First Contact Print

Forever the brave explorer into the realm of the imagination, this collection from Samuel Gillis features characters visiting from the bailiwick of his rich inner landscape. A maverick of technique and master of form, Gillis invokes his fellow travelers to his canvas with his passion for their plight in their search for love and respite from loneliness. Through a chaotic attack of salient color that finds its way to an organized genius Gillis' elegant spirits find a permanent home where they can commune with their friends on the other side of the canvas. The way I create and the mediums I use, along with the ground, varies and is very much influenced by the stresses of financial problems. I often have to create on whatever I have, not what I want. Sometimes I paint with business cards on pieces of cardboard because that’s what’s available. Once I painted with exterior house paint on pieces of cardboard that had carpet samples attached to it because I didn’t have any other brushes, canvas or paint. Creating the Side Head series is an exploration of an alternate perceived reality. I am looking through an artistic pair of glasses and see a distorted image of what exists in our current society. I paint what I see, feel and perceive as a flawed existence that we live in. I put this reality onto canvas, cardboard or whatever material calls to be a part of that realm and be altered into my unique world.