Double Scramble
Artist:
Frank Stella
(American, born 1936)
Date: 1968
Place made:United States
Medium: Fluorescent alkyd on canvas
Dimensions:
69 x 138 in. (175.3 x 350.5 cm)
Credit Line: San Antonio Museum of Art, purchased with funds provided by the National Endowment for the Arts and The Brown Foundation
Object number: 76.27
Copyright: © Frank Stella / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York
Label Text
Rendered in alternating progressions of fluorescent hues are two symmetrical sets of concentric squares. In contrast to the loose, gestural brushstrokes of Abstract Expressionism—a common approach to painting during the mid-twentieth century—Frank Stella began to produce geometric compositions like this, employing everyday commercial paint. In order to eliminate personal expression, Stella reduced the image to simple forms in a repeated systematic arrangement. The immense scale and intense palette of Double Scramble engulfs and mesmerizes the viewer as the nested forms appear to simultaneously project and recede. (Lana Meador, 2020)
Beyond the shock of Day-Glo colors in this painting are two concentric squares, groupings of flat, progressively smaller squares of different colors. Look long enough and the two sections will seem to fluctuate between being concave and convex, the result of Stella having reversed the order of the colors in each of the two groupings. Stella was one of the first artists to explore the potential of everyday commercial paints, which were attractive because they were inexpensive and produced unusual results. He began experimenting with alkyd house paints in 1961 and made his first paintings using fluorescent alkyd in 1964. (Anna Stothart, 2016)
Beyond the shock of Day-Glo colors in this painting are two concentric squares, groupings of flat, progressively smaller squares of different colors. Look long enough and the two sections will seem to fluctuate between being concave and convex, the result of Stella having reversed the order of the colors in each of the two groupings. Stella was one of the first artists to explore the potential of everyday commercial paints, which were attractive because they were inexpensive and produced unusual results. He began experimenting with alkyd house paints in 1961 and made his first paintings using fluorescent alkyd in 1964. (Anna Stothart, 2016)
On view
In Collection(s)
The San Antonio Museum of Art is in the process of digitizing its permanent collection. This electronic record was created from historic documentation that does not necessarily reflect SAMA's complete or current knowledge about the object. Review and updating of such records is ongoing.
This resource has been made possible in part by the National Endowment for the Humanities: Exploring the Human Endeavor.
