Yahoo.comThe University of Tampa will be honoring Sam Gilliam, a long- time art icon, at the opening reception of his exhibit of recent paintings and prints on March 2, 7 p.m. to 9 p.m.
The reception will be held at the Scarfone/Hartley Gallery on campus at the RK Bailey Studios.
“The purpose of the gallery is to exhibit works of the art and host visiting artist as an extension of the classroom,” said organizer of the event Dorothy Cowden.
“The gallery provides students on campus and the community an opportunty to meet artists and to view and study significant original works created by contemporary national, international and regional artists,” Cowden added.
According to a UT press release, Gilliam has been acclaimed as one of “the most important and inventive colorists of the last thirty years; he is also a ceaseless experimenter in putting color on media, whether it be unstretched draped canvas or handmade, hand-painted paper upon which diverse media have been diversely applied.”
Gilliam has also visited UT twice as a visiting artist as apart of Studio-F, the innovative program that introduces nationally and internationally known artists to the Tampa Bay community.
Since the early ’60s, Sam Gilliam has been associated with the advancement of inventions at the Washington Color School and has brought Abstract Expressionism to a new level. He has also redefined the techniques of these traditions, and he continues to reinvent his ideas about making art.
Currently, Gilliam creates multimedia installations and employs brightly stained polypropylene, which is used to make pipes, dozens of layers of painted and printed color; computer generated imaging; metallic and iridescent acrylics, hand-made paper; aluminum, steel and plastic.
Recently, Gilliam hosted “Sam Gilliam: A Retrospective,” organized by Corcoran Gallery of Art made possible by the generous support of the Women’s Committee of the Corcoran Gallery of Art, the Andy Warhol Foundation for Visual Arts, the National Endowment for the Arts and Gerry Segal and the Friends of Corcoran.
The public will be able to see Gillian and view his complete work at an Open House on March 16, 6-8 p.m.