Atvatabar I

1995 . Unique acrylic, resin, formed paper and fiberglass, 1995, signed and dated on the relief centre left: 'F. Stella, 95', 136.5 x 137.2 cm. (53¾ x 54 in.)
frieze23 At the end of the 19th century and the beginning of the 20th century fantastical tales of other worlds and eras began to grip the imaginations of the public. The title Atvatabar I references the science-fiction story The Goddess of Atvatabar by William Richard Bradshaw. The story is based on the theory that the planet on which we live is a hollow shell that is one thousand miles in thickness within which are entire continents and oceans that are all lit by an interior sun. Within this fictional earth, fifty million people worship a living goddess of surpassing beauty named Atvatabar. Stella's circular composition confines an abundance of abstract forms and structures, referencing the book's advanced social, philosophical and religious matrix that exist within the earth's interior walls. Given this piece is part of Stella's Imaginary Places series, it is not surprising that Bradshaw's book has earned its place, praised to be one of greatest imaginative efforts put forth by a modern writer.
Exhibition catalogue, 'Frank Stella, From Strictness to Baroque'. Valencia, IVAM ­ Institut Valencià d'Art Modern, 2012. Pages 62-63, full page colour illustration;
Süddeutsche Zeitung, Magazin. No. 6, 9.2.1996. Vorsicht, frisch gestrichen, Ein Besuch im Atelier Frank Stella. Page 31,illustration in colour.