Charles Gaines, Artist
FACES: Set #4, Stephan W. Walls
, 1978
Medium
Ink on paper and photograph
Dimensions
3 parts, 23 x 19 in. (58.4 x 48.3 cm) each, framed, 23 x 57 in. (58.4 x 144.8 cm) overall
Credit Line
Courtesy of the artist and Susanne Vielmetter Los Angeles Projects. Photo by Robert Wedemeyer
FACES: Set #4, Stephen W. Walls is a reductive triptych in which the artist has deconstructed the same photograph down to the formal elements of line and color. For Gaines, the process of reducing the composition presents the opportunity for the viewer to look at the work from multiple viewpoints. Gaines was the first African American to be accepted into the MFA program at Rochester Institute of Technology's School of Art and Design and is a longtime faculty member at the California Institute of the Arts.