[set both at 2 col]

Frank Stella, “The Ship (model),” 2005, brass, 5½ by 10 by 13 inches. Lent by the artist. —Steve Sloman photo, New York  ©2007.

From “Frank Stella on the Roof,” Frank Stella, “adjoeoman,” 2004, stainless steel and carbon fiber, 214 by 206 by 64 inches, weight 3,100 pounds. Lent by the artist. —Steve Sloman photo, New York  ©2007.

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MET MOUNTING TWO EXHIBITIONS OF RECENT WORK BY FRANK STELLA, 2 CUTS

#697696

SET 4/26 WD –EMAILED

NEW YORK CITY — The Metropolitan Museum of Art is presenting two concurrent exhibitions featuring recent work by the renowned American artist Frank Stella (b 1936). “Frank Stella: Painting into Architecture” is up through July 29 in the Lila Acheson Wallace Wing. “Frank Stella on the Roof,” on view through October 28 (weather permitting), is displayed on the Iris and B. Gerald Cantor Roof Garden.

The first exhibition explores Stella’s interest in architecture over the last decade. Showing works ranging from small models to an enormous quarter-scale mock-up, the exhibition demonstrates how Stella’s formal concerns literally moved from painting to wall-reliefs to free-standing sculpture that became architecture.

This will be the museum’s second exhibition in a series investigating the works of artists and architects; the first was “Santiago Calatrava: Sculpture into Architecture” in 2005-2006.

The second exhibition consists of recent sculptures in stainless steel and carbon fiber by the artist. They are displayed on The Iris and B. Gerald Canter Roof Garden, an open-air space atop the Lila Acheson Wallace Wing that offers spectacular views of Central Park and the Manhattan skyline. It marks the tenth annual single-artist installation on the Roof Garden.

Since his first showings in New York in the 1950s, Stella has occupied an important place among New York artists and has continued to expand the boundaries of what abstract painting and sculpture can be. His fame was cemented by early retrospectives at the Museum of Modern Art; “Frank Stella: Painting into Architecture” and “Frank Stella on the Roof” mark his first exhibitions at the Metropolitan.

The Iris and B. Gerald Cantor Roof Garden opened to the public in 1987. Annual installations have featured selections of modern sculpture from the Metropolitan Museum's collection and, most recently, presentations of works by the artists Ellsworth Kelly, 1998; Magdalena Abakanowicz, 1999; David Smith, 2000; Joel Shapiro, 2001; Claes Oldenburg and Coosje van Bruggen, 2002; Roy Lichtenstein, 2003; Andy Goldsworthy, 2004; Sol LeWitt, 2005; and Cai Guo-Qiang, 2006.

The Metropolitan Museum of Art is at 1000 Fifth Avenue. For information, 212-535-7710 or www.metmuseum.org.