of the materiality and spatiality of painting. These works represent a critical juncture in Gilliam's career, where he began to challenge and expand the boundaries of traditional painting through innovative techniques and approaches. The Beveled-edge series, also known as the Slice paintings, was recognized early on by critics as a groundbreaking body of work that significantly contributed to the post-1945 American abstract painting landscape.
In these pieces, Gilliam experimented with pouring acrylic paints onto lengths of canvas, then folding the canvas over itself while still wet, creating unexpected color combinations and prismatic spatial effects. This method extended the brushless staining and soaking techniques used by his contemporaries to new extremes, imbuing his work with a lyrical quality. By stretching the painted canvas on beveled frames, the artworks appeared to emerge from the wall, establishing a physically immediate and dynamic engagement with the viewer. This departure from the flat picture plane to a more dimensional form marked a significant innovation in Gilliam's oeuvre, reinforcing the sculptural qualities of his paintings and challenging the viewer's perception of space and color.
The Beveled-edge paintings, with their unique blend of structure and improvisation, can be seen as the precursors to Gilliam's later Drape paintings. These earlier works embody a controlled yet expressive approach to color and form, where bright and often fluorescent surfaces emerge from a regulated process, only to reveal the unpredictable beauty of abstract expression. Gilliam's technique of folding and scrunching untreated canvases before stretching them onto specially crafted frames emphasizes the inherent tension between chance and intention, a theme that permeates much of his work.
This innovative series not only further solidified Gilliam's place within the Color Field movement but also underscored his role as a pioneer in the evolution of abstract art. Through the Beveled-edge paintings, Gilliam began to erode the distinction between the visual world within the painting and the tangible world outside of it, a conceptual leap that resonated with the social and cultural upheavals of the time. As an African-American artist working in the midst of the Civil Rights Movement, Gilliam's exploration of form, color, and space was not just an aesthetic endeavor but also a profound statement on art's capacity to engage with and reflect upon contemporary societal changes.
By moving beyond the traditional confines of painting, Sam Gilliam's Beveled-edge series exemplifies his innovative spirit and enduring influence on the trajectory of modern and contemporary art. His ability to redefine the canvas and engage the viewer in a more active and bodily experience of art continues to inspire and challenge our understanding of painting's possibilities (Contemporary And) (David Kordansky Gallery) (Pace Gallery).