Gemini G.E.L.: A Catalogue Raisonné, 1966–2005
Ellsworth Kelly

Since 1970, Ellsworth Kelly has completed more than 250 lithographs, screenprints, aquatints, etchings, and sculpture editions at Gemini. His art, which appears to be non-referential, is deeply rooted in the world that surrounds us. Evidence of this may be seen in Kelly's lithographs of plants (Oak Leaves, 28.208), in which edges carefully define forms that are isolated, layered, and flattened.

Kelly distills and articulates the specific nature of form by emphasizing the physical nature of size, scale, weight, color, intensity, shape, edge, and mass. The chrome-plated steel Mirrored Concorde (28.21) was his first edition sculpture at Gemini. This work presented a powerful challenge to his collaborators in everything from the production of such a pristine reflective surface to the logistics of moving something so heavy. Maintaining the artist's broad flat color surfaces in his Painted Wall Sculptures (28.105–28.115) was similarly difficult because the slightest variation threatened to drastically alter the integrity of the artist's decisions. The fabrication of Kelly's work has also pushed the limits of the shop in prints as well as sculpture. His Purple/Red/Gray/Orange (28.190), at 18 feet in length, may be the largest single-sheet lithograph ever made. In fact, fabrication was carried out only by keeping the paper partially rolled during the individual printing of each of the four different color shapes. On this monumental scale, Kelly's pure geometries have a presence and impact that have been previously realized only in his paintings. Kelly's work, which is constantly in the process of refinement and redefinition, continues to be a vital force at Gemini.

Art and Technology | The 1960s | The 1970s | Robert Rauschenberg
Ellsworth Kelly | Jasper Johns | David Hockney | Sam Francis | Roy Lichtenstein
The 1980s | Jonathan Borofsky | Richard Serra | The 1990s | Elizabeth Murray
Into the Fourth Decade | Toward the Future