Stanley Whitney, Untitled

I start at the top and work down. That gets into call and response. One color calls forth another. Color dictates the structure, not the other way around. I wanted something very simple that would allow the color to have a life. I start at the top and put down a color and then another. I just want it to be whatever the painting needs.

-Stanley Whitney

Whitney is a colorist, but he believes that color needs structure. In 1994 he traveled to Egypt and learned, in his words, "about density." While looking at the pyramids and ancient tomb paintings, he realized he could layer colors together and achieve a powerful, magical effect.

Whitney was raised in Philadelphia. He studied at the Kansas City Art Institute from 1966 to 1968, after which he attended the New York Studio School of Drawing, Painting and Sculpture, and Yale University.