At over 2 meters tall, and projecting grandly from the wall, ‘Mgarap Bangke’ is a monumental work from the Bali Series that Frank Stella began in 2003. In contrast, to Stella's earlier Minimalist sculptures, the Bali pieces, inspired by his experiments with bamboo, have unusual movement, volume and lightness that recalls the flight-associated contraptions of Leonardo da Vinci and Vladimir Tatlin.

Made from moulded sections of dark carbon fibre supported by circular loops of unpainted stainless steel tubing and geometric rails, ‘Mgarap Bangke’ towers in a tangle of industrial materials, which Stella somehow coerced into curving organic forms. It resembles a spontaneous ‘doodle’ suspended in space. As Stella states, ‘…after all, the aim of art is to create space... space that is not compromised by decoration or illustration, space within which the subjects of painting can live’.

As with all works in the series, this sculpture’s Balinese title is taken from a photographic essay by Gregory Bateson and Margaret Mead titled ‘Balinese Character: A Photographic Analysis’, first published in 1942. The title was chosen not to allude specifically to Balinese culture, but to increase the enigma of the work. However, there is perhaps a coherence in thought between the sculptures’ non-fixed centres and the philosophy of open-ended self-determination central to Balinese culture.