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Zeltweg

Zeltweg is a whopping mixed-media work of layers of overlapping painted corrugated aluminum pieces from 1982. Colors span from bright jewel tones to muted earth tones in all sorts of combinations. Frank Stella named this work after a former racetrack in Austria. The artist says that while this work is not a literal map of the L-shaped track, it could be considered a map of possible experiences a driver could have there. Race cars can zip around the track at over 200 miles per hour, but the plan is always to drive steadily. Deviations could prove fatal. This is true whether the track is a letter L, large oval, or winding and choppy path. Rather than applying paint to one canvas for his map of possible Zeltweg experiences, Stella has created layers of metal shapes about one-and-a-quarter inch deep. The artwork is over ten-and-a-half feet wide by nearly nine-and-a-half feet tall. But it does not feel imposing; it feels absolutely energizing.

The layer of the pieces closest to the wall consists of large panels of metal that fill the corners and nearly all of the bottom border. From there, smaller, thinner painted pieces are arranged in a way that manages to feel orderly and chaotic at the same time. Taken alone, every piece looks quite flat; piled up, the effect is electrifying. At least five layers deep, the pieces are laid out so that they don’t completely fill the space. In many places, the viewer can peer right through to the wall behind. While some pieces stand as a whole on their own, coming in closer, one notices seams demonstrating that others were either cut or were made by combining smaller pieces. Only some of the shapes have straight lines, and even those have cutouts that are curvy or round. Many are recognizable as French curves, which are stencils with both straight and curved edges that resemble shapes like an elf shoe with a curved-up toe or a sled for racing down a snowy mountain. The whole artwork feels like it is constantly moving.

Part of the movement effect is created through the complex interplay of colors. Nearly every individual piece consists of a background color and wide, undulating stripes and tangles over that, and many also with squiggles, thin-lined scribbles, or paint drips. There is a short mint-green curve accented by darker mint green. A snaking red-and-white piece winds through much of the space. Corners are wiggly red, green, and yellow, or blue, pink, and orange. Vivid colors sit side by side with pale pastels. The top layer has a huge arrow set at the center and pointing to the right. It is jet black, though painted incompletely. At the heart of this arrow is a flourish in bright off-white. Toward the top of the flourish, the paint is thinner, allowing the underlying black to peek through the bristle lines. The colorful metal shapes are so dizzying, the viewer may feel sure that some of the possible racetrack experiences Stella mapped were dreamed up in his own wildly creative mind.