Bardstown

Sam Gilliam made a name for himself in the 1960s with abstract paintings that he pulled off stretchers and frames, allowing them to drape across walls and on floors. Prints such as Bardstown reflect Gilliam’s commitment to abstraction, color, composition, and material as subject. At a time when other Black artists were using shared collective and personal experiences as topics for their work, he held to the idea that “abstraction conveys a power far greater than any political theme.”