Sac 1 2012

Sam Gilliam made Sac 1, a suspended painting, with acrylic on canvas. I love how the colors almost appear to bleed into each other! Just imagine Gilliam in the studio, wrestling with the canvas, dripping paint and folding the material into these madcap shapes. I wonder if he knew exactly what it would look like in the end, or if it was more of a journey of discovery? It's like the painting has escaped the frame and wants to play. I love the blues, yellows, and reds jostling against each other. You can see the hand of the artist in every fold and brushstroke. He's an heir to those Abstract Expressionists, like Pollock and Stella, but doing his own thing, bending the rules, and making something new. It's a reminder that painting is alive and kicking, always changing, always pushing boundaries.