Sean Scully, Centro de Arte Hélio Oiticica

PREFEITURA DO RIO SECRETARIA DAS CULTURAS INSTITUTO MUNICIPAL DE ARTE E CULTURA – RIOARTE CENTRO DE ARTE HÉLIO OITICICA

SEAN SCULLY

SEAN SCULLY

WALL OF LIGHT Exposição de 22 de agosto a 27 de outubro de 2002 Centro de Arte Hélio Oiticica, Rio de Janeiro

Prefeito da Cidade do Rio de Janeiro Mayor, City of Rio de Janeiro César Maia Secretário Municipal das Culturas Municipal Culture Secretary Ricardo Macieira Instituto Municipal de Arte e Cultura – RIOARTE Presidente President Fábio Ferreira Diretor de Projetos Projects Director Alberto Benzecry Diretora da Divisão de Artes Visuais Director, Visual Arts Division Ileana Pradilla Cerón Assessora de Imprensa Press Relations Sandra Teixeira

Centro de Arte Hélio Oiticica Diretor Geral Managing Director Charles Watson Assessoria Assistants Eduardo Costa Luciana Mota Gaspar Paula Salgado Quintans Museologia Museum Administration Juliana Freitas Marcia Ferreira Netto Administração Office Staff Margareth Grillo Fernandes Vicente Santana Moura Filho

© Copyright 2002 do artista e do autor. Todos os direitos reservados. É proibida qualquer reprodução sem autorização.

Rua Luís de Camões 68, Centro, 20060-040, Rio de Janeiro RJ, Brasil tels [21] 2242-1012 fax [21] 2232-1401

Já há algum tempo, as artes plásticas têm como indiscutível a importância do irlandês naturalizado americano Sean Scully, um dos convidados especiais da 25a Bienal de São Paulo. Hoje, seu trabalho é admirado por entendidos e colecionadores do Velho e do Novo Mundo.

Daí a importância de o Centro de Arte Hélio Oiticica abrigar a primeira

exposição individual de Scully no Brasil, baseada na grande retrospectiva itine­ rante “Wall of Light”, apresentada em 1996 pelo High Museum of Modern Art, em Atlanta.

Com esta exposição, o CAHO dá continuidade ao programa de mostras

internacionais, que já trouxe ao Rio Luciano Fabro, Richard Serra, Guillermo Kuitca, Mel Bochner e Daniel Buren. Assim, nossa cidade tem reafirmada a sua posição de pólo de difusão de exposições itinerantes no circuito internacional.

E isso é bom não só para a arte, mas também para o turismo.

Ricardo Macieira Secretário das Culturas

A primeira exposição individual do artista norte-americano Sean Scully no Rio de Janeiro é acontecimento marcante na agenda cultural da cidade. Suas pinturas, em grandes formatos e densas superfícies, oferecem uma rara oportunidade para acender a discussão, tão necessária, sobre a pertinência deste meio na arte contemporânea.

A Prefeitura do Rio e a Secretaria das Culturas, por intermédio do Insti-

tuto Municipal de Arte e Cultura — RIOARTE, brindam o público carioca com a obra deste importante artista, legatário da grande tradição da pintura, cujo trabalho combina, como poucos atualmente, rigor construtivo e sensualidade cromática. Nesse aspecto, Scully não está muito distante dos construtivistas brasileiros, sobretudo dos nossos artistas neoconcretos.

Ao apresentar as obras de Sean Scully, o Centro de Arte Hélio Oiticica

dá continuidade ao ciclo de exposições e mostras promovidas pelo RIOARTE, seguindo uma política ampla de apoio às artes visuais na cidade, além de ofere­ cer ao público carioca, ao longo de todo o ano, exposições de inquestionável beleza e qualidade.

Fábio Ferreira Presidente do RIOARTE

4

É com muita satisfação que o Centro de Arte Hélio Oiticica, a Secretaria das Culturas, o RIOARTE e a Prefeitura do Rio de Janeiro proporcionam ao público esta oportunidade de estar diante de “Wall of Light”, uma importante exposição do artista Sean Scully.

Na década de 1970, Scully deu início a uma série de pinturas listradas

— grades coloridas e densas de listras horizontais e verticais sobrepostas umas às outras e pintadas precisamente no estilo hard edge. Esses trabalhos mos­tram um espaço pictórico raso, porém claramente perceptível. Mais para o final dos anos 70, seus quadros se tornaram menos coloridos e mais austeros, ainda com listras finas, mas apenas no sentido horizontal.

De 1981 em diante, Sean trabalhou em uma grande série de pinturas

em que largas faixas de cor foram aplicadas sobre chassis distintos, às vezes pintados separadamente e depois acoplados num único trabalho. Esses chassis eram de espessuras diversas, o que acentuava o relevo e a aparência de caixas.

A resultante fisicalidade dá uma dimensão quase escultural às obras desse período. As faixas coloridas horizontais e verticais eram construídas gradualmente com trinchas largas. As pinceladas feitas quase sempre com a técnica wet on wet, ou seja, molhado sobre molhado, eram provocadas por um gesto que não se detinha no final do plano. Essa atitude amarrava as faixas às próprias superfícies, criando um diálogo entre sua qualidade pictórica e sua materialidade. Mesmo quando os relevos começaram a desaparecer, Sean insistia em continuar com chassis separados, o que permitia que as peças fossem pintadas isoladamente para em seguida serem inseridas no contexto da pintura como todo.

