April Issue 2001
Frank Stella Exhibition to Open at Gibbes Museum of Art in Charleston, SC
Frank Stella, extraordinary
artist and world-acclaimed printmaker, is coming to Charleston,
SC. The Gibbes Museum of Art and Spoleto Festival USA will partner
to present a one-person exhibition by Frank Stella for the 2001
Festival, FRANK STELLA/Imaginary Landscapes. The exhibition
opens Apr. 3 and continues through July 29.
Stella (b. 1936) is recognized for his spiraling, swirling prints as one of the most important contemporary artists of the 20th century. A 1958 graduate of Princeton University, Stella's work was exhibited at the Museum of Modern Art as early as 1959 - just before his twenty-fifth birthday. Today, influenced by such artists as Gorky, de Kooning and Pollock, his work has developed into sophisticated prints unlike any other works thus far. A complex combination of such media as lithography, etching, engraving, aquatint, screenprinting, mezzotint, relief (molded images), collagraph, woodcut and hot foil stamping, his abstract pieces are full of color and activity, and are large in size.
This Gibbes exhibition will examine Stella's innovative approaches in several of the series produced by the artist with Tyler Graphics in the last several decades. The works convey the chaotic state of the world in which we live, and the effects of that state on man. Stella explains that "It's not the stripes.. .but the way the forms are knotted.. very, very tight... overwound... looking for the ideal connection in a chaotic situation. Looking for the perfect fit in the place where theoretically there is no perfect fit... It's the search. It's the method."
The works comprising
the exhibition are from the collections of the artist himself,
the Walker Art Center, and Preston Haskell of Jacksonville, FL.
Sidney Guberman of Atlanta,
an abstract artist and college friend of Stella's, has organize
the exhibition as its Guest Curator. FRANK STELLA/Imaginary
Landscapes will feature approximately 40 works, primarily
prints but some three-dimensional pieces will be included as well.
The exhibition will be installed in the rear exhibition galleries
at the Gibbes and will be accompanied by a fully illustrated catalogue
with essays by Guberman and Stella.
"The works in this exhibition are marvelous examples of Frank Stella's genius in printmaking," exclaimed Guberman in a phone interview. "The colors.., the lines.., the intricate composition of each piece encompasses the viewers and takes them on journeys into rich landscapes with provocative associations."
For further information check our SC Institutional Gallery listings or call the museum at 843/722-2706 or visit the museum's website at (http://www.gibbes.com).
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