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Sean Scully – Wall of Light Crimson
Sean Scully, Wall of Light Crimson, is an Aquatint, sugarlift, and spitbite on paper made in 2005. It is signed, titled, dated, and numbered in pencil. Image Size: 18 x 22 inches. Published by Gregory Burnet, Burnet Editions, NY.
“Wall of Light” series was begun in 1998, yet it has its origins much earlier. In 1983–84, while traveling in Mexico, Mr. Scully became fascinated by the southern sun’s play of light on walls, in particular on the monumental Mayan ruins. He made a watercolor to try to capture the sensation, and this was followed by two more. Years later, when his paintings evolved to touch on similar issues, he recalled those watercolors, and the series was born.
Mr. Scully’s paintings show the influence of previous generations of abstract painters, most obviously: Mondrian, in the gridlike understructure; Rothko, in the textured color planes of the stripes; and De Kooning, in the graceful, yet decidedly masculine, brushstrokes.
Discussing the first of the Mexican watercolors, but describing his ambition for the entire body of work, he has said, “What I’m trying to do in this little watercolor that I made on the beach in Zihuatanejo, is make something that is obviously metaphysical, because I’m trying to turn stone into light.” The genius of “Wall of Light” lies in its realization of the delicate balance suggested in its paradoxical title. The work discovers a meeting point of seemingly irreconcilable opposites — the durable and the fleeting, the impermeable and the diaphanous, the massive and the weightless — and forces us to consider whether something as improbable as a wall of light is actually possible.
Although the “Wall of Light” works are completely nonrepresentational — they do not depict specific walls so much as the more general phenomenon of light hitting wall — they are full of content, evoking places, times of day, states of mind, and different people. Mr. Scully splits his time among three cities, and the art created in each is shaped by the personality of these locations. The New York pieces, the most common in the show, are often cerebral and ordered.
| Title | Wall of Light Crimson |
|---|---|
| Medium | Aquatint |
| Year | 2005 |
| Edition | 40 |
| Signature | Signed, titled, dated, numbered |
| Size | 29 x 31 (in) 74 x 79 (cm) |
| Price | SOLD |
Category: Sean Scully
Description
Sean Scully, Wall of Light Crimson, is an Aquatint, sugarlift, and spitbite on paper made in 2005. It is signed, titled, dated, and numbered in pencil. Image Size: 18 x 22 inches. Published by Gregory Burnet, Burnet Editions, NY.
“Wall of Light” series was begun in 1998, yet it has its origins much earlier. In 1983–84, while traveling in Mexico, Mr. Scully became fascinated by the southern sun’s play of light on walls, in particular on the monumental Mayan ruins. He made a watercolor to try to capture the sensation, and this was followed by two more. Years later, when his paintings evolved to touch on similar issues, he recalled those watercolors, and the series was born.
Mr. Scully’s paintings show the influence of previous generations of abstract painters, most obviously: Mondrian, in the gridlike understructure; Rothko, in the textured color planes of the stripes; and De Kooning, in the graceful, yet decidedly masculine, brushstrokes.
Discussing the first of the Mexican watercolors, but describing his ambition for the entire body of work, he has said, “What I’m trying to do in this little watercolor that I made on the beach in Zihuatanejo, is make something that is obviously metaphysical, because I’m trying to turn stone into light.” The genius of “Wall of Light” lies in its realization of the delicate balance suggested in its paradoxical title. The work discovers a meeting point of seemingly irreconcilable opposites — the durable and the fleeting, the impermeable and the diaphanous, the massive and the weightless — and forces us to consider whether something as improbable as a wall of light is actually possible.
Although the “Wall of Light” works are completely nonrepresentational — they do not depict specific walls so much as the more general phenomenon of light hitting wall — they are full of content, evoking places, times of day, states of mind, and different people. Mr. Scully splits his time among three cities, and the art created in each is shaped by the personality of these locations. The New York pieces, the most common in the show, are often cerebral and ordered.
Additional information
| Title | Wall of Light Crimson |
|---|---|
| Medium | Aquatint |
| Year | 2005 |
| Edition | 40 |
| Signature | Signed, titled, dated, numbered |
| Size | 29 x 31 (in) 74 x 79 (cm) |
| Price | SOLD |