As pinturas da década de 1990 e mais especificamente as da série Wall

of Light representam mais uma etapa na evolução da obra do artista. Apesar de manter a fisicalidade característica do seu trabalho, as pinceladas estão agora num único plano, formando blocos de cor que se juntam, em vez de listras.

O final dessas pinceladas tem ranhuras mais acentuadas e pode-se ver onde terminam. Os blocos pairam sobre o plano pictórico, trazendo mais luz e permitindo uma presença sutil das cores subjacentes, criando um diálogo ambíguo entre a estrutura que está sempre presente e algo mais misterioso e etéreo.

Charles Watson Diretor do Centro de Arte Hélio Oiticica

5

2 Triptych, 1984

รณleo sobre tela (oil on canvas) 106,7 x 205,7cm, col. particular

6

Contrária geometria

Ronaldo Brito

Rein­v en­t ar a pin­t u­r a: eis a ta­r e­f a sin­g e­l a e im­p os­s í­v el do pin­t or mo­d er­n o.

Pa­ra al­can­çar a sua po­tên­cia con­tem­po­râ­nea, a lin­gua­gem pic­tó­ri­ca de ­Sean ­Scully obe­de­ceu a es­se clás­si­co des­ti­no. Ao ­olhar re­tros­pec­ti­vo — que ten­de a ser, é ver­d a­d e, en­g a­n o­s a­m en­t e re­t i­l í­n eo —, an­t es de ­m ais na­d a, ela te­r ia ti­do que su­pe­rar o vir­tua­lis­mo da vi­são eu­ro­péia pa­ra con­quis­tar a es­ca­la fí­ si­ca da pin­tu­ra nor­te-ame­ri­ca­na e as­sim trans­for­mar o seu qua­dro no con­du­ tor de uma per­c ep­ç ão co­l a­d a ao mun­d o; ­m ais ain­d a, trans­f or­m á-lo num agen­te pro­ces­sa­dor de mun­do.

O que ­veio a co­lo­cá-la fren­te a fren­te com as his­tó­ri­cas Ban­dei­ras de

Jas­per J­ ohns, ali on­de o all-­over de Jack­son Pol­lock per­dia seu he­rói­co im­ pul­so ex­pres­si­vo e to­ma­va um as­pec­to li­te­ral e de­sen­can­ta­do. ­Ready-ma­des de se­gun­do ­grau, es­sas ex­traor­di­ná­rias te­las pa­re­ciam ti­rar sua for­ça de um der­ra­dei­ro gol­pe de iro­nia mo­der­na: cé­ti­cas, na acep­ção es­tri­ta, sus­pen­diam o sen­ti­do da pin­tu­ra. Par­tin­do daí, a prag­má­ti­ca mi­ni­ma­lis­ta em­preen­deu o seu elo­gio da es­tru­tu­ra, abo­liu a con­ti­nui­da­de plás­ti­ca da for­ma em fa­vor da des­con­ti­nui­da­de ra­di­cal do ele­men­to e pra­ti­ca­men­te in­via­bi­li­zou o ges­to pic­ tó­ri­co. À con­tra­cor­ren­te, ­Sean ­Scully pre­ten­dia jus­ta­men­te sus­ten­tar a atua­li­ da­de cul­tu­ral da prá­ti­ca da pin­tu­ra. O que não exi­gia me­nos do que re­ci­clar o cur­t o-cir­c ui­t o com­p o­s i­c io­n al do all-­o ver, re­l a­t i­v i­z á-lo, ati­v ar no­v os e sur­ preen­den­tes ne­xos re­la­cio­nais, ou tal­vez con­tra-re­la­cio­nais. E as­sim re­car­re­ gar a pin­tu­ra com uma pul­são vi­tal da ­qual, vi­si­vel­men­te, a te­la mi­ni­ma­lis­ta ca­r e­c ia. E o fa­z ia, de­c i­d i­d o, no pró­p rio cam­p o do ad­v er­s á­r io — den­t ro dos se­ve­ros li­mi­tes de uma com­bi­na­tó­ria geo­mé­tri­ca abs­tra­ta.

Ao rein­tro­du­zir, a con­tra­pe­lo, um fa­zer pic­tó­ri­co po­si­ti­vo en­tre as lis­ tras “in­di­fe­ren­tes” de ­Johns — e, pe­lo mes­mo ges­to, dis­pen­sar o con­cei­to pop que os­ten­ta­vam —, ­Sean ­Scully re­to­ma­va con­ta­to com a tra­di­ção mo­der­na da

li­ber­da­de de pin­tar. Por exem­plo, ao con­trá­rio da cul­pa­da se­ria­li­da­de cro­má­ti­ ca mi­ni­ma­lis­ta, ele po­dia dis­por ou­tra vez dos con­tras­tes de Ma­tis­se. Aves­sa a pro­gres­sões li­nea­res, a sua com­bi­na­tó­ria geo­mé­tri­ca ir­re­gu­lar mo­via-se por cho­ques e con­tra­po­si­ções e vi­nha já im­preg­na­da pe­lo tô­ni­co vi­tal da cor. In­ ten­sa, di­ver­si­fi­ca­da, es­sa es­tra­nha geo­me­tria nar­ra­ti­va ti­nha um in­di­re­to, mas ine­quí­vo­co acen­to bio­grá­fi­co, se que­ria pró­xi­ma ao rit­mo da vi­da.

