Analysis Of Frank Stella's Flin Flon VIII

The painting I chose was Frank Stella’s “Flin Flon VIII”. It is an acrylic piece on canvas characterized by a mixture of curving and straight lines that interlock, vibrant colors, and an emphasis on the circle in the middle of the canvas. A huge quantity of negative space is present in the painting and the painting emits a smooth texture. The painting is one hundred and eight inches squared, making it one of the largest paintings in the San Diego Art Museum. Its size projects itself on the viewer overwhelming them with its color and size. I was drawn to this painting due to its simplistic design and vibrant colors that forces the viewer to keep looking. The painting attracted my attention and every time I looked at it, I felt as if I found something new about it every time. As I continued to examine the painting its complexity continued to grow with every minute that I looked at it. Also, the size of the painting was large compared to the others in the gallery immediately making me feel that the painting had more significance and prestige than the others around it. The combination of the designs, the color and the size, overall made this painting an obvious choice for my research paper. …show more content…
Starting in 1959 Frank Stella started out in Abstract Expressionism focusing of the formal elements of art. His efforts eventually shifted to more vibrant and complicated painting like the painting I chose “Flin Flon VIII”. His efforts in American Modernism helped develop Minimalism, Painterly Abstraction and Color Field Painting. Though he would never truly identify as a minimalist he was rewarded for his work in 2009 with the National Medal of Arts by Barrack Obama. Frank Stella continues to work as an artist and sculpture in New York City at the age of