Untitled 1969

This untitled work was created by Sam Gilliam, with ink on paper. Look how the ink just drips and flows across the page, like a jazz solo on paper. It feels so immediate, so process-oriented, like the act of making is the whole point. The black ink dominates, thick and thin, opaque and transparent, but then bam! A few strokes of red pop, adding this little jolt of energy. The surface is so alive, you can almost feel the artist's hand moving, splattering, and drawing. There's this one spot near the bottom left where the black ink clumps together, almost like a little storm cloud, and it anchors the whole composition. Gilliam, like Helen Frankenthaler, with her soak-stain technique, knew how to let the medium do its thing, embracing the accidental and the unpredictable. It’s a reminder that art is an ongoing conversation, a constant exploration of what materials can do.