Star
Author(s): Jean-Claude Lebensztejn and John Johnston
Source: October, Vol. 1 (Spring, 1976), pp. 86-103
Published by: MIT Press
Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/778509
Accessed: 18-10-2015 06:16 UTC
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Star
JEAN-CLAUDE LEBENSZTEJN
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Frank Stella. Black Adder.1965. Metallic powder in polymer
emulsion on canvas. 77 by 178 inches.(Coll: Mrs. Leo Castelli.)
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88 OCTOBER
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Star 89
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90 OCTOBER
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Star 91
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sometimesreproducedreversed,as an Dilemma, in which twospiral
of theotherof ..23 Jasper'sis
squares-one values, hues-coexist, reproducedwiththegrisaille
sometimeson the right,sometimeson the left.24 The directionof its hanging is
unimportant;these pictures functionas well either way. Or rather,it's this
indifferenceto hanging that matters,for with it something disappears: the
irremoveable,intangible characterof the work of art, whose signature has
guaranteedits directionor sense (in the full meaning of thatword) and unity.
There are otherrules which emphasizethedeconstructive aspectsof Stella's
work.One is theformof thethinwhitelineswhich,in all ofStella's workto date,
separate and connect the colored unities. These lines are never painted. Stella
insistedon thispoint in a letteraddressedto an Americanweeklyin whichtheart
criticseemed not to have noticed the gaps: "Those who battlefortheclaims of
'taste'should remindthemselvesoccasionallythattheartsare based upon concrete
data." 25
Anotherrule concernstherelationshipbetweentheworkand itsboundaries,
or what Michael Friedcalls "deductivestructure."
26Roughly,as Frieddefinesthis
relationship,pictorialconventionis deducedfromtheframingedge of thepicture
field. Differently
stated, the boundaries are no longer denied, as theyare in
Classical painting from the Renaissance to Ckzanne, but acknowledged as
determinants.Like Rosenblum, Rubin, who discusses the notion of deductive
23. Reproducedthus .J in Rubin, p. 66; thus L in Rosenblum,p. 23.
24. On the right:in Rubin, p. 77, and in theexhibitioncatalogue FrankStella, London, Hayward
Gallery,1970,n. 17. On the left:in Rosenblum,p. 30, and in theAmericanPavilion catalogueof the
Venice Biennale, 1964(not paginated,towardstheend.)
25. Stella, letterto Newsweek,Feb. 1st.,1961,citedin Rubin, pp. 16-18.This letter,Rubin says,was
actuallywrittenby Hollis Frampton,thewell-knownfilm-maker. It was not published.
26. Michael Fried,prefaceto the exhibitioncatalogue ThreeAmericanPainters:KennethNoland,
JulesOlitski,FrankStella, Cambridge,Mass., Fogg ArtMuseum, 1965.
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Frank Stella. Tetuan 3. 1964. Fluorescentalkyd on canvas.
77 by 77 inches. (Coll: Mr. and Mrs. Dennis Hopper.)
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94 OCTOBER
with hollowed out centers,painted in metallic violet: "I was looking fora very
vulgar color." 29
Or again: his workevokestheactual connectionbetween'theartof painting'
to the professionof housepainting.Stella uses its tools, medium,gestures:large
brushes,paint froma can applied withouttheeffects ofa personaltouch,absenceof
positivedesign,movementof thearm ratherthan thehand.
Stella worked as a housepainter, and consciously links the referenceto
housepainting-by which artis vulgarized-with theconcerntoexpel illusionistic
space fromthepictorialfield.The latteris themeans to theformer."The solutionI
arrivedat ... forcesillusionisticspace out ofthepaintingat a constantratebyusing
a regulatedpattern.The remainingproblemwas simplyto finda methodofpaint
application which followedand complementedthedesignsolution.This was done
by using the housepainter's technique and tools."30 For thereis a relationship
betweenillusionisticspace, whichcancels itsmateriality, and theprivilegedstatus
of painting,which establishesitselfas a high artonlyon conditionthatit effaceits
materialconstituents. And itcan attainthetitleofart,in theparticularmeaningour
culturegives to this word,only if it respectsthe dividing line which setsit apart
fromeverything else while whollyeffacingtheevidenceof thisseparation.Repres-
entation, illusionisticspace, an unacknowledgedreverenceforthe frame,and the
valorizationof art,conspire to build the classic systemof westernpainting. And
'avant-garde'attemptsto challenge these termssingly are doomed to succumb
eventuallyto thereturnof others,which takeovera systemonly slightlyrevised.
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Star 95
31. Jacques Derrida,"Positions," Promesse,No. 30-31 (1971),23: "In a linearfashion,as you recall,
in a straightor circularline."
32. Stella, televisedinterviewin 1966,cited in Rubin, p. 10.
33. Rubin, p. 10.
34. Rubin, p. 9.
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FrankStella. Bam. 1966. Fluorescentalkydon canvas.
90 by148 inches.(Coll: Kasmin Gallery,London.)
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Star 97
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98 OCTOBER
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Star 99
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100 OCTOBER
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Star 101
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102 OCTOBER
-Paris, 1972.
(The illustrationsfor this essay,which has been slightly
abridged,are editoriallyselected.A subsequent issue
of OCTOBER will presenta discussion of Stella's work
since 1969 byJeremyGilbert-Rolfe.)
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FrankStella. Haran I. 1968.Fluorescentacrylicon
canvas. 120 by240 inches.(Coll: Mr. William Ehrlich.)
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