I was worried in the '80s that the best abstract painting had become obsessed with materiality, and painterly gestures and materiality were up against the wall.

Stella moved to New York in 1958 after his graduation. Early visits to New York art galleries influenced his artist development and his work was influenced by the abstract expressionism of Jackson Pollock and Franz Kline. Biography
Stella was born in Malden Massachusetts to parents of Italian descent.

Frank Stella (born May 12 1936) is an American painter and printmaker noted for his work in the areas of minimalism and post-painterly abstraction.