For Stanley Whitney, studying color is about far more than structuring or comparing hues in relation to one another. In his chromatic and purposeful works, color serves as a way to understand space, rhythm, and the world around us. The 75-year-old abstract painter has spent decades mastering his signature stacks of small color fields, which form into prominent gridlike patterns within the frame of his canvas. Over the past several years, institutional interest in his work has increased substantially, helping to propel his career, as well as his market trajectory. In 2015, the Studio Museum in Harlem presented “Stanley Whitney: Dance the Orange,” a critically acclaimed show that preceded a flurry of important exhibitions for Whitney. The same year, Lisson Gallery welcomed Whitney onto its roster and mounted its first presentation of his work in Milan.