Frank Stella has been recognized for his artistic innovations since the age of 25, when he cast aside the concept of creating illusionistic space in his canvases in favor of privileging flat surfaces. Perhaps best known for his experimentation with shaped canvases, Stella's colorful works frequently feature geometric designs and colorful patterns.

Though initially focused on painting and printmaking, in the late 1960s, Stella teamed up with the choreographer Merce Cunningham to design the set and costumes for the modern dance piece Scramble. Around this time he also began to incorporate three-dimensional elements into his otherwise flat works; first by introducing relief and eventually transgressing into wall-hung and freestanding sculpture by the mid-1990s.

Stella's work has been included in several important exhibitions that defined 1960s art, among them the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum’s The Shaped Canvas (1964-65) and Systemic Painting (1966). His work has also been the subject of several retrospectives in museums and galleries across the United States, Europe, and Japan. The artist continues to live and work in New York.