Tu­do is­so de­pen­dia, en­tre­tan­to, de uma cres­cen­te ma­te­ria­li­za­ção sig­­ ni­fi­ca­ti­va da pin­tu­ra, do es­for­ço pa­ra dar ao qua­dro uma pre­sen­ça quân­ti­ca

7

ca­paz de le­vá-lo a en­fren­tar e a me­ta­bo­li­zar uma as­sus­ta­do­ra quan­ti­da­de de rea­li­da­de opa­ca. O de­sa­fio, po­rém, era o mes­mo de to­do pin­tor: ex­trair des­sa rea­li­da­de, ape­sar de tu­do, sua luz in­trín­se­ca. Os chas­sis es­pes­sos, a lem­brar cas­cos de bar­co, as par­tes sa­lien­tes, as in­ci­sões e os en­cai­xes de “tre­chos” de te­l a no qua­d ro, en­f im uma so­m a de re­c ur­s os de apro­x i­m a­ç ão e in­t en­s i­f i­c a­­ ção do pla­no pic­tó­ri­co, ma­ni­fes­ta­vam a ur­gên­cia de ati­var o con­ta­to da te­la com o mun­do, es­trei­tar ­seus la­ços to­po­ló­gi­cos com o ex­pan­si­vo ­real con­tem­ po­râ­neo.

Por­que, em de­fi­ni­ti­vo, com to­da a sua fron­ta­li­da­de, es­sas te­las de fa­ to nos en­vol­vem; sua pul­sa­ção fí­si­ca nos obri­ga a vê-las com o cor­po in­tei­ro.

É uma es­pé­cie bru­ta, pe­sa­da, de pin­tu­ra, fei­ta mui­to ­mais de pas­ta acu­mu­la­ da e cas­ti­ga­da do que pro­pria­men­te de ges­tos ex­pres­si­vos. Por is­so, ela po­de, às ve­zes, ab­sor­ver a me­mó­ria da tin­ta sa­tí­ri­ca de Phil­lip Gus­ton a bor­rar as co­res e des­fo­car a luz. Evi­den­te­men­te, o seu pro­pó­si­to nun­ca foi res­ga­tar pu­ ra e sim­ples­men­te al­gum ca­rá­ter lú­di­co, a dan­ça de ele­men­tos geo­mé­tri­cos eter­na­men­te dis­po­ní­veis.

As te­l as de ­S ean ­S cully re­s u­m em uma sín­t e­s e dis­j un­t i­v a, co­m o se

tudo ne­las ca­mi­nhas­se pa­ra um im­pas­se, não hou­ves­se co­mo es­ca­par ao be­ co sem saí­da, pa­ra afi­nal re­sul­tar em har­mo­nia. Pro­ble­má­ti­ca har­mo­nia, bem en­ten­di­do. Den­tro de um es­que­ma bá­si­co, o con­tí­nuo e o des­con­tí­nuo se es­ tra­n ham e con­v i­v em, en­t ram em con­f li­t o e se in­t e­g ram nes­s a jus­t a­p o­s i­ç ão ex­plí­ci­ta mas qua­se sem­pre in­cô­mo­da de pa­drões geo­mé­tri­cos. Ca­da ­qual es­ tá fe­cha­do em si mes­mo, iso­la­do, in­co­mu­ni­cá­vel; jun­tos con­tu­do, la­do a lado, aca­b am for­m an­d o um con­j un­t o, um to­d o in­s i­n uan­t e que só po­d e­m os cons­ta­tar, nun­ca re­cons­ti­tuir. In­tri­ga­do, sem dú­vi­da, o ­olho ten­de a re­tor­nar, a re­fa­zer in­ter­mi­na­vel­men­te o per­cur­so ab­sur­do.

E, no en­tan­to, não há tru­ques. Co­mo em Mon­drian, na­da de dia­go­

nais. A ta­re­fa ár­dua é fa­zer bas­cu­lar a pró­pria or­dem pla­nar, mos­trar a sua con­tin­gên­cia, sua in­cer­te­za in­trín­se­ca, sem ape­lo a ilu­sio­nis­mos. As co­res são aque­las, co­muns, do nos­so dia-a-dia e tam­bém são eru­di­tas, mis­tu­ra­das pe­lo ri­co ima­gi­ná­rio pic­tó­ri­co do ar­tis­ta. Aos ines­que­cí­veis ­tons do Ma­tis­se mar­ro­ qui­n o dos ­a nos 10, acres­c en­t am-se as sen­s a­c io­n ais co­r es aber­t as, qua­s e “­pops”, do Ma­tis­se do pe­río­do tar­dio de Ni­ce, ao fi­nal dos a ­ nos 30; já os cin­ zas um tan­to cí­ni­cos de ­Johns (a ­Scully, qua­se im­pres­cin­dí­veis) ga­nham as­ pec­to gra­ve, ao mes­mo tem­po ­mais den­so e ­mais lí­qui­do, co­mo se ocor­res­se ­aqui o fa­mo­so re­tor­no freu­dia­no do re­pri­mi­do — vol­tam à su­per­fí­cie da te­la efei­tos pic­tó­ri­cos tí­pi­cos do ex­pres­sio­nis­mo abs­tra­to, que ­Johns pa­ro­dia­va e ini­b ia, e que ­S cully li­b e­r a ou­t ra vez pa­r a um uso ­m ais aus­t e­r o, é ver­d a­d e,

