Sam Gilliam | Honoring The Man Who Challenged The Boundaries Of Art

Courtesy of David Kordansky Gallery and Pace Gallery

In deeply saddening news, the David Kordansky Gallery and Pace Gallery announced the passing of Sam Gilliam, a pioneering modern artist. At the age of 88, Sam Gilliam died on Saturday, June 25th. In an effort to honor him and his legacy, the Pace Gallery and David Kordansky Gallery reminisce on the impact that Gilliam made on art as a whole.

Sam Gilliam is largely considered an artist who pushed the envelope when it came to modernism, creating new techniques such as Beveled-edge and Drape paintings. Gilliam’s work has been featured in both, the David Kordansky Gallery and Pace Gallery as a part of solo exhibitions across the world. Both galleries represent some of the most influential contemporary works in the world. 

Courtesy of David Kordansky Gallery and Pace Gallery

The piece pictured above, featured at the Museum of Modern Art in New York, displays Gilliam’s innovative Drape painting technique. By freeing the canvas from the stretcher, Gilliam demonstrates a form of creativity that transforms and transcends the medium of painting.

"I am deeply honored and blessed to have known Sam Gilliam through the last decade of his journey. To serve his vision has been a life-defining privilege. It has been about more than work or even passion—it is a form of devotion to principles that represent what is good, abiding, and true. Sam changed the course of my life, like he inspired the lives of many others, as a generous teacher, mischievous friend, and sage mentor. Above all, Sam embodied a vital spirit of freedom achieved with fearlessness, ferocity, sensitivity, and poetry. My heart goes out to his wife and partner, Annie; his children, Stephanie, Melissa, and Leah Franklin; Sam’s family; Jenn, Joseph, and the greater Gilliam studio; and all those touched by Sam’s boundless soul” says David Kordansky.

Sam Gilliam’s life reveals him to be the embodiment of a revolutionary artist by creating groundbreaking techniques that paved the way for modernism to flourish beyond the boundaries of what was once before narrowly defined art.