작품 상세

STELLA, FRANK 1936 Massachusetts "Wake Island Rail". 1976. Aluminium, partly polxchromed. 45,5 x 58,5 x 7 cm. Titled, signed and dated verso: WAKE ISLAND RAIL, F. Stella '76. Additionally again incised below: F. Stella 76. Provenance: Private collection Berlin, directly obtained from the artist. From 1970 onwards Frank Stella more and more conquers the tangible space. In various series he breaks open the picture surface and "discharges" the tension in his compositions by leaving the image area and developing three-dimensionality from two-dimensionality. Next to the Polish Village Series (1970-1973) and the Brazilian Series (1974/75), the Exotic Bird Series (1976-1980), the Indian Bird Series (1977-1979) as well as the Circuit Series (1980-1984) develop until the middle of the 1980s. The relief "Wake Island Rail" is named after the so-called "Wake-Ralle", a ground-breeding, flightless bird, extinct since 1944, that originally used to live on the coral island Wake Island in the Western Pacific Ocean. Whereas the former series' were dominated by geometrical forms, the Exotic Bird Series marks an important cut in the formation: complex circles and curves are added and culminate in a distinct curve linearity. Here it is important to notice that Stella is not drawing freehanded but in turn makes use of a vast repetoire of stencils from the boat- and rail network building. The reliefs are developed in consecutive work steps: first as a drawing on paper, then as a model from foam cardboard, which is then manufactured enlarged from aluminium plates with honeycomb structure and painted by the artist with fat chalk and brush.