Shimmering Pisces
1975
Sam Gilliam's Shimmering Pisces is a diptych combining acrylic paint with canvas collage elements on beveled edge canvas. The work demonstrates Gilliam's innovative approach to color field painting and sculptural abstraction.
- Medium
- acrylic and canvas collage on beveled edge canvas, diptych
- Location
- Phillips, Salt Lake City, UT
- Spotted At
- Auction House · PhillipsView on map
🔨 Auction Lot
20th Century & Contemporary Art Day Sale, Morning Session
May 19, 2022
Artists in conversation
Helen Frankenthaler
American · b. 1928
Frankenthaler was a pioneering color field painter whose large scale acrylic works share Gilliam's luminous, saturated color sensibility and gestural abstraction. Her exploration of paint as a fluid, expressive material directly parallels the shimmering, layered quality seen in this diptych.
Morris Louis
American · b. 1912
Louis worked within the color field tradition using acrylic paints to create translucent, flowing veils of color that resonate strongly with the luminous and layered surface of Shimmering Pisces. His commitment to abstraction through pure color and material experimentation closely mirrors Gilliam's approach in this work.
Frank Bowling
British Guyanese · b. 1934
Bowling combines color field painting with experimental collage and textural elements embedded into acrylic surfaces, sharing Gilliam's hybrid approach of merging painterly abstraction with physical material construction. His diptych and multi panel formats along with his rich layered color application make his work a direct visual parallel to Shimmering Pisces.
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