"I pour to experience the effect of gravity."

—Sam Gilliam

While most canvases are stretched over a wooden frame, Sam Gilliam broke with convention by splashing and pouring paint onto unstretched canvas. When one of these paintings is then pinned directly to the wall, gravity and changes in small installation decisions ensure that each presentation is slightly different. These “drape paintings” were inspired by garments hanging on a clothesline, demonstrating how ordinary experiences can be translated into streaks of pigment and ultimately art.