inkPaper

Gemini G.E.L

1974

Eccentric Polygons

100

65

Image: A. 104. There were also 12 artist's proofs in series

Print number and runSignature

lower right below plate

65/100 F. Stella '74

PencilWritten

Chop

lower right below plate

[Gemini symbol]

Chop mark for Gemini G.E.L.

Risk Management list 2025.

Sheet

17-3/16 in

22-1/4 in

One of the few American painters of the late 1960s  concerned with regulated structure and color to make  successful prints, Stella's art contains elements of  minimal, hard-edge and op art. In discussing his  work Stella said: "l got tired of other people's paintings and  began to make my own. I found, however, that  I not only got tired of looking at my own  paintings but that l also didn't like painting  them at all. The painterly problem of what to  put here and there, and how to make it go with  what was already there, became more and  more difficult and the solutions more and more  unsatisfactory. Finally l had to face two  problems: one was spatial and the other  methodological . . . . The obvious answer was  symmetry -- make it the same all over….The  solution I arrived at -- and there are probably  others although l know of only one, color  density -- forces illusionistic space out of the  painting at a constant rate by using a  regulated pattern. The remaining problem  was simply to find a method of paint  application which followed and complemented  the design solution. This was done by using  the house painter's technique and tools. The present print, although reduced in scale, retains  the sensibility of his geometric abstract paintings.