8

nem por is­so me­nos subs­tan­ti­vo. Quan­to aos tra­ba­lhos em pa­pel, so­bre­tu­do nos pas­téis, me pa­re­ce qua­se im­pos­sí­vel não evo­car ­Paul ­Klee e o cro­ma­tis­ mo lú­d i­c o de ­s eus “qua­d ra­d os má­g i­c os”. É um tra­ç o ím­p ar do no­m a­d is­m o cul­tu­ral de ­Sean ­Scully (que in­clui, sa­bi­da­men­te, a em­pa­tia com ci­vi­li­za­ções “pri­m i­t i­v as”) a ca­p a­c i­d a­d e de des­t i­l ar va­l o­r es es­t é­t i­c os, eu di­r ia mes­m o a tex­tu­ra de cer­tos es­ta­dos de es­pí­ri­to ca­rac­te­ris­ti­ca­men­te eu­ro­peus, no con­ tex­to de um tra­ba­lho de fei­tio e es­ca­la tão nor­te-ame­ri­ca­nos. É cu­rio­so, tal­ vez re­la­ti­va­men­te de­sim­por­tan­te, mas não con­si­go lem­brar um úni­co ar­tis­ta con­tem­po­râ­neo que rea­li­ze se­me­lhan­te trân­si­to ar­tís­ti­co.

A es­s a al­t u­r a, se­r ia in­v iá­v el le­v ar a pin­t u­r a a reen­c an­t ar o pa­t hos

su­bli­me do ex­pres­sio­nis­mo abs­tra­to, que o ar­tis­ta tan­to ad­mi­ra; tam­pou­co é ad­mis­sí­vel, po­rém, dei­xá-la pre­sa à cir­cu­la­ri­da­de so­fis­ta da pop (e ­suas inú­ me­r as ver­s ões pós-mo­d er­n as), a con­s u­m ir um tan­t o inu­t il­m en­t e ­s uas ener­ gias. As pin­tu­ras de ­Sean ­Scully as­pi­ram a tudo menos a atra­ves­sar o fun­do da te­la em di­re­ção ao in­fi­ni­to: su­per­fí­cies es­pes­sas, agres­si­vas, já nas­ce­ram des­cren­tes acer­ca da trans­pa­rên­cia ­ideal do sis­te­ma pro­je­ti­vo da pers­pec­ti­va.

Fa­lam a lin­gua­gem da ima­nên­cia, imer­sas por com­ple­to no mun­do da vi­da.

Por is­so mes­mo, se re­cu­sam a ver di­luí­do um tra­ba­lho con­cre­to do es­pí­ri­to — a ma­t e­r ia­l i­d a­d e his­t ó­r i­c a da pin­t u­r a — em dó­c eis ar­t e­f a­t os da in­d ús­t ria da cul­t u­r a. Que ou­t ro de­s ig­n a­t i­v o me­r e­c e es­s a pro­d u­ç ão des­t i­n a­d a ao pron­t o con­su­mo ins­ti­tu­cio­nal? De to­do mo­do, é uma ar­te, li­te­ral­men­te, con­for­mis­ta: ado­ta a mes­ma for­ma do mun­do que, em ge­ral, cri­ti­ca. Pa­ra S ­ ean S ­ cully, ro­ mân­ti­co con­tem­po­râ­neo, a for­ma da ar­te res­pon­de sem­pre a uma ma­nei­ra de ser, a al­gu­ma as­ce­se ati­va de vi­da.

A uma te­la de M ­ ark Roth­k o, um dos mo­d e­los olím­p i­c os de S ­ ean

­Scully, ain­da era fa­cul­ta­do o di­rei­to poé­ti­co de ima­te­ria­li­zar-se, fun­dir-se ao ­éter es­té­ti­co do mun­do, des­de que con­se­guis­se reu­nir ener­gia con­tem­pla­ti­va su­fi­cien­te pa­ra dis­sol­ver a geo­me­tria fun­cio­na­lis­ta que o pre­si­dia. À in­ten­si­ da­de fí­si­ca da poé­ti­ca de ­Scully, nes­te iní­cio do sé­cu­lo XXI, ­opõe-se uma iné­ di­ta mas­sa de vio­lên­cia e ba­na­li­da­de que gos­ta de se anun­ciar im­pe­ne­trá­vel.

E, no en­tan­to, em­bo­ra em­pe­nha­das em ade­rir à su­per­fí­cie mó­vel e he­te­ro­gê­ nea do mun­do ­atual, as te­las de ­Scully não ­abrem mão do mo­men­to con­tem­ pla­ti­vo — ao pró­prio ­élan vi­tal não po­de fal­tar a in­te­rio­ri­da­de re­fle­xi­va. A te­la é uma apre­sen­ta­ção do r­ eal, nun­ca a sua mí­me­sis, por­que as­si­mi­la pro­ces­sos sub­je­ti­vos e pro­ces­sos ob­je­ti­vos. No ca­so, tal fu­são de­cor­re do jo­go de opo­si­ ções e con­jun­ções en­tre pa­drões geo­mé­tri­cos con­trá­rios mas (não me per­gun­ tem co­mo) co-ex­ten­si­vos. De luz são es­ses mu­ros, e nem por is­so dei­xam de ser mu­ros.

