Frank Stella (b. 1936)

‘Representing Stella’s second important work phase after the “black paintings” of the 1960s, these paintings [D.Scramble: Ascending Green Values/Ascending Spectrum and 6.Scramble: Ascending Yellow Values/Descending Spectrum] demonstrate his exploration of optical illusion. The precisely calibrated colour squares produce a three-dimensional visual impact that contains a reference Josef Albers’ “Homage to the Square” series… Stella’s work represented a painter’s attack on the introspective motifs of Abstract Expressionism and the resultant transcendence. To him, a thing can only exist if the eye can see it’ (B. Steffen, ‘Visions of America’ in Visions of America, exh. cat., Essl Museum, Klosterneuburg, 2004, pp. 40-41).