Should artists have a unique style?

Looking at Art:

Frank Stella is known for changing the shape of the painted canvas. He created a series of protractor paintings in the 1960s in which he used the half-circle as the main element in these works. Anyone seeing them would know that they are by the same artist. However, if you look at Stella’s art today, although he is still working with shapes, his work has evolved into monumental sculptures. Although I was familiar with the paintings, I had never seen images of his sculpture and would not have recognized them as the work of the same artist without reading about the later work. The critic, David Salle called the sculptures, “…a lot of energy expended to no particular end.” in his book, How to See. Can an artist damage their reputation when their work changes dramatically so that the recognizable style disappears?

 Work in the Studio:

I looked at the shelf with several of my latest sculptures and observed that they are quite similar to each other. Although the colors and textures vary, the work is abstract and emphasizes shapes and edges. The photo you see here will show you what I mean by this. I have become restless lately and envision a different style of work starting to evolve. One new piece is half finished and may be included in a future blog post. For now, I fell like I am stepping into the unknown with new ideas and new work.

Some of my Recent Sculptures