“Sam Gilliam: Selections” at the Ringling Museum of Art in Sarasota, Fla.

 
On View presents images from noteworthy exhibitions
 

AN IMPRESSIVE SURVEY of Sam Gilliam at the Ringling Museum of Art in Sarasota, Fla., was spearheaded by a local African American collector. Warren Colbert, a longstanding member of the museum’s board of directors and incoming vice chair, is eager to see the museum’s programming appeal to broader audiences and reflect a growing community of African American collectors who support the museum. The exhibition brings together 18 paintings and prints from nine private collections. Most of the collectors who contributed to the show are local. Six of them are African American.

An innovative post-war painter associated with the Washington Color School, Gilliam is known for his singular approach to abstraction and experimental use of form and color. Spanning more than three decades, “Sam Gilliam: Selections” features works produced between 1976 and 2010, representing a range of techniques and formats. Silkscreens made in collaboration with artist and printer Lou Stovall are on view with mixed-media works that employ collage and stitching and three-dimensional paintings on birch plywood, one outfitted with piano hinges. Displayed vertically, side-by-side, two small-scale drape paintings from Gilliam’s Cowl series are cape-like in form.

The Ringling Museum has amplified its community outreach programs over the past 36 months to raise awareness about the museum and its offerings. The Gilliam exhibition is a “capstone” of these efforts, according to Colbert, who splits his time between Sarasota and New York. He told Culture Type, the show “renews the museum’s commitment to exhibiting works of diverse artists from underserved communities that enjoy seeing the works of their master and emerging artists.” CT

 

“Sam Gilliam: Selections,” co-curated by Marian Carpenter and Steven High, is on view at the Ringling Museum of Art in Sarasota, Fla., Feb 21, 2021-Aug 15, 2021

FIND MORE about the exhibition and explore the accompanying publication

 


Installation view of “Sam Gilliam: Selections,” John and Mable Ringling Museum of Art, Sarasota, Fla. (Feb 21-Aug 15, 2021). | Courtesy The Ringling

 


SAM GILLIAM, “What’s With Fall,” 1999 (acrylic on formed birch plywood; Overall: 48 × 48 × 9 inches / 121.9 × 121.9 × 22.9 cm). | © Sam Gilliam. Collection of Giselle and Benjamin Hubberman, Courtesy The Ringling

 


Installation view of “Sam Gilliam: Selections,” John and Mable Ringling Museum of Art, Sarasota, Fla. (Feb 21-Aug 15, 2021). | Courtesy The Ringling

 


Installation view of “Sam Gilliam: Selections,” John and Mable Ringling Museum of Art, Sarasota, Fla. (Feb 21-Aug 15, 2021). | Courtesy The Ringling

 


SAM GILLIAM, “Ichi #1,” 1994 (monotype with relief painting, screenprint, collage, acrylic, and stitching on hand-made paper, Overall: 33 × 25 1/2 inches / 83.8 × 64.8 cm). | © Sam Gilliam. Collection of Warren and Marie Colbert, Courtesy The Ringling

 


Installation view of “Sam Gilliam: Selections,” John and Mable Ringling Museum of Art, Sarasota, Fla. (Feb 21-Aug 15, 2021). | Courtesy The Ringling

 


Installation view of “Sam Gilliam: Selections,” John and Mable Ringling Museum of Art, Sarasota, Fla. (Feb 21-Aug 15, 2021). | Courtesy The Ringling

 


SAM GILLIAM, “What Fish Sea I,” 1994 (oil on canvas, draped with soft folds, stitch work across the piece, affixed with original metalscrews, unframed; Overall: 58 × 30 inches / 147.3 × 76.2 cm). | © Sam Gilliam. Collection of Ellen Berman, Courtesy The Ringling

 


SAM GILLIAM, “St. Albans,” 1976 (silkscreen on paper, 11/60, 34 x 40 inches framed). | © Sam Gilliam. Collection of Ellen Berman, Courtesy The Ringling

 


Installation view of “Sam Gilliam: Selections,” John and Mable Ringling Museum of Art, Sarasota, Fla. (Feb 21-Aug 15, 2021). | Courtesy The Ringling

 


Installation view of “Sam Gilliam: Selections,” John and Mable Ringling Museum of Art, Sarasota, Fla. (Feb 21-Aug 15, 2021). | Courtesy The Ringling

 


SAM GILLIAM, “Slanting,” 1993 (acrylic collage on board; Overall: 36 1/2 × 43 3/4 in. (92.7 × 111.1 cm).| © Sam Gilliam. Collection of William and Beverly Parker, Courtesy The Ringling

 


Installation view of “Sam Gilliam: Selections,” John and Mable Ringling Museum of Art, Sarasota, Fla. (Feb 21-Aug 15, 2021). | Courtesy The Ringling

 


Installation view of “Sam Gilliam: Selections,” John and Mable Ringling Museum of Art, Sarasota, Fla. (Feb 21-Aug 15, 2021). | Courtesy The Ringling

 

Works by Sam Gilliam are also on view through July 10 at Pace Gallery, where his solo show inaugurated a new space in Seoul, South Korea. “Moving West Again,” a recent solo exhibition was on view at David Kordansky in Los Angeles. Next year, Gilliam will have a major retrospective at the Smithsonian’s Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden in Washington, D.C.

 

BOOKSHELF

“Sam Gilliam: Existed Existing” was published to accompany a recent show at Pace Gallery in New York. “The Music of Color: Sam Gilliam, 1967-1973” documents the artist’s 2018 exhibition at Kunstmuseum Basel, his first solo museum survey in Europe. The volume features contributions from artists Rashid Johnson and Lynette Yiadom-Boakye, among others. “Sam Gilliam: 1967-1973” was published on the occasion of the artist’s 2017 exhibition at Mnuchin Gallery, his first solo show in New York in 25 years. “Sam Gilliam: A Retrospective” coincided with Gilliam’s 2005 exhibition at the Corcoran Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C., a four-decade survey. The volume is described as “the first in-depth book devoted to this major figure.”

 

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