Following artist Frank Stella’s passing this past May, Sarah K. Rich—associate professor of art history and director of the Center for Virtual/Material Studies at Pennsylvania State University—offers a reading of Stella’s 1966 painting Union III for Artforum’s “Interpretations” series. Here, Rich discusses the irreproducibility of artworks, Stella’s use of fluorescent paint and its cultural implications, and John Baldessari’s tongue-in-cheek homage to Stella. Rich’s essay on Stella can be read in the September 2024 issue of the magazine.
Stella’s “Irregular Polygons” series debuted at New York’s Leo Castelli Gallery in 1966. Union III, a work from this grouping, was selected to illustrate the cover of Artforum’s November 1966 issue. Stella would be featured on three more of the magazine’s covers up until 1970. “Frank Stella’s New Paintings,” a seminal essay by Michael Fried, was published in that November issue. Nearly sixty years later, the text continues to be a source of inspiration for critics, scholars, and artists everywhere.
