Chehaw 1990

Sam Gilliam made "Chehaw" with acrylic paint, and a whole lot of ingenuity! The painting looks like it came into being through trial, error, and intuition. I imagine Gilliam in his studio, wrestling with these shapes and colors, shifting them around until they sang. There's something so playful about the way he's layered those semi-circular forms, one on top of the other, creating a kind of three-dimensional collage with paint. You can see the physicality of the medium in the texture, the way the paint is built up in some areas and scraped away in others. I especially love that bright yellow square, jutting out at an angle. It’s like a little wink, a disruption of the harmony, which adds so much tension and interest. I think he was probably inspired by the work of other painters like Kenneth Noland. But it’s so clearly its own thing: a joyful, chaotic, and totally unique expression.