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The Arts Intel Report

A Cultural Compass
For the World Traveler
A Cultural Compass
For the World Traveler

Frank Stella: What You See

June 1 – Sept 27, 2020
120 W Gasparilla Plaza, Tampa, FL 33602, United States

In an interview in 1964, when asked about his art, Frank Stella famously replied, “What you see is what you see.” Absolute abstraction was his mission—a painting was a painting; he was depicting nothing figurative. This exhibition looks at early work from the 1960s, and onward to the 1990s. Also on view is “Frank Stella: Illustrations after El Lissitzky’s Had Gadya,” a series of prints inspired by Lissitzky’s modernist but still figurative illustrations (circa 1917–19) for the traditional Passover song. Stella’s response to Lissitzky is, of course, abstract. —E.C.