For Gommaar Gilliams painting is a process of problem-solving.
In my work, which is an oscillation between abstraction and representation, I try to create seemingly timeless scenarios that appear at once familiar and fantastical, scenes that appear like half-remembered or imagined memories filled with a sense of nostalgia and longing.
Gommaar Gilliams
Featured Image: Gommaar Gilliams on the steps in the big studio, at the La Brea residency, Los Angeles.
Studio view. Picture courtesy Gommaar Gilliams.
How do you describe yourself in the context of challenging people’s perspectives via your work?
One of the great motivations of my work is painting and the history of painting. So historical references and painterly fundaments are one part of the work. The rest is all now, the present. This combination is part of what my work deals with, what I try to communicate.
I see my work as being something very personal but yet universal at the same time. I like to think that there is something in my work, in a mental or tactile way that is very close to you. In my work, which is an oscillation between abstraction and representation, I try to create seemingly timeless scenarios that appear at once familiar and fantastical, scenes that appear like half-remembered or imagined memories filled with a sense of nostalgia and longing. I always add some darkness into the works, some kind of bittersweet reverie, both melancholic and mystical.
It’s always been like this, especially if you look at the imagery of cultures who have put this duality in a dramatic spotlight. You can’t have, feel or see one without the other. No day without the night. No rise without the fall. I like to think that longing and desire is built upon this. My work also deals with this.
Installation view. ‘In the ballpark’, Gommaar Gilliams. Gallery Sofie Van De Velde, Antwerp.
My work builds upon itself. It’s a matter of intertextuality.
How do you deal with the conceptual difficulty and uncertainty of creating new work?
Painting for me is solving problems. The work I’m making now stands so close to me, the subjects, the way of painting, the whole process… that it comes quite naturally. This doesn’t mean that the painting job is easy. That’s another thing. I know which way I’m going.
My work builds upon itself. It’s a matter of intertextuality. But like everything, things have to be fed in order to stay alive. I always want to push it forward. There is so much to explore. You know, for me painting, is a 24/7 thing. It’s a way of living. So things like painting problems, finding new subjects, new materials, other sources etc., are not individual problems you have to deal with. It’s all connected to each other in one big flow. So, it all comes naturally, and difficulties and uncertainties are a part of this.
Daydreaming. Gommaar Gilliams. 185 x 150 cm. Oil, oil sticks, acrylic, crayons on pre-painted and stitched fabrics.
I don’t really know what to call my style. Saying that it’s something between abstraction and representation would in a way be too superficial for my work or intentions, but in another way it actually says it all.
Tell us about the evolution of your practice over the years. What would you call your style?
I think the main evolution in my practice is that everything has come together – the process of linking things outside of me with the things inside of me. I mean the point where art references and the artists I adore for example are connected with who I am and what I want is where I found my language. I talked about the natural way of living with painting. I think this is only possible when you find your language. When how you make it flows together with what you’re making. You can’t lie in painting. Maybe for a while, but in the end it has to be true to you.
I don’t really know what to call my style. Saying that it’s something between abstraction and representation would in a way be too superficial for my work or intentions, but in another way I actually say it all. Even if you see the work for the first time, there’s always this feeling that you have seen it before, or that you can transfer memories and fantasies into the work. In a way you know what you’re looking at. I don’t have to add extra meaning to the paintings or the symbols that I use. It’s already in them and in the viewer. I don’t try to reinvent painting. I rather put it in perspective. Looking for the moment of origin and revealing the loaded history of the painted image. I cut it open so as to expose the conditions of painting, just so I sew them back together afterwards, in order to find the best possible solution for the problem. I know this is not an accurate description of style. I have always considered myself as a lone ranger kind of painter. I do what I do.
Another thing that has to do with style, and which is also connected to my subjects, is the imperfection that I put in my work. Parts of the process are always revealed. They are part of the work and the experience. For me this deals with longing, in many ways perfection means the end of longing.
Much too high. Gommaar Gilliams. 2020. 200 x 150cm. Oil, oil sticks, acrylic, crayons on pre-painted and stitched fabrics.
Most of the time I look at cultures instead of individual artists. This is the main inspiration and reference for me.
What inspires you? Let’s talk about your frameworks, references and process.
I get inspired by a lot of things. Over the years I have put together my own art history. I think every artist has to do this, creating their own archive. I make my own and it doesn’t matter if this vision is correct in terms of connections between different parts of art history and the present. Indian miniatures, early medieval imagery, primitive things, the Roman and Greek culture, outsider things, etc., inspire me. I think I’m always looking for things, no matter which time period – the story that has always been told, from the ‘beginning’ of imagery until now.
