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Up Close: Sam Gilliam

This exhibition highlights the work of Sam Gilliam (1933–2022), a pioneering American abstractionist associated with the Washington Color School.

Detail of Sam Gilliam silkscreen work "T-Shirt."
Date and Time
  • Thu. Jan 29 11:00am
  • Fri. Jan 30 11:00am
  • View all dates
Location UMD Art Gallery, Parren J. Mitchell Art-Sociology Building
COST

Admission is free and open to the public. 

Up Close: Sam Gilliam highlights the work of Sam Gilliam (1933–2022), a pioneering American abstractionist associated with the Washington Color School. Best known for his radical drape paintings, Gilliam unstretched, folded, and suspended canvas to explore its sculptural potential, transforming painting into a vivid, three-dimensional presence. Living and working in Washington, DC during the civil rights era, he expanded abstraction beyond formal concerns, creating work that resonates with the city’s landscape and social history.

In the Slow Looking Gallery, four silkscreen prints invite sustained, attentive viewing. Layered fields of color, shifting transparencies, and subtle spatial rhythms unfold gradually, revealing the absorptive qualities of ink and paper over time. By encouraging viewers to slow down and notice nuance—density, gesture, and tonal variation—the installation highlights Gilliam’s sensitivity to material and process, offering a contemplative space where abstraction becomes both visual experience and quiet reflection.

This exhibition is organized by Curatorial Assistant Patricia Ortega-Miranda, with design and installation led by Preparator Korey Richardson and operational support from Business Manager Andrea Huicy. Additional contributions were made by Curatorial Assistant Haojian Cheng and Director and Chief Curator Taras W. Matla.

Major support is provided by the Dorothy and Nicholas Orem Exhibition Fund. Generous support is also provided by the Maryland State Arts Council. This exhibition is presented in association with the College of Arts and Humanities and University of Maryland’s Arts for All initiative. 

An in-person reception will take place on Wednesday, February 25, from 5:00 to 7:00 p.m., in conjunction with the opening of Paul Reed: A Measured Abstraction and in celebration of our 60th anniversary. 

Image: Sam Gilliam, T-Shirt, from the portfolio Equal Employment Opportunity is the Law, 1973, silkscreen. Gift of Charles A. Reiher.