Modern & Contemporary Art (1666) Lot 50

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Modern & Contemporary Art (1666) May 14, 2020 EDT, ONLINE ONLY Lot 50 Estimate: $15000 - $20000 (plus Buyer's Premium) Sam Gilliam (American, born 1933) Run Signed and titled bottom right, mixed media. Executed in 2011. sight: 30 x 29 x 1 1/2 in. (76.2 x 73.7 x 3.8cm) Provenance: Private Collection, Washington, D.C. NOTE: Throughout his long and prolific career, Sam Gilliam has been variously associated with Color Field Painting, Abstract Expressionism and Lyrical Abstraction. Continuously exploring new aesthetic possibilities and employing experimental working techniques, the artist has defied strict characterization, drawing inspiration from each of these movements, while pushing his own artwork ever forward. Gilliam first became interested in Color Field painting upon meeting Thomas Downing in 1963. Downing was a prominent member of the Washington Color School, a group which also included Kenneth Noland, Howard Mehring, Morris Louis, Paul Reed and Gene Davis. Together, these artists were interested in color as a primary subject, often applying it in large, flat planes and utilizing innovative methods to transfer it to the canvas. Gilliam, who had previously been largely influenced by the German Expressionists he had studied at the University of Louisville, was inspired by the group’s philosophy and began to work on large-scale colorful paintings of his own. By the mid-1960’s, Gilliam had begun to undertake the work that has come to be considered his seminal achievement—his drape paintings. In them, he liberated the canvas from its stretcher, pouring and staining it with acrylic and metallic paints that spread and mingled as he manipulated the fabric. He then draped the canvas from a wall or a ceiling, allowing it to hang, fold or move in ways not previously conceived. In so doing, the work became both painting and sculpture, forever altering the way we perceive the picture plane and its limitations. Though Gilliam would move on from these drape paintings as the 1970s waned, he continued to push the boundaries of traditional painting and to experiment with modes of representation and technique that blurred the line between painting and sculpture. Run, executed in 2011, encapsulates the artist’s unique perspective on the nature of painting and material. Rendered in mixed media, Run penetrates beyond the picture plane into the space of the viewer. Its three- dimensional surface has multiple levels of relief, and the artist has layered both his colors and his media to create an even more dynamic surface. The resulting work is an excellent example of Gilliam’s experimental spirit..

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