STUDIO F

Sam Gilliam

2009

Sam Gilliam was born in Tupelo, Mississippi in 1933. He has been acclaimed as one of the most important and inventive colorists of the last thirty years; he is also a ceaseless experimenter in the application of color on media, whether it be unstretched draped canvas or handmade, hand-painted paper upon which diverse media have been diversely applied.

Closely associated with color field painting in the '60s and '70s, and the inventor of the subgenre, the draped stained canvas, Gilliam has created a secure niche in the history of contemporary art. His work in the '90s has moved to external, internal expression. Gilliam superimposes layers of color while allowing light to radiate from the original surfaces. A high energy is created by moving shapes of opaque and transparent color that explode in a seemingly limitless dimension.

Gilliam's work is in major collections throughout the world including The Corcoran, and the Hirshhorn in Washington, D C, the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, the Museum of Modern Art and the Whitney in N Y city, San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, the Tate in London, and the Musee de'Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris. A recipient of an individual Artist grant from the National Endowment, Gilliam has taught at Carnegie Mellon, University of Maryland and Maryland Art Institute.

In 1993 at STUDIO-f, Gilliam created a series of lithographic monoprints, which he called the Tower Series with intense blues with towers of light - luminuous reflections within surfaces. He used explosions of color with raked surfaces creating rich textures. Returning to STUDIO-f in 1996 Gilliam produced a second series of lithographic monotypes. Layers of surface designs enhanced with hand painting create opulent simulated textures. The prints are exciting examples of the Gilliam's expertise of integrating shapes and color in the illusion of form in space. Returning to STUDIO-f in 2007 working in screen-printing, Gilliam scraped through textures of concrete and sand and many layers of gloss medium, cutting and sewing to assemble the final images.

Gilliam contacted us with a proposal to return in 2009 to collaborate with master printer, Carl Cowden, to create experimental monoprints - to elaborate on new work. Returning with great energy and inspiration he used many new materials including felt, bunting, and concrete to create large monoprints. An illusion of dimension was created by leaving openings, overlapping, cutting apart and reassembling by sewing all the numerous layers together. This was far beyond simple printing and became an assemblage creating extraordinary original pieces of work.

Gilliam lives and works in Washington, DC.

Studio F