SAM GILLIAM | UNTITLED (PROPOSED PROJECT FOR NOW-CLOSED NORTH GENERAL HOSPITAL, HARLEM, NY)

Acquired directly from the artist by the present owner in 1992

“My work consists of solids and veils: the union of solids, or metal forms, seen as volumes against a raked and grooved paint surface. It is constructed painting, in that it crosses the void between object and viewer, to be part of the space in front of the picture plane. It represents an act of pure passage. The surface is no longer the final plane of the work. It is instead the beginning of an advance into the theater of life.”

– Sam Gilliam, with Annie Gawlak, “Solids and Veils,” Art Journal, 50:1, Spring 1991, pp. 10

Sam Gilliam is an innovative colorist who, by cutting and rearranging geometric shapes from thickly painted canvases, expanded his experiments in color and improvisation. Gilliam’s solo exhibition last year at the Kunstmuseum Basel, Switzerland and his current exhibition at Dia Beacon is an indication of the recent surge in appreciation of the artist’s oeuvre.