Kennedy Center President Deborah Rutter sat down for an intimate conversation with legendary abstract artist Sam Gilliam in February, 2020. At 86 years old, Sam reflected on his life and career, from his arrival in DC during the Kennedy administration to the inspiration for his grand work on display at ²ÝÝ®ÊÓƵÃâ·Ñ°æapp's REACH, "Carousel Light Depth."
"Carousel Light Depth" is 75 feet of fabric—dazzlingly saturated with pinks, purples, greens, blues, and silver—gathered and draped, majestic in its vast expanse.
Gilliam was fiercely committed to aesthetic abstraction during a decade wracked by racial tension and a contested war. But in the same year that he made Carousel Light Depth, he also created a moving tribute to Martin Luther King, where red and purple stains evoke the bleeding wounds of the martyred Civil Rights crusader and anti-war activist.
Gilliam served three years in the Army, then moved from Louisville to Washington D.C. in 1962. His expansive canvases and exuberant colors evoke the fresh optimism of John F. Kennedy’s youthful presidency. His art has been celebrated in museums and collections worldwide for decades, including The Museum of Modern Art in New York, the Musée d’Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris, the Tate Modern in London, and the Kennedy Center's REACH in Washington, D.C.
Sam Gilliam passed away on June 25, 2022, at 88 years old.
Subscribe to ²ÝÝ®ÊÓƵÃâ·Ñ°æapp! http://bit.ly/2gNFrtb
#samgilliam #carousel #art
"Carousel Light Depth" is 75 feet of fabric—dazzlingly saturated with pinks, purples, greens, blues, and silver—gathered and draped, majestic in its vast expanse.
Gilliam was fiercely committed to aesthetic abstraction during a decade wracked by racial tension and a contested war. But in the same year that he made Carousel Light Depth, he also created a moving tribute to Martin Luther King, where red and purple stains evoke the bleeding wounds of the martyred Civil Rights crusader and anti-war activist.
Gilliam served three years in the Army, then moved from Louisville to Washington D.C. in 1962. His expansive canvases and exuberant colors evoke the fresh optimism of John F. Kennedy’s youthful presidency. His art has been celebrated in museums and collections worldwide for decades, including The Museum of Modern Art in New York, the Musée d’Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris, the Tate Modern in London, and the Kennedy Center's REACH in Washington, D.C.
Sam Gilliam passed away on June 25, 2022, at 88 years old.
Subscribe to ²ÝÝ®ÊÓƵÃâ·Ñ°æapp! http://bit.ly/2gNFrtb
#samgilliam #carousel #art
