Installation View | Photo Credit: Tim Thayer
Game Changers:
Sam Gilliam and His Contemporaries
September 9. 2022 - February 18, 2023
Sam Gilliam (1933-2022) was one of the great innovators to emerge during the post-war era in American art. A member of the Washington Color School, he is most widely known for the large, color-stained canvases that he draped and suspended from walls and ceilings during the late 1960s and early 1970s. There was no precedent in the art historical canon for such an approach. Following that invention, he continued to explore numerous avenues of artistic expression. Whether dripping, pouring, staining, or raking the paint on his draped, shaped, bevel-edged, cut and re-sewn canvases, Gilliam never stopped pushing the boundaries of painting over the course of his seven decades career.
The Mott-Warsh Collection is fortunate to have a variety of works by Sam Gilliam that exemplify his diverse and prolific output, 17 of which are included in this exhibit. The collection also has work by several post-war contemporaries of Gilliam who were pioneers in their own right. This exhibit pays homage to their revolutionary contributions to a significant turning point in American art.
The Mott-Warsh Collection is fortunate to have a variety of works by Sam Gilliam that exemplify his diverse and prolific output, 17 of which are included in this exhibit. The collection also has work by several post-war contemporaries of Gilliam who were pioneers in their own right. This exhibit pays homage to their revolutionary contributions to a significant turning point in American art.
Installation Photos of Exhibit
Installation Photography by Tim Thayer
Select Artworks
Click each image to enlarge
On view in MW’s Black Box Video Gallery:
Sam Gilliam: Reflections
In honor of the life and legacy of Sam Gilliam, we assembled a selection of recorded interviews with the artist.
“Meet Sam Gilliam.” Smithsonian American Art Museum, 2012. YouTube, 2:39. https://youtu.be/SjHpTmzGg4o
“Sam Gilliam's 'From a Model to a Rainbow'.” PBS NewsHour, 2011. YouTube, 5:03. https://youtu.be/fKzyeXFZGyQ
“Sam Gilliam Discusses "Existed Existing" at Pace in New York.” Pace Gallery, 2020. YouTube, 3:17. https://youtu.be/RzOQhzub_Bo
“Melvin Edwards, Sam Gilliam, and William T. Williams’s Epistrophy.” Pace Gallery, 2022. YouTube, 4:04. https://youtu.be/t5wpUJLf4MM
In honor of the life and legacy of Sam Gilliam, we assembled a selection of recorded interviews with the artist.
“Meet Sam Gilliam.” Smithsonian American Art Museum, 2012. YouTube, 2:39. https://youtu.be/SjHpTmzGg4o
“Sam Gilliam's 'From a Model to a Rainbow'.” PBS NewsHour, 2011. YouTube, 5:03. https://youtu.be/fKzyeXFZGyQ
“Sam Gilliam Discusses "Existed Existing" at Pace in New York.” Pace Gallery, 2020. YouTube, 3:17. https://youtu.be/RzOQhzub_Bo
“Melvin Edwards, Sam Gilliam, and William T. Williams’s Epistrophy.” Pace Gallery, 2022. YouTube, 4:04. https://youtu.be/t5wpUJLf4MM
Installation View | Photo Credit: Tim Thayer
GALLERY LOCATION
815 S. Saginaw Street | Flint, Mi 48502
Corner of S. Saginaw St. and E. Court St.
Gallery entrance on E. Court St.
810.835.4900
GALLERY HOURS:
11:00A–6:00P Thursday and Friday
11:00A–5:00P Saturday
11:00A–9:00P 2nd Friday of Each Month
815 S. Saginaw Street | Flint, Mi 48502
Corner of S. Saginaw St. and E. Court St.
Gallery entrance on E. Court St.
810.835.4900
GALLERY HOURS:
11:00A–6:00P Thursday and Friday
11:00A–5:00P Saturday
11:00A–9:00P 2nd Friday of Each Month