto “Irregular Polygons” in 1966 The shapes in the polygon paintings are reinforced with stripes (LINES) of color.

Many of Stella’s early paintings are extremely orderly Many of Stella’s early paintings are extremely orderly. You’ll notice straight lines that repeat in patterns.   Sunset Beach Sketch 1967

Hurran II 1967 Size 10 BY 20 fEET Protractor Series - based on the semicircular drafting instrument used for measuring and constructing angles.

Although the dominant motifs of the Protractor series are circular, every shape is actually defined by pairs of horizontal and vertical lines that intersect at right angles

The Double Vee

In addition to an emphasis on line Stella also is know for his uniquely shaped canvases.

From the 1970’s on Stella introduced relief into his art, which he came to call “maximalist” painting for its sculptural qualities.

He does not mean to portray any subject you would recognize and he doesn’t try to paint emotion onto canvas. He wants each painting to be a unique paint-on-canvas (or wood, or aluminum, etc.) object.

We are using two main concepts from Frank Stella’s work as the inspiration for our project. 1. The Emphasis on LINE 2. Irregular shaped “canvas”

Like Frank Stella we will focus on line OBJ: To create an observational COMPOSITION DRAWING of knotted ropes, focusing on the creative use of line within the drawing, executed in different COMPLEMENTARY COLOR combinations. Like Frank Stella (minimalist STYLE) we will create uniquely shaped images Our drawing will be cut into 4-6 separate drawings in a creative way.