Stanley Whitney (B. 1946), Untitled

Untitled
2018

signed and dated 2018 on the reverse; inscribed and dated 20-2018-SMP on the reverse stretcher
oil on linen

30.5 x 30.5 cm (12 x 12 in)

Provenance
Lisson Gallery, New York
Acquired from the above by the present owner

斯坦利．惠特尼
無題
油彩亞麻布
2018年作

簽名: Stanley Whitney 2018（背面）20-2018-SMP（背面畫框）

來源
紐約里森畫廊
現藏家得自上述來源

"The color makes the structure. I wanted a system that allowed me to lay color down when I felt like it—I wanted nothing to get in my way. When I start these paintings, I have no idea what it's going to be. I don't start with a sketch or an idea. I start by laying as much color down as I possibly can. Once I've laid it all out and see what I have, then I start to mentally engage and figure out what I think is working and what I don't."
—Stanley Whitney

An exuberant field of chromatic radiance, Untitled (2018) illustrates Stanley Whitney's mastery of color through his study of space, which sits at the core of the artist's oeuvre. Lemon yellow, ultramarine, various shades of red, orange, coral, and an occasional green, it nearly seems like Whitney was just greedily trying to get as many colors into the painting as he could. As a result, the viewers can hardly settle their eyes at any spot, but instead, they are led through the whole surface, as the painting dances around them.

Whitney's work can be seen as a sensational score of colors conducted in the viewer's eye. Beginning at the top left corner of the canvas, the artist applies his colored blocks in rows, running from left to right, until he reaches the bottom right corner. Each one of the blocks lays the foundation and gives rise to the next rhythmic syncopation of color. In terms of his painting process, Whitney is a firm believer in contingencies and improvisations, just like the way he embraces musical elements in his work through rhythms, harmonies, and counterpoints.

Whitney moved to New York at the age of 22 and quickly aligned himself with the Color Field paintings. However, for him, being a black abstract painter in the mid-1960s was extremely challenging due to the conservative stereotype at the time. For decades, Whitney was working under the public's limelight, overshadowed by his peers. Having received his first New York City solo museum exhibition at the Studio Museum in 2015, the 75-year-old artist has just started to receive the critical acclaim he deserves in recent years. A major survey of Whitney's work is planned for 2023 at the Albright-Knox's Buffalo AKG Art Museum in Buffalo, New York.

Devoting his whole career to the Color Field practice, Stanley Whitney not only receives immediate inspirations from his peers, but also develops his own unique style that is as colorful as a Mark Rothko, yet less macho than a Jackson Pollock. "I wanted color like Rothko, but I wanted air like Pollock," as the artist states himself, "I didn't realize that the space was in the color." (Stanley Whitney, quoted in Aruna d'Souza, 'The Color Makes the Structure: Stanley Whitney Paints a Picture,' ARTnews, 30 March 2017) As shown in Untitled, the color was no longer a two-dimensional device to serve the canvas – it becomes a breathing surface, of layers of artistic gestures. Sophisticated yet at a household size, the present lot is truly a platinum work by Stanley Whitney that cannot be missed.

「色彩決定結構。我想創造出一個系統，在裡面隨心所欲塗上色彩，無罣無礙。我在開始下筆的時候，完全沒想過最終的作品會是甚麼樣貌。我不打草稿也沒有預設的想法，只是盡所能地塗上不同的顏色。等顏色鋪滿畫布，我才會進一步思索，哪些地方做得好，哪些地方要調整。」
——斯坦利・惠特尼

通過空間研究進而發展出高超的色彩掌握力，這是斯坦利・惠特尼（Stanley Whitney）的藝術核心。《無題》（2018 年作）的色域繽紛亮麗，藝術家的功力在此展露無遺。檸檬黃、群青，深淺不一的紅、橙、珊瑚色，以及驚鴻一瞥的綠，好似惠特尼一心貪婪地在畫面中融入越多顏色越好，以致最後觀者目光難以停留在任何一處，而是被引導橫掃整個表面，任畫作繞著他們舞蹈。

對於惠特尼的創作，不妨將之視為在觀眾目光中演出的一齣色彩樂曲。藝術家從畫布左上角出發，一行行地由左至右塗色，直到抵達畫布右下角方為結束。每個色塊都為作品奠下基礎，並召喚出下一個饒富節奏的色彩切分。在繪畫的過程中，惠特尼是偶發和即興創作的信徒，他通過節奏、和聲和對位，在作品中融入音樂元素的手法，最能體現此一信仰。

惠特尼二十二歲移居紐約，隨即加入色域繪畫的行列。然而在一九六〇年代中期社會風氣普遍保守，非裔抽象畫家的處境尤為艱難。數十年來，他只能站在公眾焦點的陰影之下，鋒芒被同儕掩蓋。直至二〇一五年獲邀於工作室博物館（Studio Museum）舉辦紐約首次個展，如今七十五歲的他才在近年內獲得應有的關注。紐約州水牛城（Buffalo）的奧爾布賴特—諾克斯布法羅 AKG 藝術博物館（Buffalo AKG Art Museum），此刻正為他籌備二〇二三年的大型回顧展。

斯坦利・惠特尼畢生致力於實踐色彩繪畫，不僅直接自同儕汲取靈感，更開展出有如羅斯科（Mark Rothko）一般豐富多彩，又有別於波洛克（Jackson Pollock）陽剛風格的個人特色。 「我想做到像羅斯科一樣的顏色，但企及波洛克的氣質」，正如藝術家所說：「我沒有意識到，原來空間就在顏色之間。」 （引述自：艾魯那・蘇薩〔Aruna d'Souza〕，〈顏色決定結構：斯坦利・惠特尼的繪畫〉〔The Color Makes the Structure: Stanley Whitney Paints a Picture〕，《藝術新聞》〔ARTnews〕，2017 年 3 月 30 日刊載）。如《無題》所揭示，顏色不再是為畫布服務的二維工具——顏色變成了一個會呼吸的表面，是藝術層層疊疊的千姿百態。《無題》精湛絕倫同時尺寸適合家庭，為惠特尼不容錯過的登峰造極之作。