Thomas Sills
Thomas Sills, inspired by his mosaicist wife Jean Reynal, began his self-taught artistic practice working with materials found in her studio such as rags, velvet, house-painter brushes, oil paint, wood, and canvas. Sills was particularly fascinated by the light quality of mosaics, introducing their luminosity into his painted compositions. His bold investigations of unorthodox materials and injection of light and color ushered his unquestionable presence in the avant-garde art world of New York from the 1950s to the early 1970s. Through his experimentation and engagement with abstract art Thomas Sills was able to produce phantasmical works often characterized as abstract expressionist. His lack of formal training enabled an unrestricted expression of intuition that ultimately guided his non-representational, automatic, and symbolic oeuvre. This process allowed Sills to create a tangible embodiment of momentary emotional or physical feelings. He is remembered and revered today not only for his fearless plunge into innovative abstraction, but for his perspective as an African-American painter fighting for equality and representation at this pivotal period in history.
Sills has displayed solo exhibitions countless times at Corcoran Fine Arts in Cleveland, Ohio, Art Association of Newport in Rhode Island, Bodley Gallery in New York, Paul Kantor Gallery in …
Thomas Sills, inspired by his mosaicist wife Jean Reynal, began his self-taught artistic practice working with materials found in her studio such as rags, velvet, house-painter brushes, oil paint, wood, and canvas. Sills was particularly fascinated by the light quality of mosaics, introducing their luminosity into his painted compositions. His bold investigations of unorthodox materials and injection of light and color ushered his unquestionable presence in the avant-garde art world of New York from the 1950s to the early 1970s. Through his experimentation and engagement with abstract art Thomas Sills was able to produce phantasmical works often characterized as abstract expressionist. His lack of formal training enabled an unrestricted expression of intuition that ultimately guided his non-representational, automatic, and symbolic oeuvre. This process allowed Sills to create a tangible embodiment of momentary emotional or physical feelings. He is remembered and revered today not only for his fearless plunge into innovative abstraction, but for his perspective as an African-American painter fighting for equality and representation at this pivotal period in history.
Sills has displayed solo exhibitions countless times at Corcoran Fine Arts in Cleveland, Ohio, Art Association of Newport in Rhode Island, Bodley Gallery in New York, Paul Kantor Gallery in Los Angeles, and Betty Parsons Gallery in New York. Additionally his pieces have traveled through group exhibitions at the Opalka Gallery in Albany, New York, Anita Shapolsky Gallery in New York, Wilmer Jennings Gallery at Kenkeleba in New York, Herbert F. Johnson Museum of Art at Cornell University in Ithaca, New York, Boston Museum of Fine Arts, Museum of the National Center of Afro-American Artists in Boston, Museum of Modern Art in New York, the Whitney Museum of American Art in New York, and Minneapolis Institute of Art. His work is held in the collections of the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, Los Angeles County Museum, and Museum of Modern Art in New York.
