The Shapes of Frank Stella

As an art history teacher, I believe it is important to have a solid understanding of the art vocabulary. Not only will art history lectures and text books finally become clear (I hope), but you are better able to articulate what's in your head.

My word for the week is SHAPE or an enclosed area. We have such a variety of shapes to choose from such as: rectangles, circles, squares, triangles, geometric vs. organic, etc. These enclosed areas are often secondary, maybe in the background, and are rarely the focal point of an artwork. 

Today, I'm highlighting an artist who focuses on shape and shape alone. Not only are shapes the most important aspect of his paintings, they are the painting. Who other than Frank Stella. The man who literally thought outside the box, or in this case the canvas. Tradition is comforting, it is familiar, however, it is not the only way. Rectangular canvases...or is there something more? Stella is most known for his unusually shaped canvases. Here we are presented with a triangular shaped canvas, featuring 3 colors: yellow, pink and tan. The pink triangle is overlapped with a bright yellow square with a line extending to the left. 

Frank Stella, Union 1, 1966. Paint on canvas. 

The tan acts as a border framing the pink and yellow shapes. A great example of an overall composition, the background, middle ground and foreground become one. Our subject matter consists of shapes and colors nothing more and nothing less. Stella has been labeled as a Minimalist. A style that used industrial materials, neutral color schemes, focused on form, precision and strove to communicate ideas in a new fashion. 

To be honest, this is not my favorite type of art. Most Minimalist artworks seem very cold and formal to me. I dislike the bland colors and feel the simple compositions are not challenging or very enjoyable to look at. That is until I encountered the work of this artist. Who knew simplicity could be beautiful? There is no confusion here, as Stella said, "What you see is what you get." How perfect. He is direct and to the point. 

Look, see, and understand. Art is not always complicated. Simple yes, refreshing defiantly. Stella proves there are still uncharted frontiers in the art world. Manipulating the platform in which the art is presented, he made the canvas apart of the composition instead of merely being a support or backdrop. This treatment has finally brought shape into the limelight. Although this is a standard rectangle, the painting below also glorifies shape and uses color to help distinguish each curve and circle. A solid background pushes our arrangement of intersecting shapes forward. The clean lines makes this feel finished and neat. The surface treatment, and the attention to detail makes Stella a Minimalist. His treatment of boundaries and experimentation in color make him a Modernist. 

Frank Stella, Lac Laronge IV, 1969. Acrylic on canvas.

At first glance these paintings might seem unextraordinary.  Challenge yourself to look closer and to interpret what this new idea could mean. Is Stella challenging the status quo? Is this a statement? Or maybe it is purely for aesthetic purposes? Debate the significance of tradition. What are the pros and cons? Should there be more or less experimentation in the art world? Such questions keep the debate alive, forever adding to the canon of art history. Again, "What you see is what you see," And what is it that you see?

                                                                                                                                     
                                                                                                                                              ~Samantha