Green Web

Gilliam achieved the diffuse colors in Green Web by saturating an unprimed canvas in layers of thinned paint and allowing it to dry folded in on itself. Rather than mounting the result on a conventional stretcher, Gilliam here uses one constructed with wide, gently beveled edges. In some of his beveled works, the artist turns the sloped edges toward the wall, making the painted image appear to hover in space. Here, the chamfered edges face out, so the painting seems to rise out of the wall. With either technique, these beveled canvases direct the viewer's attention to the transition between the wall and the surface even as the brilliant stained colors trick the eye with spatial effects.