Hyena Stomp, 1962
Oil on canvas
196 x 196 cm
Tate

Hyena Stomp is part of a series of large paintings known as Concentric Squares and Mitred Mazes. With this series Stella continued to use the same Benjamin Moore alkyd house paint he used in earlier works, using the six primary and secondary colours in this work. The title Hyena Stomp comes from a track by the American jazz musician Jelly Roll Morton. Stella was thinking about syncopation while working on the painting: the alternation of colours appearing to have an irregular but rhythmic pattern.

Hampton Roads, New Madrid, Delaware Crossing, Sabine Pass, Palmito Ranch and Island No. 10, 1962
Alkyd (Benjamin Moore flat wall paint) on raw canvas
Six canvases, each: 31 x 31 cm
Brooklyn Museum. Gift of Andy Warhol

Stella used Benjamin Moore paint for an extensive series of paintings whose designs were as defiantly ordinary as their palette. Stella explained his approach in a 1964 radio interview: 'I knew a wise guy who used to make fun of my painting, but he didn't like the Abstract Expressionists either. He said they would be good painters if they could only keep the paint as good as it is in the can. And that's what I tried to do. I tried to keep the paint as good as it was in the can.' Andy Warhol was an early Stella fan and it was he who commissioned this set.