Sea Color 2011

Sam Gilliam made this painting, Sea Color, with the kind of gutsy, intuitive approach I admire so much in artmaking. The greens and yellows seem to push and pull against each other, creating an almost visceral sense of depth. It's like color becomes a living, breathing thing, evolving as it meets the surface. Looking closely, you can see how the paint is built up in layers, thick and creamy in some areas, thin and almost transparent in others. The surface itself is alive with texture – drips, smears, and the visible tracks of the brush. Notice that splodge of yellow on the left panel? It's like a solid block of colour and the brushwork is a part of it - it gives the piece a sort of material presence. Gilliam reminds me of Helen Frankenthaler, in the way both artists let color become the subject. But while Frankenthaler was all about staining the canvas, Gilliam is more about building up this tactile surface, and the conversation between the two is what makes painting so great.