Frank Stella's 2014 Sculptures Explore Digital Manufacturing and Geometric Tension

Frank Stella's 2014 sculptures Puffed Star II and K.150 demonstrate his engagement with digital fabrication technologies. Puffed Star II is a massive, 20-pointed star measuring nearly six meters in both height and width, crafted from polished aluminum with visible imperfections like chipped tips. This work contrasts sharply with Fishkill (1995), an irregular stainless steel piece resembling a car wreck that shows Stella's early adoption of digital modeling. K.150, a tabletop sculpture made from digitally printed ABS thermoplastic, features intersecting star forms in Irish green and cyan, sliced and merged with circular springs, supported by a polka-dotted plane that references relief sculpture. These new works are juxtaposed with earlier pieces like Creutzwald (1992), creating deliberate curatorial pairings that highlight Stella's evolving approach. The sculptures reflect a shift from the heavy metal obdurateness of historical works toward the formal promiscuity of 3D printing and digital manufacturing technologies like MakerBot. Stella's exploration anticipates a plastic future where shape dominates over substance, continuing his decades-long confrontation with formal coherence and relief. The article analyzing these works was originally published in the January & February 2015 issue of ArtReview.