ART-PRESENTATION: Sean Scully-Celtique
While known primarily for his large-scale abstract paintings, comprised of vertical and horizontal bands, tessellating blocks and geometrical forms comprised of gradated and shifting colors, Sean Scully also works in a variety of diverse media, including printmaking, sculpture, watercolour and pastel. Having developed a style over the past five decades that is uniquely his own, Scully has cemented his place in the history of painting.
By Efi Michalarou
Photo: Almine Rech Gallery Archive
Sean Scully presents a selection of paintings and sculptural works in his solo exhibition “Celtique” in Picasso’s historic former studio at the Château de Boisgeloup. The exhibition comprise paintings from Scully’s “Landline” and “Madonna” series, stacked sculptures, and a glass sculpture. Several recent paintings by Scully, which demonstrate the artist’s signature motif of rich, painterly abstraction and expressive rendering of color and texture through the use of repetitive forms are presented in the historic studio space itself. In addition, the presentation features two figurative paintings (an unexpected departure from his signature style of abstraction) both titled “Madonna” (2019). These deeply personal works are rooted in Scully’s early artistic explorations and harken back to the artist’s childhood. In the neighboring dovecote, Scully’s bronze “Coin Stack” (2018) represents an abstracted expression of the artist himself and his life, the title referring to a time during his childhood when Scully’s father would bring home tips and count them in stacks on the kitchen table. “30 Too” (2018), Scully’s monumental 10-foot-tall sculpture composed of vibrantly painted stacks of aluminum, presides over the Château’s expansive lawn. Located near the village of Gisors in Normandy, approximately 45 miles Northwest of Paris, the Château de Boisgeloup is an 18th Century building purchased by Pablo Picasso in 1930. In the years that followed, Picasso used his studio at Boisgeloup during a very productive creative period. The estate is situated in a park, and the property encompasses the château, a 13th century church, and an old dovecote at the rear of the service quarters, which Picasso converted into his studio. In 1935, when Picasso formally separated from his wife Olga Khokhlova, she kept Boisgeloup. The property was then inherited by Picasso and Olga’s only son Paul, who lived between Boisgeloup and Paris until his passing in 1975. Boisgeloup is now owned by Picasso’s grandson, Bernard Ruiz-Picasso. Together with his wife Almine, Bernard has breathed new life into the historic studio developing the space into a platform for presentations of contemporary art. The space was activated for the first time in 2012 with an invitation-only show of works by Cy Twombly, Franz West, David Smith, and Picasso himself. Since that point, Boisgeloup has been open to the public on specific weekends for special exhibitions, including a solo-exhibition of works by Claire Tabouret in 2018, and a presentation of works by Joe Bradley in 2017, which was accompanied by a group show of works by Richard Prince, De Wain Valentine, and Louise Nevelson from Almine and Bernard Ruiz-Picasso’s Private Collection
Info: Château de Boisgeloup, 2 Rue du Chêne d’Huy, Gisors, Duration: 26/10-17/11/19, Days & Hours: Sat-Sun 11:00-18:00
