Sea Color 2011

Sam Gilliam made this painting, Sea Color, with swathes of green, pink, and purple paint applied in thick, energetic strokes. I can almost see him in the studio, wrestling with the canvas, pushing the paint around with brushes, rags, maybe even his hands! There’s a real push and pull here, a conversation between intention and accident. I wonder if he was thinking about how colors interact, how a vibrant yellow can shift when placed next to a deep purple. Looking at his wider practice, he’s always experimenting with how paint can move and breathe on a surface. That juicy blob of green in the center - it feels so alive! It reminds me of de Kooning's gestural marks, but with its own distinct rhythm. Ultimately, painting is about embracing the unexpected, allowing the materials to speak, and trusting that something beautiful will emerge through the process.