Just 'round the corner from OCNY on Grand Street in Soho is Team Gallery, where these days, your attention might just face a dilemma. Where do you rest your eyes when so many competing colors pop, and might as well be jumping off of their canvases? This is the effect of artist Stanley Whitney's work. Zeroing in on his punchy blocks, you'll discover that there's a textural magic to Whitney's work. Those patches that look like 2-D Silly String? We're all about that. He's kind of a legend, and we're kind of (read: majorly!) pumped that the taciturn painting master granted OC Blog contributor Ben Barron a little interview. Check it out!
Benjamin Barron: What has remained constant in your work since the seventies?
Stanley Whitney: Painting. But seriously, working on getting color in the right space.
How did you find yourself moving from your earlier charcoal drawings and prints to color-based paintings?
The drawings started after graduate school in about 1975. By the 1990s, the drawings became critical to the paintings and really started to inform them. The reason the drawings are black and white is because I wanted to work on the bare bones of the space. I always had the color but I needed to figure out how to get color in the right scale and space, so the color didn't just stay decorative.
What was the best part about living in Rome, and where are you based now?
I'm based in New York City, downtown Manhattan, where I've been since the late 60s, and Solignano, which is a small town just outside of Parma, Italy, for about the last 10 years. The best part about living in Rome was Rome––living in a city that is both ancient and modern at the same time.
How is your work affected by the different places you've lived?
Rome probably had the biggest effect on my work because of the ancient architecture. And the thing about Rome is it's just beautiful: the people, the art, the food, the architecture, the trees, the landscape, the weather... New York is so full of energy and the diversity of people is incredible. It's a tough, international city, which keeps the work at a cutting edge. New York is contemporary, it's always about the now. But because I've lived in New York for so long, now I can paint anywhere.
What connotations do certain colors hold for you?
None.
Much of your recent work is painted on square canvas. Why?
The square is very classical. It also allows for me to make the paintings more dense––it's really about density. It's also more of a challenge to make the paintings flow in a square, to get a good rhythm. The rectangle is easy, it's like a landscape.
If you had to settle in one place forever, where would it be?
The way the world is, I don't want to do that.
How does sound relate to your work?
It's color as sound. Music is Afro-American culture, so music was always there. It's a major part of me and has always been big in my family and my life from early on.
Through May 12th, 2013 | Images courtesy of the artist and Team Gallery, New York.
TEAM GALLERY
83 Grand Street
New York, NY 10013
MAP
Benjamin Barron: What has remained constant in your work since the seventies?
Stanley Whitney: Painting. But seriously, working on getting color in the right space.
How did you find yourself moving from your earlier charcoal drawings and prints to color-based paintings?
The drawings started after graduate school in about 1975. By the 1990s, the drawings became critical to the paintings and really started to inform them. The reason the drawings are black and white is because I wanted to work on the bare bones of the space. I always had the color but I needed to figure out how to get color in the right scale and space, so the color didn't just stay decorative.
What was the best part about living in Rome, and where are you based now?
I'm based in New York City, downtown Manhattan, where I've been since the late 60s, and Solignano, which is a small town just outside of Parma, Italy, for about the last 10 years. The best part about living in Rome was Rome––living in a city that is both ancient and modern at the same time.
How is your work affected by the different places you've lived?
Rome probably had the biggest effect on my work because of the ancient architecture. And the thing about Rome is it's just beautiful: the people, the art, the food, the architecture, the trees, the landscape, the weather... New York is so full of energy and the diversity of people is incredible. It's a tough, international city, which keeps the work at a cutting edge. New York is contemporary, it's always about the now. But because I've lived in New York for so long, now I can paint anywhere.
What connotations do certain colors hold for you?
None.
Much of your recent work is painted on square canvas. Why?
The square is very classical. It also allows for me to make the paintings more dense––it's really about density. It's also more of a challenge to make the paintings flow in a square, to get a good rhythm. The rectangle is easy, it's like a landscape.
If you had to settle in one place forever, where would it be?
The way the world is, I don't want to do that.
How does sound relate to your work?
It's color as sound. Music is Afro-American culture, so music was always there. It's a major part of me and has always been big in my family and my life from early on.
Through May 12th, 2013 | Images courtesy of the artist and Team Gallery, New York.
TEAM GALLERY
83 Grand Street
New York, NY 10013
MAP