9

Des­c ar­t a­d a uma pri­m ei­r a lei­t u­r a sim­p lis­t a, que iden­t i­f i­c a­r ia a lin­ gua­gem de ­Scully à tra­di­ção cons­tru­ti­va e até a uma ar­te op, que es­ta­ria nas

­suas an­tí­po­das, res­ta o de­sa­fio de de­ci­frar a sua es­qui­si­ta geo­me­tria, de­sa­fio en­tre nós par­ti­cu­lar­men­te opor­tu­no, ten­do em vis­ta a im­por­tân­cia da Von­ta­de de Or­d em pa­r a a mo­d er­n i­d a­d e es­t é­t i­c a bra­s i­l ei­r a. A ri­g or, tra­t a-se de uma com­bi­na­tó­ria, ou, se pre­fe­ri­rem, um ar­ran­jo en­tre re­tân­gu­los ex­clu­si­vos. As te­las de ­Sean ­Scully ti­ram seu im­pac­to ini­cial do fa­to de tor­na­rem pic­to­ri­ca­ men­te am­bí­gua uma es­tru­tu­ra pla­nar ní­ti­da, se­rial e anô­ni­ma. No con­tex­to apa­ren­te de uma eco­no­mia ra­cio­na­lis­ta, sob o co­man­do de uma ló­gi­ca abs­ tra­ta, pul­sam acon­te­ci­men­tos im­pre­vi­sí­veis. Não so­men­te os re­tân­gu­los vão sen­do in­di­vi­dua­li­za­dos, qua­se no­mea­dos por cer­to tra­ta­men­to ex­pres­si­vo e por um in­c on­f un­d í­v el cro­m a­t is­m o lí­r i­c o, co­m o a pró­p ria in­t e­l i­g ên­c ia vi­s ual do qua­dro aca­ba por se re­ve­lar de­ci­di­da­men­te em­pí­ri­ca.

Di­zer que ca­da tra­ba­lho de­pen­de do exer­cí­cio re­no­va­do de uma per­ cep­ç ão vi­v a, que re­s ol­v e ­s eus di­l e­m as à me­d i­d a que vai des­c o­b rin­d o-os, é pou­c o ain­d a. Pe­l a sua pul­s a­ç ão fí­s i­c a, as te­l as de ­S ean ­S cully en­c on­t ram a

pró­pria for­ma: uma es­pé­cie de mé­dia pon­de­ra­da en­tre as va­ria­ções e gra­da­ ções que dis­tin­guem ca­da um dos re­tân­gu­los e de­ter­mi­nam o seu res­pec­ti­vo va­l or no con­j un­t o. As­s im, es­t ra­n ha­m en­t e, no tra­t o com in­t en­s i­d a­d es, es­s as par­tí­cu­las in­de­fi­ní­veis, de­ci­de-se a sor­te des­sa geo­me­tria. Fe­nô­me­no, a meu ver, in­dis­so­ciá­vel des­te ou­tro enig­ma: a for­ça co­mu­ni­ca­ti­va dos pa­drões geo­ mé­tri­cos bá­si­cos, re­cor­ren­tes, de ­Sean ­Scully. A atra­ção do ar­tis­ta pe­las geo­ me­trias is­lâ­mi­cas e pré-co­lom­bia­nas, sem es­que­cer a he­rál­di­ca cel­ta de ­suas ori­g ens, já nos for­n e­c e a pis­t a. Ali on­d e a geo­m e­t ria ­f lui, co­t i­d ia­n a­m en­t e, cons­ti­tui um den­so cam­po se­mân­ti­co, ne­la in­ves­te-se um sen­ti­do de vi­da. Da mes­ma for­ma, na pin­tu­ra de ­Sean S ­ cully, pul­sa a geo­me­tria. Ela nos fa­la tam­ bém afe­ti­va, ins­tin­ti­va­men­te.

Ronaldo Brito, Rio de Janeiro RJ, 1949.

Crítico de arte, professor de estética e história da arte, escreveu vários ensaios e artigos em livros, periódicos e catálogos. ­

3 Passenger Red Yellow

Line, 2000 óleo sobre tela (oil on canvas) 48,3 x 38,1cm, col. particular

10

12

4 Small Chelsea Wall of Light #2, 2000

รณleo sobre tela (oil on canvas) 45,7 x 61cm, col. particular

13

5 Small Chelsea Wall of Light #3, 2000

รณleo sobre tela (oil on canvas) 45,7 x 61cm, col. particular 6 Small Chelsea Wall of Light #4, 2000

รณleo sobre tela (oil on canvas) 45,7 x 61cm, col. particular

14

15

7 Because of the Other, 1997

รณleo sobre tela (oil on canvas) 243,8 x 365,7cm, col. particular

16

17

8 Wall of Light Frieze, 2001

óleo sobre tela (oil on canvas) 213,4 x 243,8cm, col. Museo de Arte Contemporáneo de Monterrey – MARCO, México 9 Wall of Light Sand, 2000

óleo sobre tela (oil on canvas) 213,4 x 243,8cm, col. Museo de Arte Moderno, Cidade do México, México

18

19

10 Small Checker, 2000

รณleo sobre linho sobre painel de madeira (oil on linen on wood board) 81,3 x 61cm, col. particular 11 Night Painting, 2001

รณleo sobre tela (oil on canvas) 213,4 x 162,6cm, col. particular

20

21

12 Coyote, 2000

รณleo sobre tela (oil on canvas) 274,3 x 304,8cm, col. particular

22

23

13 John Anthony, 2000

รณleo sobre tela (oil on canvas) 213,4 x 243,8cm, col. particular 14 Wall of Light Home, 2000

รณleo sobre tela (oil on canvas) 219,7 x 238,8cm, col. particular

24

25

15 Wall of Light Beach, 2001

รณleo sobre tela (oil on canvas) 101,6 x 127cm, col. particular 16 Wall of Light Amber, 2001

