The Frank Stella show at the Whitney Museum of American Art has a very loyal and consistent visitor. Above all, he is one of the most exclusive visitors to the show. The visitor is no one but Frank Stella himself. At the age of 79, the painter still remains highly active and stops by the galleries twice or thrice a week. He greets his fans, poses with them for pictures, sometimes corrects their assumptions regarding his work and there are times when he observes strangers under the brim of his orange baseball cap.
A Frequent and a Humble Visitor
People praise his generosity and have all the good things to say about him. Joan Enger, a regular visitor to the museum says, “There was nothing about him that screamed, ‘I’m the artist of these magnificent pieces.’ He was kind of just shuffling around.” Joan Enger is an interior designer and has humbly confessed to the artist that his work inspires her. Frank just humbly nodded his head and moved ahead.
The painter is quite interactive when he is in a mood to discuss and drops some witty comments here and there while he is talking about his work to spectators. Last month, a group of 8th graders from the private Rippowam Cisqua School visited from Bedford, N.Y. They were being told about the greatness of these paintings and were being guided by a well-meaning museum guide. While he was showing the kids, the 1992 print, “The Fountain”, he asked the students the logic behind that piece. Frank broke in between and said, “Oh there’s no logic there at all” and walked away. The speaker was amused and later told the group that the man was the artist himself. A gallery guard says that Mr. Stella loves impromptu reactions and interactions. He stands close enough to the visitors to overhear the conversations and pops in randomly to explain his work.
Though Frank Stella refuses to agree and says that he is not an eavesdropper. He explains further, “My hearing is not so great, so I don’t hear too much unless they’re really yelling. Some people move through, some people double back and a lot of people like to sit on the couches and look at their cellphones”. But what left him pleasantly surprised is the way visitors scrutinized the art. He felt glad how some people found the art physically attractive and the way people approached to it and looked closely.
Frank Stella is Attached to the Exhibit
Frank was a major part of installation and curation of exhibit. It was organized by Michael Auping chief curator at the Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth in Texas, in collaboration with Whitney director Adam Weinberg. There were a lot of discussions, particularly about the amount of empty space in the galleries. He had a pact with the curators to resolve the matter. “You know, it’s simple—the curators don’t change their line very much. They always worried that there’s not enough room. I don’t know, room for what? breathing room? I was going to buy them a couple cans of oxygen; they were having such hard time breathing. In the end it was decided that I’ll do it my way and after the show opens, after a few days when my friends see it, then you can change it any way you want”, said Frank in a candid chat.
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