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Light Fan

Sam Gilliam1966

Smithsonian American Art Museum

Smithsonian American Art Museum
Washington D.C., United States

Light Fan has the feel of an image seen from space—a sunrise observed from an orbiting capsule through a window struck by a ray of light—or the blue and green depths of an ocean giving way to sun-warmed shallows. The effect is diaphanous; color has bled in irregular pools as the tidal pull of capillary action moved wet pigment around a field of color on a finely woven fabric. Edges freely shift in a way that is both accidental and controlled.

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  • Title: Light Fan
  • Creator: Sam Gilliam
  • Date Created: 1966
  • Physical Dimensions: 36 1/4 x 36 in. (92/1 x 91.4 cm)
  • Credit Line: Smithsonian American Art Museum, Gift of the Woodward Foundation
  • Artist: Born Tupelo, MS 1933
  • Medium: acrylic on canvas
Smithsonian American Art Museum

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