Highlights from Frieze NY – Part 2

“A revolutionary figure in postwar American art, Sam Gilliam helped define the Washington Color School in the mid-1960s and pushed Color Field painting to its extremes. Gilliam utilized the tenets of hard-edge geometric painting as starting points for a series of formal experiments that would soon lead to subsequent breakthroughs in contemporary painting, including the installation-based drape paintings for which he is best known.” — David Kordansky Gallery

Sam Gilliam, Whirlirama, 1970, acrylic on canvas, David Kordansky Gallery

Kara Walker’s black-cut silhouettes entitled Auntie Walker’s Wall Sampler for Savages, and black-cut steel diorama hauntingly recalls the history of American slavery at the Sikkema Jenkins & Co. booth. Juxtaposed are Erin Shirreff’s monochromatic photographs and sculptures. In these works, there is a sense of play with light, shadow, and the notion of form and object.

Kara Walker, Auntie Walker’s Wall Sampler for Savages, cut paper on wall, and Burning African Village Play Set with Big House and Lynching, 2006, painted laser-cut steel, with Erin Shirreff, photographs and sculptures, installation at Sikkema Jenkins & Co.