One Long Look/Una mirada con calma: Sam Gilliam, Breeze, 1967
Middlesex
Zimmerli Art Museum
Featuring Sam Gilliam’s piece Breeze, this installation encourages slow, mindful looking to explore the artist's intuitive, time-based painting process.
Detail: Sam Gilliam, "Breeze," 1967. Acrylic on canvas. Class of 1921 Art Purchase Fund, 1977. © 2025 Estate of Sam Gilliam / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York.
Breeze belongs to artist Sam Gilliam’s beveled edge or slice series, which he began in 1967, the same year this work was painted. Gilliam poured pigment onto unprimed canvas, folding it into “slices” while still wet, and allowing colors to merge. This intuitive process unfolded over time—sometimes across several days or weeks—balancing life’s unpredictability with the precision of creative intent.
Presented alongside ScarletWell, a public health initiative that bolsters the mental health and wellness of the Rutgers–New Brunswick community, One Long Look/Una mirada con calma invites us to look slowly and mindfully. No special knowledge is needed, only time and attention.