Introduction by Cybele Maylone. Text by Richard Klein, Amy Smith-Stewart.
Stars as minimalist and maximalist motif in the art of Frank Stella, from his earliest paintings to his most recent sculptures
As a painter, sculptor and printmaker, Frank Stella (born 1936) has always paid great attention to geometric lines and patterns in his work, creating pieces that are arrestingly kaleidoscopic in both their form and content with bold lines and shaped canvases. This catalog, published for his 2020 exhibition at the Aldrich Contemporary Art Museum in Ridgefield, Connecticut, focuses in particular on the enduring use of star shapes in Stella’s oeuvre.
Stella’s depictions of stars range from the minimalism of his early career, with lithograph prints of brightly colored polygonal patterns, to the maximalism of his more recent work seen in his towering angular sculptures made from stainless steel. Although he is well aware that his last name is the Latin word for star, Stella maintains that his fixation on the shape is inspired by its form and the endless possibilities that accompany the star, rather than its etymology. Both instantly recognizable and infinitely abstract, stars seem like an obvious choice for an artist who has dedicated his life to experimenting with form.
In addition to a plates section of the 60 pieces included in the Aldrich show, this book presents installation shots throughout the museum’s interiors and outdoor gardens, and photographs of the artist’s studio. The curators of the exhibition, Richard Klein and Amy Smith-Stewart, worked closely with Stella on the exhibition installation and contribute major essays that add new dimensions to our understanding of a widely celebrated and influential artist.
Featured image is reproduced from ‘Frank Stella's Stars: A Survey'.
PRAISE AND REVIEWS
New York Times
Jason Farago
Frank Stella’s Stars is a testimony to an artist, now 84, in perpetual evolution. Its focus on the star motif ends up reaffirming the restlessness of this painter’s progress and his underappreciated engagement with new technologies of design, fabrication and display.
CBS: News
Sara Kugel
Frank Stella’s name means star in Italian, and for decades that was the problem, the reason he stopped making them... But then, computer design technology came along, and 3-D printing. Suddenly the star had possibilities.
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Featured spreads are from Frank Stella’s Stars: A Survey, published to accompany the artist’s current survey of works based on star shapes—from early drawings and lithographs, to paintings of the 1960s, to recent sculptures, wall reliefs and painted objects—at the Aldrich Contemporary Art Museum in Ridgefield, Connecticut. Gorgeously produced, with tipped-on front and back cover images, thick matte paper and superb reproductions—including exhibition photographs—this compact, action-packed volume is a must-have for any serious contemporary art library. “The star is characterized in this survey as a breakthrough element,” curator Amy Smith-Stewart writes. “From a simple, planar shape to an ornamented, spatial object, its manifestation reveals stylistic continuity amid decisive variation. Stella’s stars personify a built abstraction that is insistently hyperkinetic, unremittingly on the move.” continue to blog
FORMAT: Hbk, 6.75 x 9.5 in. / 200 pgs / 95 color. LIST PRICE: U.S. $50.00 LIST PRICE: CANADA $70 GBP £44.00 ISBN: 9781941366295 PUBLISHER: Gregory R. Miller & Co./ALDRICH CONTEMPORARY ART MUSEUM AVAILABLE: 4/13/2021 DISTRIBUTION: D.A.P. RETAILER DISC: TRADE PUBLISHING STATUS: Active AVAILABILITY: In stock TERRITORY: WORLD
Published by Gregory R. Miller & Co./ALDRICH CONTEMPORARY ART MUSEUM. Introduction by Cybele Maylone. Text by Richard Klein, Amy Smith-Stewart.
Stars as minimalist and maximalist motif in the art of Frank Stella, from his earliest paintings to his most recent sculptures
As a painter, sculptor and printmaker, Frank Stella (born 1936) has always paid great attention to geometric lines and patterns in his work, creating pieces that are arrestingly kaleidoscopic in both their form and content with bold lines and shaped canvases. This catalog, published for his 2020 exhibition at the Aldrich Contemporary Art Museum in Ridgefield, Connecticut, focuses in particular on the enduring use of star shapes in Stella’s oeuvre.
Stella’s depictions of stars range from the minimalism of his early career, with lithograph prints of brightly colored polygonal patterns, to the maximalism of his more recent work seen in his towering angular sculptures made from stainless steel. Although he is well aware that his last name is the Latin word for star, Stella maintains that his fixation on the shape is inspired by its form and the endless possibilities that accompany the star, rather than its etymology. Both instantly recognizable and infinitely abstract, stars seem like an obvious choice for an artist who has dedicated his life to experimenting with form.
In addition to a plates section of the 60 pieces included in the Aldrich show, this book presents installation shots throughout the museum’s interiors and outdoor gardens, and photographs of the artist’s studio. The curators of the exhibition, Richard Klein and Amy Smith-Stewart, worked closely with Stella on the exhibition installation and contribute major essays that add new dimensions to our understanding of a widely celebrated and influential artist.