รณleo sobre tela (oil on canvas) 177,8 x 203,7cm, col. particular

26

27

17 12.10.00, 2000

pastel sobre papel (pastel on paper) 73,7 x 57,2cm, col. particular 18 9.6.99, 1999

pastel sobre papel (pastel on paper) 101,6 x 152,4cm, col. particular

28

29

30

19, 20 e 21 Sean Scully em seu ateliĂŞ de Barcelona, 1998

31

22 4.15.00, 2000

aquarela sobre papel (watercolor on paper) 38,1 x 50,2cm, col. particular 23 4.28.00, 2000

aquarela sobre papel (watercolor on paper) 38,1 x 50,2m, col. particular

32

33

24 11.11.00, 2000

aquarela sobre papel (watercolor on paper) 38,1 x 45,1cm, col. particular 25 Wall of Light 6.21.98, 1998

aquarela sobre papel (watercolor on paper) 38,1 x 45,1cm, col. particular 26 4.20.00, 2000

aquarela sobre papel (watercolor on paper) 38,1 x 45,1cm, col. particular 27 4.8.99, 1999

aquarela sobre papel (watercolor on paper) 38,1 x 45,1cm, col. particular

34

35

28 Wall of Light 4.84, 1984

aquarela sobre tela (watercolor on canvas) 22,9 x 30,5cm, col. Jane P. Watkins 29 Mexico Zacula 12.83, 1983

aquarela sobre papel (watercolor on paper) 22,9 x 29,2cm, col. Jane P. Watkins 30 4.1.84, 1984

aquarela sobre papel (watercolor on paper) 22,9 x 29,2cm, col. Jane P. Watkins

36

37

31 Traveler 2.84, 1984

aquarela sobre papel (watercolor on paper) 22,9 x 29,2cm, col. Jane P. Watkins 32 3.29.84, 1984

aquarela sobre papel (watercolor on paper) 22,9 x 30,5cm, col. Jane P. Watkins

38

33 Mexico Vallarta 12.83, 1983

aquarela sobre papel (watercolor on paper) 22,9 x 29,2cm, col. Jane P. Watkins 3 4 Mexico Ostula 12.28.83, 1983

aquarela sobre papel (watercolor on paper) 22,9 x 29,2cm, col. Jane P. Watkins

39

35 Mexico Calpulli, 1983

aquarela sobre papel (watercolor on paper) 29,2 x 22,9cm, col. Jane P. Watkins 3 6 Mexico Melague 12.20.83, 1983

aquarela sobre papel (watercolor on paper) 29,2 x 22,9cm, col. Jane P. Watkins

40

37 Mexico Hua Hua 12.83, 1983

aquarela sobre papel (watercolor on paper) 29,2 x 22,9cm, col. Jane P. Watkins 3 8 Mexico Colola 12.26.83, 1983

aquarela sobre papel (watercolor on paper) 29,2 x 22,9cm, col. Jane P. Watkins

41

Sean Scully nasceu em Dublin, na Irlanda, em 30 de junho de 1945. Antes de completar os quatro anos de idade, mudou-se com sua família para Londres, onde morou por alguns meses na decadente Old Kent Road, até que fosse viver, junto com parentes e imigrantes irlandeses, em uma nostálgica casa vitoriana alugada por sua avó no Highbury Hill, uma espécie de gueto irlandês.

Desenvolveu sua formação artística no Croydon College of Art de Londres, de 1965 a 1968. Estudou e lecionou, até 1972, na University of Newcastle, em Tyne. Nessa época, recebeu o prêmio da Stuyvesant Foundation (1970) e uma bolsa de estudos para a Harvard University, em Cambridge, Massachusetts, onde morou de 1972 a 1973. Passou, então, a dividir seu tempo entre Londres e Nova York. Em Londres, fez sua primeira exposição individual, na Rowan Gallery, em 1973 e ensinou na Chelsea School of Art e na Goldsmith's School of Art até 1975. Uma bolsa de estudos recebida em 1975 da Harkness permitiu que ele se estabelecesse em Nova York, conquistando, enfim, em 1983, a cidadania americana. De 1977 a 1983, foi professor na Princeton University, em Nova Jersey. Em 1983, recebeu outras duas bolsas de estudo – a Guggenheim Fellowship e a Artist's Fellowship do National Endowment for the Arts. Em 1990, Sean Scully teve sua monografia publicada pelo Hudson Hills Press, de Nova York. Em dezembro de 1992, voltou ao Marrocos, que havia conhecido em 1969, quando foi seduzido pela visão das listras multicoloridas das peças de lã tingida, dependuradas por toda parte. Essa segunda visita teve por objetivo a realização de um filme sobre Matisse, para a BBC. Nesse mesmo ano, começou a trabalhar com a Galeria Bernd Luser, em Munique. Em 1993, realizou sua primeira mostra da série Catherine Paintings, no Museum of Modern Art of Fort Worth, no Texas. No verão de 1994, pintou suas primeiras telas no novo estúdio, instalado em Barcelona. No ano seguinte, participou das palestras de Joseph Beuys, na Ruskin School of Drawing and Fine Art, na Oxford University, Inglaterra. Em 1998, integrou os debates desenvolvidos em paralelo à exposição "Richard Pousette-Dart (1916-1992)", no Metropolitan Museum of Art de Nova York. A primeira tela Chelsea Wall 1999 foi pintada no seu novo estúdio em Chelsea, Nova York. Em 2000, ingressou como membro honorário no London Institute e, em 2001, no Aosdána.

