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By Barbara Taormina A rtist Frank Stella once famously said of his paintings, “What you see is what you see.” And Malden saw plenty this week thanks to Stella. Originally from Malden, Stella was back in the city to cut the ribbon for his mural on the Malden High School wall that faces Center Street and the Northern Strand Community Trail. The mural’s rampage of color, lines and shapes recalls some of Stella’s ground-breaking earlier work that established his reputation as one of the most infl uential fi gures in modern American art. And his innovative vision of how and why art works is now part of Malden center’s streetscape. Stella’s mural is the latest project of Malden’s ARTLine, a Malden Arts initiative launched to create a public arts gallery of murals, sculptures and community hubs that runs through the city center and along the Northern Strand Community Trail. “We were thrilled with the design for the mural and the fact that Frank was able to come to the ribbon-cutting,” said Sharon Santillo, a member of Malden Arts Board of Directors, a small group of volunteers who are the driving force behind the ARTLine. “We specifi cally timed it for after school so Malden High art students and art teachers could come. We wanted them to be there,” she added. Last year, ARTLine installed its fi rst mural, “The Wonderful World of Ed Emberley,” which brought some of the celebrated illustrator’s best-known characters to the David R. FitzGerald Park on Exchange Street. ARTLine’s next stop was Canal Street to establish an art hub featuring “Malden Joyriders,” a colorful sculpture of a group of bicyclists by Joe Malesky, a curvy bright blue bench made from a recycled propane tank by designer Colin Selig, and Malden artist Clay Larsen’s “River of Ties” mural, which pays tribute to the history of the rail corridor and the Malden River. In October, ARTLine returned to Exchange Street to cut the ribbon for Jesse Melanson’s “Sprit in the Sky” mural, which celebrates the 1969 hit song by Malden native Norman Greenbaum. Like other artists featured by the ARTLine, Stella is a Malden original. The son of fi rst-generation Sicilian immigrants, he grew up in a home across from Bell Rock Park. According to one biographer, Stella was introduced to paint and brushes by his father, who had him paint houses and boats. Stella left Malden for Phillips Academy in Andover, went on to Princeton University and ended up in New York City, where art was dominated by the raw emotions, spontaneity and free-fl owing paint of the abstract expressionists. Stella took his art in a diff erent direction and began painting canvases with straight lines and, eventually, diff erent shapes to create works that were free of emotions, meanings or narratives. For Stella, the painting was the subject. He concentrated on fl at surfaces, color, shape, compositions and the tensions between diff erent elements of a painting to evoke a response from viewers. Stella’s new approach to art and his never-ending experimentation with paint established his reputation as a pioneer who infl uenced the development of American abstract art, particularly among minimalist and color-fi eld painters. Although Stella did not speak about his career or accomplishments during the ribbon-cutting or the reception at the library that followed, Santillo said he did share some feelings about the event. “This is all about my parents and my grandparents. That’s what this country is about: all the people who came before us,” he said. Stella’s mural has infused ARTLine with some serious juice. The mural and Stella’s three paintings at the library should help advance Malden’s growing reputation as an art destination. “We’re never going to get better than Frank Stella,” said Santillo. “He’s part of our history, part of American history.” Still, Santillo and ARTLine Board Members Naomi Brave, Candance Julyan, Naomi Kahn and Jen Pawlowski stress they are just getting started. The Stella mural is part of ARTLine’s phase one, and there are plans and hopes for many phases to follow. “We are so excited about public art,” said Santillo. “It’s not just for people who go to galleries and museums, it’s for everyone.” Julyan said the ARTLIne board has been pleased and encouraged by the show of support of the community. “We raised $100,000 to put art along the bike trail,” she said, adding that the different projects have raised awareness of the value of art in the community. “We need art,” said Julyan. “Art is what brings people together.” A mural designed by Malden native Frank Stella, a major player in the development of modern American art, is the latest addition to Malden’s ArtLine.
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