The color etchings that Stanley Whitney produced in 2017 are musical and improvisational with a spectrum of colors created in a grid that reinvigorate the mind and spirit. Each so unique and similar in design, the viewer is brought into themselves while encountering these works, the negative space allowing for contemplation of these semi-organic shapes, and how the space relates to the subject matter. Whitney uses varying line weights when placing his values, which allow the true ranges of color to burst forth from the page, the values of canary yellow not as noticeable as its counterparts but is still visually striking. The strength of the bold lines are hiding small gradations of value, however it is the small areas where the pigment has been lifted from the plate that become engaging, as they draw your attention directly to them.

Though there is no specific subject matter, the abstract artist states in New Waves: Contemporary Art and the Issues Shaping Its Tomorrow (September 2021, Skira Publishers), “I wasn’t interested in Pop art; I wanted something with depth. When I saw Mark Rothko and Morris Louis, I felt that I was home, that was just who I was. I just embraced that, stuck to it and believed in that.” Embracing the color field and simply learning to experiment over decades with the single compositional strategy of rendering grids with seemingly inexhaustible variations of color. Overall, this work offers a delicate balance of vibrant color and organic lines to create a composition filled with poetic poise.

Created in 2017, this color etching in hand signed and dated in pencil by Stanley Whitney (Philadelphia, 1964 - ) in the lower right margin. From the edition of 20 in the lower right.

Catalogue Raisonné & COA:
Stanley Whitney Untitled, 2017 is fully documented and referenced in the below catalogue raisonnés and texts (copies will be enclosed as added documentation with the invoices that will accompany the sale of the work).

1. A Certificate of Authenticity will accompany this artwork.

About the Framing:
Framed to museum-grade, conservation standards, Stanley Whitney Untitled, 2017 is presented in a complementary moulding and finished with silk-wrapped mats and optical grade Plexiglas.