Shoubeegi (Indian Bird) 1978

Indian and Exotic Bird Series 1978-1979

Date: January 29, 2015
Author: kwagner2@uoregon.edu
Category:
"Pachanak" 1979

“Pachanak” 1979

7.6 ft x 10 ft 1/8 inch x 3 ft

"Jungil Kowa" 1978

“Jungli Kowwa” 1978

7’2″ x 8’6″ x 38″

Featured Image: “Shoubeegi” 1978, 7 ft 10 in x 10 ft x 2 ft 8 1/2 in

Here we see in the late 70s Stella making the full on transition from paintings to sculpture, however he never called this series a sculpture and still referred to them as “paintings”. Many people have debated over the years whether these are paintings or sculptures. Stella claimed these works to be paintings which he called “maximalist” paintings for their sculpture like qualities. He states that the “assemblage of parts are what make it a painting.” In this series, he wanted to minimize the presence of a background, giving the feeling that forms jut out into the viewers space. This is a completely different approach from where Stella began in his “Black Paintings”, were he emphasized flatness and no illusion. Now you see him opening the eye beyond the canvas, continuing to work with bright colors and hard edges (also seen in his last two series), and transitioning away from Minimalism to Post-Painterly Abstraction. In this series he used honey-comb aluminum, a light weight material used in airplanes, and manipulated it with glass to create his structures. He would then paint over the metal or stain it to get the result he wanted. Stella began the series during his 1977 stay in Ahmedabad, naming the works after birds he saw in India.

 

Here Stella talks about the process of making “Shoubeegi”, including the materials used, the idea behind it and his take on painting vs. sculpture.