Sean Scully – International Master

SEAN SCULLY; Gabriel; 1993; 259×366 cm; oil on linen

SEAN SCULLY; Gabriel; 1993; 259×366 cm; oil on linen

SEAN SCULLY; Red Durango; 1991; 259×366 cm; oil on linen

SEAN SCULLY; Red Durango; 1991; 259×366 cm; oil on linen

Over the course of his career, Sean Scully has developed a vocabulary for the stripe that expresses a wide range of emotions and ideas. Within a seemingly narrow iconography, the artist has produced brilliantly nuanced effects by experimenting with the dimension, color and composition of the stripe in its vertical, horizontal and diagonal orientations. By constructing his paintings on a heroic scale in multi-paneled arrangements, he injects a sculptural quality that heightens the work’s texture and design.

As an art student in the late 1960s, Scully became acquainted with the paintings of Mark Rothko whose spirit can be sensed in such works as Red Durango. Multiple layers of oil paint; soft, irregular edges; and rich colors that emanate light define this important work whose title refers to the Mexican city and state, an area rich in minerals and ferrous metals. Part of the beauty of Red Durango emerges from the artist’s masterful synthesis of balance and movement arising from different widths of horizontal and vertical stripes in multiple fields.

Scully’s paintings reflect his experience of landscape and architectural spaces. During a trip to Morocco in 1969, the artist was captivated by the strips of multi-colored dyed wool that hung in the market. Such observations have inspired him to produce paintings of compelling intensity.