Untitled 1971

Curator: Standing before us is an intriguing artwork simply entitled "Untitled," created in 1971 by Sam Gilliam, featuring acrylic paint on paper. What are your initial impressions? Editor: It reminds me of textiles and paper marbling. I am drawn to the visible texture and layers of how acrylic was worked into the surface—it has such tactile allure. Curator: Interesting observation, Sam Gilliam was experimenting with ways to move paint beyond conventional application in that period, moving away from the canon of painting, expanding his work’s symbolic repertoire by incorporating fabric-like movements. Editor: Gilliam was never one for staying confined by the edges of a stretched canvas. We can observe him embracing material agency in his use of paint application. It speaks volumes about the relationship between artist, material, and support. Curator: And how color creates such atmosphere—the yellows feel like bursts of optimism fighting the more somber purples and blacks. There's almost a psychological drama unfolding in the color play. Editor: Definitely. I think that ties into something very real about materiality—we’re not just observing colors. The layering suggests a social history of addition, change, and even erasure; of choices made visible through material transformation. Curator: In viewing these interactions we begin to acknowledge a collective memory—it becomes part of our contemporary experience as the painting is more than itself; it’s about art history, material culture, and identity. Editor: Ultimately, viewing this work is thinking through making—not merely as artistic ingenuity but the lived reality of producing art in relation to the culture industries of the time. Curator: Gilliam, in his own way, asked profound questions. "Untitled" is, thus, a reminder to reflect on what images and making continue to mean. Editor: I agree. This piece also brings us back to basics – appreciating the physical, tangible reality of art objects and all the ways these forms are inextricably part of larger histories.