ART CITIES:London-Sean Scully
One of the world’s foremost contemporary artists, Sean Scully’s work draws on the traditions of European painting, invigorated with the distinct character of American abstraction. His varied practice encompasses printmaking, sculpture, watercolors, and pastels, but he is best known for rich, monumental abstract paintings in which stripes or blocks of layered color are a prevailing motif.
By Efi Michalarou
Photo: National Gallery Collection Archive
Inspired by the Collection of National Gallery in London and his love for Joseph Mallord William Turner’s painting “The Evening Star” (1829-30), Sean Scully charts a personal journey of deep admiration for color, composition, and the power of painting in his solo exhibition “Sea Star”. Turner’s masterpiece, a continuing influence and catalyst for new work by Scully, is displayed in the first gallery. The painting was specifically identified by him as a source of inspiration after he was first approached by the National Gallery, following a critically acclaimed exhibition at the Venice Biennale in 2015. Featuring new and recent large-scale, multi-panel paintings that include his celebrated “Landline” paintings, as well as works on paper, the exhibition demonstrates Scully’s distinctive approach to painting and a shared love of colour and composition with Turner. The “Landline” paintings encompass one of Scully’s recurring themes developed from his interest in the meeting points of land, sea and air, the rhythm of the ocean and the ever-changing horizon. The single figure of a boy on the shore setting off for home as sky and sea darken in Turner’s “The Evening Star”, echoes this preoccupation. As Sean Scully said “I am always looking at the horizon line – at the way the end of the sea touches the beginning of the sky; the way the sky presses down on to the sea… I think of land, sea, sky. And they always make a massive connection. I try to paint this; this sense of the elemental coming together…”. Scully’s abstract works are created from panels painted in oil, often with thickly applied paint to create rich, textured surfaces. Echoing the strong impasto found in Turner’s pink-hued sky, the artist’s fluid handling of his medium and the powerful movement as he paints are visible in the blues of “Landline Pool” (2018) and “Landline Star” (2017), a painting whose title evokes the star found in Turner’s painting. Since 2016, Scully has been painting on aluminium and copper. Not absorbing paint in the way canvas or paper does, the metallic surface responds to the material in a unique way, giving the impression that the paint is still wet. The glow of metal which can occasionally be found between layers of paint is reminiscent of the use of translucent oils in Turner’s seascapes. Further new works include “Robe Blue Blue Durrow” (2018), which suggests the 7th Century “Book of Durrow” from his native Ireland, and “Human 3” (2018), inspired by the New York subway in his adopted country. The exhibition at the National Gallery continues to demonstrate the importance of contemporary artists engaging with the collection and creating work that explores both the old and the new. The picture that connects the National Collection to the contemporary art of Scully is itself an example of the change from past to present. “The Evening Star” had previously been regarded as unfinished upon the artist’s death, but was heralded as a masterpiece years later. It now take its place at the centre of this exhibition with works by an artist who has studied its atmosphere in detail. Spending his childhood in London with family trips to Trafalgar Square, Scully has had a deep and long-held relationship with the National Gallery, as well as with Turner. While their biographies only slightly mirror each other – their fathers were both barbers and both frequently visited the Kent coast – Scully’s first exhibition at the National Gallery allow visitors to investigate the influence of Turner on his work. This exhibition of Scully’s paintings, pastels, and prints with their deep connections to the traditions of Western painting, allow visitors to see how the work of one the painters working today, emerges from the past. At the same time, Scully’s work enables us to appreciate the hidden abstraction in the work of great artists of the past, not least Turner, whose pioneering work has often been seen as anticipating the great abstract painters of the last century.
Info: Curator: Colin Wiggins, National Gallery, Trafalgar Square, London, Duration: 13/4-11/8/19, Days & Hours: Mon-Thu & Sat-Sun 10:00-18:00, Fri 10:00-21:00, www.nationalgallery.org
