Untitled, from the Apollo series, ca. 1975

Robert Natkin developed an approach to art based on a serial exploration of the expressive possibilities of compositional variants. Friezelike parades of vertical bands became one of his preferred compositions. He modulated the width, tonal range, and texture of the bands to shift the emotional atmosphere of the whole. In his paintings, Natkin used both a paintbrush and a palette knife and sometimes also pressed paints through cloth or netting stencils to apply the bright, synthetic acrylic colors; he translated this approach to the use of wax medium on stone to create the matrix for this lithograph.