42

CRONOLOGIA

43

Exposições Individuais Solo Exhibitions

1986 David McKee Gallery, Nova York [c]

[c] indica a existência de catálogo publicado (denotes that a catalogue was published)

1987 “Monotypes”, Pamela Auchincloss Gallery, Santa Bárbara, Califórnia [c]; David McKee Gallery, Nova York; e (and) Douglas Flanders Contemporary Art, Minneapolis, Minnesota Mayor Rowan Gallery, Londres [c] Galerie Schmela, Dusseldorf [c]

1973 Rowan Gallery, Londres 1974 Rowan Gallery, Londres Tortue Gallery, Santa Mônica, Califórnia [c] 1976 Tortue Gallery, Santa Mônica, Califórnia 1977 Duffy-Gibbs Gallery, Nova York Rowan Gallery, Londres 1979 “Painting for One Place”, instalação (installation), Nadin Gallery, Nova York Rowan Gallery, Londres The Clocktower, Nova York 1980 Susan Caldwell Gallery, Nova York

40 Mexico la Cina 12.83, 1983

aquarela sobre papel (watercolor on paper) 29,2 x 22,9cm, col. Jane P. Watkins

1981 Rowan Gallery, Londres Museum fur (Sub-) Kultur, Berlim “Sean Scully: Paintings 1971-1981”, Ikon Gallery, Birmingham, Inglaterra.

Itinerou sob o patrocínio do Arts Council of Great Britain para (traveled under the auspices of the Arts Council of Great Britain to): Sunderland Arts Center, Sunderland, Inglaterra; Douglas Hyde Gallery, Dublin, Irlanda; Warwick Arts Trust, Londres [c] McIntosh-Drysdale Gallery, Washington DC 1982 William Beadleston Gallery, Nova York 1983 David Mckee Gallery, Nova York

44

1988 “Four Paintings”, Art Institute of Chicago Matrix/Berkeley University Art Museum [c] Fuji Television Gallery, Tóquio [c] 1989 David McKee Gallery, Nova York [c] The Whitechapel Art Gallery, Londres.

Viajou para o (traveled to) Palacio de Velázquez del Retiro, Madri; Lenbachhaus, Munique [c] “Pastel Drawings”, Grob Gallery, Londres 1990 Karsten Greve Gallery, Colônia Galerie de France, Paris [c] David McKee Gallery, Nova York [c] 1991 “Paintings and Works on Paper”, Jamileh Weber Gallery, Zurique [c] 1992 “Prints”, Weinberger Gallery, Copenhague “Woodcuts”, Pamela Auchincloss Gallery, Nova York; Bobbie Greenfield Gallery, Los Angeles, Califórnia; e (and) Stephen Solovy Fine Art, Chicago, Illinois “Prints and Related Work”, Brooke Alexander Editions, Nova York Daniel Weinberg Gallery, Santa Mônica, Califórnia The Carpenter Center, Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts Waddington Galleries, Londres [c]

1984 Juda Rowan Gallery, Londres Galery S65, Aalst, Bélgica

1993 Mary Boone Gallery, Nova York “Catherine Paintings”, Forth Worth Modern Art Museum, Fort Worth, Texas [c] Waddington Galleries, Londres Galerie Bernd Kluser, Munique [c]

1985 David Mckee Gallery, Nova York Barbara Krakow Gallery, Boston, Massachusetts Carnegie Institute, Pittsburgh, Pensilvânia. Viajou para o (traveled to) Boston Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, Massachusetts [c] Galerie Schmela, Dusseldorf

1994 Fuji Television Gallery, Tóquio [c] “Works on Paper”, Knoedler and Company, Nova York Butler Gallery, Kikenny Castle, Kikenny, Irlanda Kerlin Gallery, Dublin Galleria Gian Ferrari Arte Contemporânea, Milão [c]

1995 Galeria El Dario Vasco, San Sebastián, Espanha [c] Galeria De L’Ancien College, Chatellerault, França [c] Waddington Galleries, Londres [c] Mary Boone Gallery, Nova York Galerie Bernd Kluser, Munique [c] “Sean Scully: Twenty Years”, Hirschorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, Washington, DC. Itinerou para o (traveled to the) High Museum of Art, Atlanta, Geórgia; La Caixa des Pensiones, Barcelona; (1996) Irish Museum of Modern Art, Dublin; e (and) Schirn Kunsthalle, Frankfurt (1996) [c] “Catherine Paintings”, Kunsthalle Bielefeld [c]. Itinerou para o (traveled to the) Palais des Beaux-Arts, Charleroi, Bélgica 1996 “Catherine Paintings”, Casino Luxembourg, Forum d’Art Contemporain, Luxemburgo [c] Editions T, Barcelona [c] “Floating Paintings and Work on Paper”, Galerie Nationale de Jeu de Paume, Paris.

