Stella on Stella

(at left) Harry Cooper and Frank Stella, Tuesday afternoon at the Wexner Center

The 65 attendees of Tuesday's afternoon's free Art & Ideas Gallery Talk—led by Harvard's Harry Cooper, who curated the Frank Stella 1958 show—were treated to a surprise guest: Frank Stella himself. Stella made himself known about halfway through the talk, and waxed thoughtful, humorous, and even self-deprecating about his 1958 paintings, created during the year following his graduation from Princeton University. He and Cooper discussed his various works and his painting process at the time, and the ever-loquacious Stella also answered questions from (and asked questions of) the crowd. Stella also showed up that evening at the members-only talk and tour, signing catalogues and discussing his works. A rare treat, indeed.