Ellsworth Kelly a la Yves-Alain Bois Red and White, 1961 was a detour from his colored panels, he chose to ignore prior color block panels Kelly uses an avoidance theory, was drawn to the self-expression of modernism,was "practicing a history of art without a name" Why would Kelly do that? Vacany of non-invention. There wasn't anything that Picasso hadn't already done except erase himself, which Kelly did exceptionally well. Sash window at the Musee de l'art Moderne A panel with a block of black and two panes of white on a gray block same dimensions as the black. Nobody every suspected the source. Collages were paintings of scraps of his own drawings that he threw onthe floor but these are still seen as abstract, not as effortless art-making. They still have the semblance of invention or "I paint, I draw, I sculpt, therefore I am." He went to a grid. A symbol of randomness, no effort at representation, every effort at NON-COMPOSITION. 1950s He returns to the US after formative years in Paris. Was at end of rope financially but upon return, felt himself a foreigner is his own country. Frustrated by being mistaken as a geometric abstract expressionist. Grids were like language.Each color or component a letter. At this point though he did not make words. This came later, during his rockers phase when he discovered curves and made 'logos', a visual word. These biomorphic shapes include Red and White, 1961. Only one sketch was made for this painting while the rest were sketched and resketched many times. Negative space and color are fighting in this series. It is a game of optical illustion- which one is winning? Rockers (1980s) were "pliage" or folding exercises. Like sandwiches. Representation of the hemispheres of the brain. Ovoids and trapezoids,not really abstractions of the natural world.Just shapes and colors. Matrix of the grid relates to this matrix of qualities that have established Kelly as a premier artist of the post-war modernist period: can all be traced to his formative years. Variety, diversity, singularity of vision and longevity. Ellsworth Kelly on color. Tells a story about colored panels (Painting for a white wall): Critic asks What color theory did you do? EK: No theory. Just a painting withcolors. Critic: Sure looks like it. Influences: Calder's mobiles, friend deKooning who said "he names the color" Method: Starts with yellow (mid of spectrum) and works to purple During VWar he made gray paintings, felt embarrassed to be painting bright colors.Later on at the Met 8 years after the war 1979 a docent said there are alot of young people interested in these. He said too late. "One centimeter of blue is not the same blue as one meter of blue." Ellsworth Kelly Social/political commentary in his paintings? Hmm, not really. Maybe. "Just continuing what I started..." Looking for his form like Picasso when he found African sculpture and this lead him to Cubism.