A Banner by Julian Stanczak for Akron Art Museum

Friday, 26 May 2006 12:10

Akron, OH - As you walk or drive past the Akron Art Museum’s construction site this summer, you won’t be able to miss seeing a new work of art by famed “Op” artist Julian Stanczak (STAN-check) - not inside the building but on the outside!  Art on High will be on display. 

Stanczak was invited to create a bold, geometric image to be featured on a 16 by 14 foot banner.  The banner will wrap around the Market/High streets corner of the museum’s 1899 building and be seen by the thousands of people who travel downtown each day. 

Art on High is part of a new trend among art museums to take art into the streets and utilize new formats for visual expression, including banners, billboards, digital screens and video projection.  This exhibition project offers a look at a new artwork by a distinguished artist in Akron’s collection and also highlights the construction of our new building.

Stanczak, who lives in Cleveland, is one of the preeminent members of the Op (short for “optical”) art movement that began in the 1960s.  Characterized by intense colors and crisp line formations that sometimes produce a vibrating visual effect, Op art has been a vital part of abstract painting.  Stanczak’s painting Dual Glare from 1970 is part of the museum’s collection.  Stanczak and other Op artists are enjoying renewed popularity as their works have been featured in recent exhibitions in New York and across the country.  Art on High brings Stanczak’s newest—and largest—work to the Akron community.