It’s like a big personal sea in which I sail. As I said, I know which way I’m going, but I never know which route I will sail through. Most of the time, the painting tells me which way to take.
While I’m talking about historical references, I’m a child of my time. Contemporary design and imagery also finds its way in my work. As much as I like the Hellenistic statue of Nikè, I like the Nike swoosh, the whole evolution of the Nike design actually, the Jordan logo and Mickey Mouse… They are, or what I like or see in them, always present in my work. They are part of my solutions.
There are a lot of individual artists I adore, from Baselitz and Twombly to Piero Della Francesca and Giotto… there are too many of them. Some of them find their way into my work, in my own way. But most of the time I look at cultures instead of individual artists. This is the main inspiration and reference for me.
Installation view. ‘In the ballpark’, Gommaar Gilliams. Gallery Sofie Van De Velde, Antwerp.
What were your biggest learning and hiccups along the way in your artistic journey?
I think the most important thing I learned is that everybody has his or her own path. I devour artist books. I used to compare myself to their individual trajectory or path, things like when did they graduate, when did they have their first show and so on. Learn from it but don’t mirror them. You’ll drive yourself crazy with this. Accept and try to walk your own path.
I also learned about timing. It’s hard to explain but most things also have to do with timing, the right timing. It’s hard, almost not possible, to have a hand in this. But acknowledging it is seeing it.
How does your audience interact with your work and react to it?
In a very good way I think. Their reaction and everything that’s happening now confirms that my work is understood. That it is welcome, that it deals with and looks like something that’s most welcome.
You know there is no one truth or answer to my work. Everybody brings in his or her own things into the painting, and we all look at things through our own frame. My works offer a direction, a frame, and the rest is up to you.
Installation view. ‘In the ballpark’, Gommaar Gilliams. Gallery Sofie Van De Velde, Antwerp.
What are you working on during this lockdown? How are you balancing life and work at home during this time?
For me most of the things have stayed the same actually. At the moment I have a closed running show in Antwerp called In the Ballpark at Gallery Sofie Van De Velde and one in New York called Always Been Told at De Buck Gallery. They are closed but are open only by appointment. It’s a pity, but we’re lucky we had our openings and the first week of showing. Normally these shows were going to be followed up quite quick with a group show at a gallery in Amsterdam. I did the LA Brea art residency in Los Angeles last year, which was amazing and important for my work and trajectory. The show in Amsterdam was bringing four LA residents together. I was going to show with Kovarik Vojtech.
Also some works were going to be shown at Art Brussels and I was preparing a big public project in Belgium. I was really looking forward to this. I’m making some huge swan-lakes for this. I wanted to show something that you can’t always do in a gallery, taking my paintings to another level, turning them into a walk-in décor kind of thing, a world in which you can step in to. All these projects are postponed for the moment. At the same time I’m making plans with Beers London. I’m really excited about the future plans.
So I’m working on these and other works. I work every day actually. During the day I do most of the thinking part and the preparations (the pre-painting of the fabrics, the stitching, doing my correspondence and having short painting sessions. During the night I have my long sessions.
Bark at the moon. Gommaar Gilliams. 2019. 200 x 150 cm. Oil, oil sticks, acrylic, crayons on pre-painted and stitched fabrics.
How do you resolve the conflict between the commercial and the creative? How does your interaction with a curator, gallery or client evolve?
Having a good gallery is very important. I’m working with Gallery Sofie Van De Velde since 2017. I refer to her as my mother. She’s great to work with. We trust each other completely. While I’m working she is carefully making contacts with collectors, curators, museums and other collaborating galleries. We talk to each other every week, and I’m corresponding with the assistants and the creative directors even more. We’re building a story together. That’s quite something. It’s the same with Gallery De Buck. We have been working together since 2017. We believe in each other and are building a story together.
Also it is interesting to see how galleries are finding each other in this way.
It takes time to take these relationships to a real working-involvement- relationship. I’m really excited by where we stand now. The initial conversation I had with Beers London is going in the right direction.
Gommaar Gilliams on the steps in the big studio, at the La Brea residency, Los Angeles.
When was your first sale?
I remember my first sale was long before I worked with galleries. It was a female collector who really believed in my work. She bought immediately and placed me among great names in her collection. I remember I felt great with this trust, belief and sponsorship. I could buy lots of material with it. It was wonderful.
However, now I always work with galleries. Sale goes through them. We’re doing so much for each other that I’m open to everything. It would feel wrong to skip a gallery with a sale. It wouldn’t come to mind actually.
Before you go – you might like to browse our Artist Interviews. Interviews of artists and outliers on how to be an artist. Contemporary artists on the source of their creative inspiration.