Sean Scully : a romantic geometry of colors

Michel Gauthier | Centre Pompidou | 7th October 2024

There are some who can’t stand Scully’s work. Many more think it is beautiful. Surprisingly, given the expressiveness of his stripes, he arrived at that visual language only after a long dalliance with precise minimalism. What changed was his preference for “rhythm over form”, with his stripes becoming diverse, blurry and in more nuanced colours. Says another writer, this is Scully’s big idea – marrying minimalism and expressionism. I could gaze at them for hours … it feels a lot like staring out to sea.”