Pace is pleased to announce an exhibition of Sam Gilliam’s paintings in Hong Kong. Following its launch at Pace’s newly expanded space in Seoul, this presentation continues to mark the artist’s debut in Asia. The Hong Kong exhibition, which opens at Pace’s space in the H Queen’s building on July 22, will feature new works by Gilliam.

Gilliam, who is now in his eighties, is widely considered one of the great innovators in postwar American painting. He emerged from the Washington, D.C. scene in the mid-1960s with works that elaborated upon and disrupted the ethos of Color Field painting and expanded the frontiers of Abstract Expressionism. A noted activist and aficionado of American jazz music, Gilliam extended the possibilities of picture making in a society undergoing dramatic change.

All of the paintings in the exhibition were created by the artist in 2021. These pieces build on a body of beveled edge abstract paintings that Gilliam has been continuously developing since the 1960s. Gilliam’s early approach to painting built upon the staining technique that was adopted by Washington School colorists in the late 1950s and early ’60s, including Helen Frankenthaler, Morris Louis, and Kenneth Noland. At this time, Gilliam began experimenting with different techniques and materials, staining and pouring paint and other materials directly onto the canvas while folding and crumpling its wet surface to create variegated compositions with luminous color and depth.

Gallery address: 12/F, H Queen’s 80 Queen’s Road Central