2015 Catalogue Archive

A third-generation Color Field artist who began working in the 1970s, Washington DC-based Sam Gilliam has seen a resurgence of interest in recent years for his delicate manipulations of color-saturated cloth and paper. The radiant lavender ink in Light III crosses the surface of the handmade paper, highlighting each gently crumpled edge, and offsetting the deep valleys of green and blue lines that settled into the folds. The ink soaks into the medium, adding a geological feel to the work as each crevice reveals color. Within the last year, Gilliam’s work has been acquired by the Museum of Modern Art and the Metropolitan Museum of Art.