The Current: Eric Sall

The Current: Eric Sall explores the colorful abstractions of Tulsa-based artist Eric Sall and how a transformative—and performative—event, in which he participated in 2018 augmented his risk-taking in abstract painting.

In October of last year, Philbrook and the Tulsa Ballet collaborated to create an innovative, original ballet in which Sall created a live, gestural painting on stage while dancers in black-and-white costumes—created to reflect Sall’s abstract shapes and wave-like marks—spun the painter and his canvas across the stage on a rolling platform. This 22-minute event staged in the Philbrook gardens pushed Sall to experiment with quick-drying acrylics and to extend his practice into the performative realm. Since creating his Pentaptych suite on stage, the artist has turned increasingly toward the use of opaque, hard-edged geometries and images, which he overlays on top of gestural waves of diaphanous color.

The Current will combine ballet paintings, costumes, a video of the 2018 event, and newer, large-scale works that energetically weave references to movement, popular culture, textiles, and design. As they walk through the upper level of the Villa Philbrook, visitors will experience this historic and domestically-scaled space like never before, newly enlivened with contemporary paintings inspired by action and dance in the Philbrook gardens.

Don’t just look, listen.