Lot and Square 2007

Sam Gilliam made "Lot and Square" with loose, watery strokes of acrylic paint in shades of red, blue, orange, and yellow. It's like watching colors flow and merge, where the act of painting becomes a dance between control and chance. I imagine Gilliam in his studio, experimenting with gravity and the way the paint interacts with the canvas. It must have been a really exciting but also maybe scary process. The paint is really thin, which gives it a translucent quality, so you can see the layers beneath. It's like he’s peeling back the surface of the painting to reveal its inner workings. That drip of blue paint running down the canvas has this fluidity, communicating movement and freedom. Gilliam was inspired by artists like Jackson Pollock, who were exploring new ways of making paintings beyond the traditional easel. Ultimately, painting allows us to embrace ambiguity and uncertainty, inviting endless interpretations. The artists are having an ongoing conversation, inspiring one another's creativity across time.