Inspiration: Sean Scully

Sean Scully is one example of an artist who provides me with great inspiration.

I have a collection of Sean Scully books. I’ve looked at the images. Now it’s time to read them!

·       Sean Scully Body of Light 2004, [Homepage of NGA, Canberra], [Online]. Available: https://nga.gov.au/Exhibition/Scully/Default.cfm?MnuID=4&Essay=Bio [2018, 2/23].

·       Arthur C. Danto, Mia Fineman, Edward Lucie-Smith 2004, The Color of Time: The Photographs of Sean Scully, Steidl, Göttingen.

·       Carrier, David 2004, Sean Scully, Thames & Hudson, London.

·       Escher, Danilo & Kelly Grovier 2015, Sean Scully. Land Sea, Skira Editore, Italy.

·       Ingleby, F. (ed) 2006, Sean Scully Resistance and Persistance: Selected Writings, Merrell Publishers Limited, London & New York.

Scully's website has an extensive publications section: Sean Scully Publications

One book that is particularly interesting as I begin to think about edge is:
O'Sullivan, Marc, Beate Reifenschein & Sean Scully (2014) Sean Scully Figure/Abstract, Hatje Cantz Verlag, Ostfoldern.

I am interested in a wide range of art and artists and Sean Scully is one artist/photographer who provides me with great inspiration. His development from figurative to abstract art is well documented by O'Sullivan, Reifenschein & Sean Scully (2014) in Figure/Abstractthe catalogue that accompanied a 2014-15 exhibition of the same title. In the introduction, Scully reflects on the development of his artistic practice arguing that he is one of only a few abstract artists whose work is heavily influence by his early obsession with figuration. However, he observes that when he began painting, influenced by Fauvism and German Expressionism, he shifted to a more process-driven practice drawing on recognisable forms such as stripes and the ‘romance of reduced color’.

The catologue features many colour plates showing the changing nature of Scully’s practice and these are accompanied by two essays – one by Beate Reifenscheid, Director of the Ludwig Museum im Deutschherrenhaus in Koblenz where was Figure/Abstractwas first exhibitied, and the other by Marc O’Sullivan an arts writer who co-curated a subsequent show at Crawford Art Gallery in Cork.

Reifenscheid’s essay, The Threshold of Abstraction, explores Scully’s sources of inspiration and the compositional nature of his large-format works focussing on his use of colour, line and texture. She argues that the power of the work comes from the combination of experience and a ‘Dionysian force and emotionality’ that initiates and imbues the work and the subsequent transformation into ‘Apollonian detachment’ (p166).

Marc O’Sullivan, in his essay titled A Matter of the Spirit, draws connections between Scully’s work and his Irish heritage arguing that ‘Scully’s concern with vocabulary and language is what makes him such an essentially Irish artist’ (p117).

This reference, has provided me with a fascinating insight into the connections Scully makes between realism and abstraction. Further reading of Scully’s writing about his own work will build on this beginning. This text has supported my thinking about the question: Which artists/photographers have explored ideas of edge? What have they created and how do they talk about their work?

As an overview of my reading I have included a reference section below. Firstly, I have listed the annotated references included in this paper. Following this I list other references I have read but not yet annotated. Finally, I have included an updated list for future reading based on developments in my practice. This list will shape my reading for the remainder of this semester.