[From the Community Collection, a public trust in Agincourt, Iowa]

STOKOE, Michael Arthur [born 1933]

“Summer Vines”

1986

etching / 17.3 inches by 12.8 inches (image)

Michael Stokoe’s recent work, represented by this nearly monochromatic print, is almost unrecognizable compared with his early output as a young artist fresh from art school. The crisp minimalism of flat primary geometries and repetitive patterns at mid-century have yielded by the late 1980s to a gentler representation of landscape and the human presence.

Unusually, this piece came from neither a gallery nor the artist himself: It was part of an exhibit at a California winery, linking the visual arts with those of the vintner. We hope the vintage that year has remained as fresh and subtle as the art.