top of page

Eccentric Polygons series: Tuftonboro

Frank Stella

Frank Stella's color lithographs explode with geometric exuberance, showcasing his transition from the austere black paintings of the 1950s to increasingly complex investigations of shape, pattern, and chromatic interplay that dominated his work from the 1970s onward. Working with master printers at Tyler Graphics and Gemini G.E.L., Stella pushed lithography's technical boundaries, layering multiple stones and screens to build intricate compositions where interlocking curves, protractor arcs, and rainbow-hued bands create spatial ambiguity— forms that seem to simultaneously advance, recede, and hover on the picture plane. These prints arrived at a crucial moment when Stella was challenging Minimalism's reductive logic, arguing instead for maximalist complexity and what he called "working space" where painting could compete with the sculptural and architectural. As Stella famously declared, "What you see is what you see," yet these lithographs complicate that straightforward proposition by offering optical puzzles where overlapping transparent colors generate new hues and where hard-edged geometry produces surprisingly organic rhythms. The prints invite you to trace how each carefully registered layer builds visual density, and to discover how Stella transformed printmaking from a reproductive medium into a site for exploring how abstract forms can generate energy, movement, and unexpected beauty through systematic variation and bold material choices.

bottom of page