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Frank Stella at Tyler Graphics: Invention In Printmaking May 18-August 24, 1997 Frank Stella, who since the late 1950s has been a major force in American abstract painting, is also one of contemporary printmaking's greatest innovators. This Walker-organized exhibition explores Stella's long history of printmaking with Tyler Graphics, one of the world's preeminent workshops. It was master printer Kenneth Tyler who in 1967 convinced Stella to make his first prints, by filling a Magic Marker--the artist's preferred drawing implement--with lithography fluid. Since that initial introduction, Stella and Tyler have developed a close working relationship that continues to produce remarkable prints on the forefront of pictorial and technical invention in the graphic arts. One of the first contemporary artists whose prints have rivaled paintings in scale and bold use of color, Stella has experimented with virtually every graphic technique, often in surprising derivations and combinations. Drawn from the Tyler Graphics Archive, a key part of the Walker's permanent collection since 1984, the exhibition showcases Stella's major print projects made in collaboration with Tyler, beginning with the Eccentric Polygons series of 1974 and continuing through Imaginary Places (1994-1997), the artist's most recent prints. To elucidate Stella's unique printmaking process, the core of the exhibition presents a "case study" that traces the evolution of a single print from concept to final image through a range of material that includes proofs, a printing plate, a working collage, and other visual sources. Exploring the interconnections that exist among the many media in which Stella works, the exhibition also features one of Stella's recent, large-scale "partition paintings" and its accompanying studies that are composed of collaged print remnants from the Tyler workshop. A short film documenting Stella at work is also on view in the exhibition galleries. The exhibition is accompanied by a Walker-designed, full-color catalogue, available in the Walker Art Center Shops. Softcover: $19.95 ($14.95 Walker members). Following the exhibition's premiere at the Walker Art Center, it will be shown at the Addison Gallery of American Art, Andover, Massachusetts (September 18, 1998-January 1, 1999); the Jacksonville Museum of Contemporary Art (March 11-April 25, 1999); and the Art Museum of South Texas, Corpus Christi (September 5-November 29,1999). For further information about how to bring this exhibition to your museum, contact Howard Oransky, Assistant to the Director for Program Planning, (612) 375-7564. Frank Stella at Tyler Graphics was organized by the Walker Art Center, Minneapolis, in association with the Center for Contemporary Graphic Art and Tyler Graphics Archive Collection, Fukushima, Japan. Funding for this exhibition is provided by the Dai Nippon Printing Company, Ltd., and the Lila Wallace-Reader’s Digest Fund. This exhibition is part of the Walker Art Center's "New Definitions/New Audiences" initiative. This museum-wide project to engage visitors in a reexamination of 20th-century art is made possible by the Lila Wallace-Reader's Digest Fund. Curator: Siri Engberg |