Sean Scully

Galerie Lelong, New York

Acquired directly from the above by the present owner

Colour: The colours in the catalogue illustration are fairly accurate, although the overall tonality is brighter and more vibrant in the original. Condition: This work is in very good condition. No restoration is apparent when examined under ultraviolet light.
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A lyrical exercise in the possibilities of abstract painting, Summerland forms part of Sean Scully’s striking Wall of Light series, and is a significant example of the artist’s finely honed mature style in its highly sophisticated examination of the play of vertical and horizontal elements. The Wall of Light series had its genesis with a watercolour work in 1983 following a creative revelation Scully experienced whilst on a trip to Mexico. Recalling the impact this experience exerted on his art, Scully declared: “I can’t exactly explain it, but seeing the Mexican ruins, the stacking of the stones, and the way light hit those facades, had something to do with it, maybe everything to do with it” (the artist cited in: Exhibition Catalogue, New York, Metropolitan Museum of Art, Sean Scully, Wall of Light, 2005, p. 24). Formed predominately of dark hues, light seems to emanate from the edges of each segment within Summerland: the delicate brushwork delineating each colour boundary allowing for a subtle gradation between the differing areas of pigment.

The first painting within the Wall of Light series was created in 1998, and Scully’s interest in the potential of the theme remains on-going. Each Wall of Light work is appended by an emotionally resonant title which takes account of the conditions in which it was painted, the mood of the artist at the time or the place of creation. Scully divides his time between studios in Barcelona, New York and Mooseurach near Munich, with the result that works painted within the different studios are invested with the particular qualities of light or seasonality that exists in each place at that time. Summerland invites associations with warmth, as though dense Southern heat were emanating off a sun-baked wall. Scully has declared that the colours within his work are woven of multi-faceted layers: “There are no simple colours in my work… there are no whites, no reds. Colours are always subverted by the colours underneath, so when you’re looking at something you’re never quite sure what you’re looking at” (the artist cited in: Hossein Amirsadeghi and Maryam Homayoun Eisler, Eds., Sanctuary: Britain’s Artists and their Studios, London 2011, p. 112). In Summerland this interaction between light and dark is superbly conveyed through Scully’s extraordinary painterly control and technical facility.

Scully acknowledges the influence of several Twentieth Century painters on his work, stating that: “If you have Mondrian, if you have Matisse, Mondrian, Rothko, then you’ve got my work” (the artist cited in: David Carrier, Sean Scully, London 2004, p. 61). Whilst Mondrian’s investigations into geometrical composition are re-interpreted through Scully’s elegant use of quadratic form within the Wall of Light series, it is Rothko’s dramatic use of colour fields that has provided one of the most important sources of inspiration for the artist throughout his career to date. Classical music and jazz have also acted as more esoteric forms of stimulus, and the artist has spoken movingly of his desire to incorporate the rhythm and sensation of music into his work: “It is sometimes said that all art aspires to the condition of music. I would like my art to aspire to something like the condition of music, but a condition that can be felt and experienced in a deep moment. I think with painting you can get rid of the problem of time. You can feel it abstracted in the rhythms, in the layers of the painting, but you are, for a moment, free” (the artist cited in a conversation with Kevin Power in: Ibid., p. 210). Summerland is a superb example of Scully’s profound investigation into the complex possibilities of articulating abstract form and theory: a work in which emotion, ambient experience and sensibility combine to form a painting of immense power and impact.