Amy Sillman
Amy Sillman, Mother, 2013-14. Oil on canvas, 91 × 84 in. (231.1 × 213.4 cm). Collection of the artist; courtesy Sikkema Jenkins Co., New York. Photograph by John Berens
Born 1955 in Detroit, MI
Lives and Works in Brooklyn, NY
Amy Sillman is known for working with floating, awkwardly geometric forms that often cross the line from abstraction into figuration. In Mother, which grew out of her collaboration with Pam Lins, her composition is relatively locked down, its upright rectangles hinting at a grid. Historically, the grid has provided a way for abstract painters to acknowledge or play with the canvas’s frame. Sillman’s rectangles also respond to the real-world boxes, drawers, plinths, and other right-angled forms that Lins presented to her over the course of their collaboration. The result is an almost organic sense of imperfection and palpable materiality, giving these abstract forms some feel of the human body.
On View
Fourth Floor
Work by Amy Sillman is on view in the Museum’s fourth floor galleries.
See also: Amy Sillman and Pam Lins
