NEW YORK— Widely recognized as one of the giants of contemporary abstract painting, Brice Marden is unusual in that he has developed in the course of his career two distinct mature styles. From the mid-’60s to the early ’80s he concentrated on minimal, large-scale arrangements of unmodulated color planes. But he’s better known for his latter work, in which ribbons of bright colors twist and turn around the confines of otherwise flatly solid canvases in a busier, more gestural style derived from his interest in Chinese calligraphy and the rhythms of nature.

In his West Village studio, Marden surrounds himself with objects that reflect these interests but whose quiet, neutral palettes have little in common with his work: collections of seashells and antique Chinese scholars’ rocks, both neatly arranged against pristine white backdrops.

Marden spoke with ARTINFO about these sources of inspiration.

“I got very involved with Chinese calligraphy, and then I just got much more involved with Chinese culture and art. So when I got a chance to go to China I wanted to look at the garden rocks and one thing led to another.

“The thing about these rocks is that [classical Chinese artists] would have them in the studio as a focus for meditation. A really good rock has energy, and you think about all these energies flowing through it.

“I like how you are reminded of natural energies, because I think that a painting should have energy. When a painting is finished you put it away, but as soon as you take it out—as soon as a work of art is confronted by a human being—it has energy, or it has the potential for energy. Whether the human being is willing to work with the painting is another story.”

And of the shells he says, “When I first started doing calligraphy I was in Thailand and collecting these seashells and drawing them. Unbelievable shells, and all the markings reflect exactly what was happening during the life of that shell. It’s this whole natural thing. There’s a naturalness to them, just like there’s a naturalness to the rocks.”