About The Work
Stella began printmaking in 1967 - and it immediately became an essential part of his practice. This work is from the "Polar Co-ordinates for Ronnie Peterson" print series from 1980. The title references graph paper and the name of a friend, a Swedish auto racer who tragically died during the Grand Prix in Monza in 1978 - the year Stella began crafting this print series. Stella previously referenced auto racing through his minimally circuitous "Race Track" paintings in the early '70s. (Throughout his life, Stella has been a fan of fast cars. In 1984 he was arrested in his silver Ferrari for speeding)
"Polar Co-ordinates" are derived from Stella's famed "Saskatchewan Series" paintings completed between 1967-1970. This particular print has the signature shape of the Flin Flon paintings, which were a modification of his Protractor series. The composition is divided into four semi-circular arcs forming a geometric flower motif, reminiscent of a four leaf clover. Stella breathes color and movement into the traditional diagrams of polar co-ordinates graph paper, using the grind pattern to swirl around and net this floral form.
The Saskatchewan paintings contained flat-painted, bold color-blocking, while the works in this portfolio showcase colors mixed together and scribbled over one another with colorful, swirling grid backgrounds. This is the result of numerous layers of lithography and screen-printing, and marks the first time for Stella where his prints become new works, free of their original source material, even in name.
The multi-step process used to create these prints brings together varying density of colors, different shapes, calligraphic scribbles, and the polar grid leading to a disintegration of form. This disintegration marks the series as an essential part of his oeuvre where elements from his past works, which relied on creating form with color-blocking, are juxtaposed with the unravelling of form and color. Stella's works over the succeeding decade shift from minimalist, hard-edged geometric abstraction to riotous baroque works exploding beyond the canvas. One could say that these prints are the bridge between Stella's minimalist/geometric phase of his career and the hyper-colorful baroque "later work".
Courtesy of Caviar20
About Frank Stella
From The Magazine
- Interviews & Features: Minimalist masterpieces without a maximalist price tag
- Interviews & Features: INTERVIEW: Frank Stella on Creating Contact Points in Space and on Surfaces
- Interviews & Features: Q&A: Frank Stella on Why (and How) His Pieces Since the '90s Are Anything But Minimalist
- Art 101: The 10 Essays That Changed Art Criticism Forever
- Art 101: "Art Is Not About Skill": Benjamin Buchloh Interviews Lawrence Weiner On His Sensual Approach to Conceptual Art
Lithograph
38.00 x 38.50 in
96.5 x 97.8 cm
Signed, numbered and dated by the artist
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About The Work
Stella began printmaking in 1967 - and it immediately became an essential part of his practice. This work is from the "Polar Co-ordinates for Ronnie Peterson" print series from 1980. The title references graph paper and the name of a friend, a Swedish auto racer who tragically died during the Grand Prix in Monza in 1978 - the year Stella began crafting this print series. Stella previously referenced auto racing through his minimally circuitous "Race Track" paintings in the early '70s. (Throughout his life, Stella has been a fan of fast cars. In 1984 he was arrested in his silver Ferrari for speeding)
"Polar Co-ordinates" are derived from Stella's famed "Saskatchewan Series" paintings completed between 1967-1970. This particular print has the signature shape of the Flin Flon paintings, which were a modification of his Protractor series. The composition is divided into four semi-circular arcs forming a geometric flower motif, reminiscent of a four leaf clover. Stella breathes color and movement into the traditional diagrams of polar co-ordinates graph paper, using the grind pattern to swirl around and net this floral form.
The Saskatchewan paintings contained flat-painted, bold color-blocking, while the works in this portfolio showcase colors mixed together and scribbled over one another with colorful, swirling grid backgrounds. This is the result of numerous layers of lithography and screen-printing, and marks the first time for Stella where his prints become new works, free of their original source material, even in name.
The multi-step process used to create these prints brings together varying density of colors, different shapes, calligraphic scribbles, and the polar grid leading to a disintegration of form. This disintegration marks the series as an essential part of his oeuvre where elements from his past works, which relied on creating form with color-blocking, are juxtaposed with the unravelling of form and color. Stella's works over the succeeding decade shift from minimalist, hard-edged geometric abstraction to riotous baroque works exploding beyond the canvas. One could say that these prints are the bridge between Stella's minimalist/geometric phase of his career and the hyper-colorful baroque "later work".
Courtesy of Caviar20
About Frank Stella
From The Magazine
- Interviews & Features: Minimalist masterpieces without a maximalist price tag
- Interviews & Features: INTERVIEW: Frank Stella on Creating Contact Points in Space and on Surfaces
- Interviews & Features: Q&A: Frank Stella on Why (and How) His Pieces Since the '90s Are Anything But Minimalist
- Art 101: The 10 Essays That Changed Art Criticism Forever
- Art 101: "Art Is Not About Skill": Benjamin Buchloh Interviews Lawrence Weiner On His Sensual Approach to Conceptual Art
Published by Petersburg Press, New York
Framed with plexiglass
Very good condition
- This work is framed.
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