15 Feb 2018

Sam Gilliam In Dialogue an exhibition at the Williams College Museum of Art

Sam Gilliam In Dialogue marks the debut of the Williams College Museum of Art's recent acquisition of Situation VI-Pisces 4 (1972), a nearly 40-foot poly-propylene painted multiform that defies conventional definitions of sculpture, architecture, and painting. Originally created for exhibition at the Galerie Darthea Speyer in Paris, Situation VI-Pisces 4 can be draped over sawhorses and ladders, or suspended by rawhide from the ceiling in order to cascade through a painted wooden structure and pool into waves of color on the gallery floor. The size and lyricism of the installation invites innovative dialogues with the people and works of art surrounding it. In the spirit of Gilliam's experimental practice, this exhibition will see a complete reinstallation of the gallery space three times, bringing both the work and the words of thirteen different artists in and out of conversation with Gilliam's signature work, sparking different themes and interpretations.

Gilliam's pioneering use of abstract layers of pigment on un-stretched material actively unravels the all-too prevalent narrative that black artists excel solely in figural representation. The first installation, Race + Representation, acknowledges Gilliam's groundbreaking presence in American art. On view from February 15 through April 22, this rotation addresses the difficult relationship between race, representation, and individual artistic practice head-on, putting Situation VI-Pisces 4 in dialogue with the work of Willie Cole, David Hammons, Barkley L. Hendricks, and Kara Walker.

The second installation, Form, symbolically shifts the conversation from race to architectural form. On view from April 26 through June 3, it positions the Gilliam with sculptures by Melvin Edwards, Sol LeWitt, and Robert Morris as well as a painting by Joan Mitchell. This installation explores how these works of art use space and industrial materials architecturally, sculpturally, and as forms of experimentation.

Topographies of Color, on view from June 7 through September 3, focuses on the visual, spatial, and emotional power of color. Joining Situation VI-Pisces 4 are a poured polyurethane work by Lynda Benglis, a stained canvas by Helen Frankenthaler, vertical stripes of color in paintings by Gene Davis and Morris Louis, and floating shapes of color in a Jules Olitski painting.

About the Artist
Sam Gilliam was born in Tupelo, Mississippi in 1933. He was raised and educated in Louisville, Kentucky, receiving a BA and MFA in Painting from the University of Louisville after a two-year stint in the Army. In 1962, he moved to Washington, D.C., and created large-scale, non-representational color field paintings alongside Morris Louis, Kenneth Noland, Tom Downing, and other artists loosely known as the Washington Color School. Gilliam began a relationship with the Galerie Darthea Speyer in the late 1960s and began traveling regularly to Paris, working with very large, unstretched materials which he draped and installed across walls, ceilings, fields, rock paths, and waterways to emphasize the relationship between the work and its environment. Since then, he has produced considerable bodies of work, ranging from geometric collage, etchings, watercolors, and quilted paintings to more recent forays into computer generated images and assemblage. Sam Gilliam was the first African American artist to represent the United States in the Venice Biennale (1972). He presented there again, to critical acclaim, in 2017. Gilliam's work is held in major collections throughout the United States, and he has been the subject of numerous solo shows, notably at the Corcoran Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C., the Studio Museum of Harlem in New York, the Philadelphia Museum of Art, and the seminal 2013 Kordansky Gallery show in Los Angeles, curated by Rashid Johnson.

The three installations of Sam Gilliam In Dialogue
Feb 15–Apr 22: Race + Representation
Willie Cole, Sam Gilliam, David Hammons, Barkley L. Hendricks, Kara Walker

Apr 26–Jun 3: Form
Melvin Edwards, Sam Gilliam, Sol LeWitt, Joan Mitchell, Robert Morris

Jun 7–Sep 3: Topographies of Color
Lynda Benglis, Helen Frankenthaler, Sam Gilliam, Morris Louis, Jules Olitski

Related Programs
Season Celebration
Thursday, Feb 15, 5 pm
Raise a glass to our spring exhibitions: Sam Gilliam In Dialogue, The Seeds of Divinity, Rawr!, and Object Lab.

Close Look
Sartre's Situations
Tuesday, Apr 10, 4 pm
Sartre famously said 'there is freedom only in a situation, and there is a situation only through freedom.' Assistant Curator Horace Ballard explores the philosophical connections between Sartre's Situations and Sam Gilliam's work Situation VI-Pisces 4.

Related Performances
'Before painting, there was jazz' said Sam Gilliam, who has spoken at length about the impact of jazz Music on his art. This series of jazz performances, organized in collaboration with the Williams College Music Department, respond to and resonate with Gilliam's work and process.

Thursday, Feb 22, 6 PM
Jazz improvisations respond to Gilliam's work in the gallery.

Monday, March 12, 5 PM
Celebrating Sam Gilliam's love of Charlie Parker's music, Kris Allen and Avery G. Sharpe perform original arrangements of Parker's music on the anniversary of his death.

Williams College Museum of Art
The Williams College Museum of Art makes dynamic art experiences to incite new thinking about art, museums, and the world. At the heart of the Williams College campus the museum draws on the collaborative and multidisciplinary ethos of the surrounding college to enliven the more than 15,000 works in its growing collection. The museum and its collection are a catalyst for student learning and community engagement. WCMA is located on Main Street in Williamstown, Massachusetts. The museum is open 10 am to 5 pm, Thursdays 10 am to 8 pm, and closed Wednesdays September through May. In June, July, and August WCMA is open every day 10 am – 5 pm and 10 am – 8 pm on Thursdays. WCMA is free and open to all. For more information, contact the museum at 413-597-2429 or visit wcma.williams.edu.