Viajou para (traveled to) Neue Galerie der Stadt Linz, Linz, Áustria; Culturgest, Lisboa (1997) [c] “Paintings and Work on Paper”, Galeria d’Arte Moderna, Villa delle Rose, Bolonha [c] Galeria Carles Tache, Barcelona [c] “Pastels”, Galerie Lelong, Nova York “Prints”, Galerie Angelika Harthan, Stuttgart “Works on Paper 1975-1996”, Graphische Sammlung, Munique. Itinerou para (traveled to) Museum Folkwang, Essen, Alemanha; Henie + Onstad Art Center, Hovikodden, Noruega; (1997) Whitworth Art Gallery, Manchester, Inglaterra; Hugh Lane Municipal Gallery of Art, Dublin; (1998) Herning Kunstmuseum, Herning, Dinamarca; Milwaukee Art Museum, Milwaukee, Minnesota; Denver Art Museum, Denver, Colorado; Carpenter Center, Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts; e (and) Albright-Knox Art Gallery, Búfalo, Nova York (2000) [c] 1997 “Sean Scully 1987-1997”, Sala de Exposiciones Rekalde, Bilbao. Viajou para (traveled to) Salas del Palacio Episcopal – Plaza del Obispo, Málaga, Espanha; Fundación “la Caixa”, Palma de Mallorca, Espanha [c] “Sean Scully 1982-1996”, Manchester City Art Gallery, Manchester, Inglaterra [c] “Recent Paintings”, Galerie Lelong, Paris [c] Kerlin Gallery, Dublin “Floating Paintings and Photographs”,

Galerie Lelong, Nova York Galeria DV, San Sebastián, Espanha [c] Mary Boone Gallery, Nova York Jamileh Weber Gallery, Zurique John Berggruen Gallery, São Francisco, Califórnia 1998 Galerie Bernd Kluser, Munique Timothy Taylor Gallery, Londres Bawag Foundation, Viena [c] Galerie Haas & Fuchs, Berlim Mira Goddard Gallery, Toronto Galleri Weinberger, Copenhague Galeria Antonia Puyo, Zaragoza, Espanha Galerie Le Triangle Blue, Stavelot, Bélgica 1999 Galerie Lelong, Paris [c] “Print Retrospective”, Graphische Sammlung Albertina, Viena. Viajou para o (traveled to the) Musée du Dessin et de l’Estampe Originale, Gravelines, França; Von der Heydt Museum, Wuppertal, Alemanha (catalogue raisonné) “New Paintings and Works on Paper”, Danese Gallery e (and) Gallery Lelong, Nova York South London Gallery, Londres [c] “Work form Garner Tullis Workshop”, Galerie Kornfeld, Zurique Kerlin Gallery, Dublin [c] “Ten Barcelona Paintings”, Galerie Bernd Kluser, Munique [c] 2000 “Drawings”, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Nova York Galeria Carles Tache, Barcelona [c] “Estampes 1983-1999”, Musée des Beaux-Arts de Caen, Caen, França [c] “Sean Scully Photographies”, Galerie de l’Ancien College Ecole Municipale d’Arts Plastiques, Chatellerault, França “Sean Scully”, Ingleby Gallery, Edimburgo “Graphics”, Galleria d’Arte A + A, Veneza 2001 “Barcelona Etchings for Frederico Garcia Lorca”, Instituto Cervantes, Londres “Sean Scully: Light and Gravity”, Knoedler + Company, Nova York [c] “New Works on Paper”, Galerie Lelong, Nova York “Paintings, Drawings, Photographs 1990-2001”, Kunstsammlung NordrheinWestfalen, Dusseldorf. Viaja para (travels to) Haus de Kunst, Munique; e (and) I.V.A.M., Valença [c] “Sean Scully Work on Paper”, Rex Irwin Gallery, Woollahra, Austrália. Viaja para (travels to) Dickerson Gallery, Melbourne, Austrália Galerie Lelong, Paris “Sean Scully”, Le Musée Jenisch,

Vevey, Suíça “Sean Scully: walls/windows/horizons”, David Winton Bell Gallery, Brown University, Providence, EUA “Wall of Light”, Museo D’Arte Contemporaneo De Monterrey, México, curadoria de (curated by) Michael Auping.

Viaja para (travels to) Museo de Arte Moderno, Cidade do México [c] 2002 Camara de Comercio de Cantabria, Santander, Espanha. Viaja para (travels to) Ayuntamiento de Pamplona, Polvorin de la Ciudadela [c] Gemaldegalerie Neue Meister Staatliche Kunstsammlungen, Dresden, Alemanha [c] Galeria Ramis Barquet, Monterrey, México [c] L.A. Louver Gallery, Los Angeles [c] Centro de Arte Hélio Oiticica, Rio de Janeiro [c] 2003 Sara Hilden Art Museum,Tempere, Finlândia [c]. Viaja para (travels to) Neues Museum, Weimar, Alemanha [c]

Exposições Coletivas Group Exhibitions 1969 “Northern Young Contemporaries”, Whitworth Art Gallery, Manchester, Inglaterra 1970 “London Young Contemporaries”.

Viajou sob o patrocínio do (traveled under the auspices of the) Arts Council of Great Britain 1971 “Art Spectrum North”, Laing Art Gallery, Newcastle-upon-Tyne; City Arts Gallery, Leeds; Whitworth Art Gallery, Manchester 1972 “John Moores Liverpool Exhibition 8” (premiado / prize winner) “Northern Young Painters”, Stirling University, Escócia 1973 “La Peinture Anglaise Aujourd’hui”, Museum of Modern Art, Paris [c] “Critics Choice”, Gulbenkian Gallery, Newcastle, Inglaterra 1974 International Biennale of Art, Menton, França “British Painting”, Hayward Art Gallery, Londres

45

1975 Art Fair Contemporary Art Society, Londres 1976 “Invitational”, John Weber Gallery, Nova York 1977 “Four Artists”, Nobe Gallery, Nova York 1978 “Certain Traditions”, The British Council.

Exposição itinerante (traveling exhibition), Canadá 1979 “New Wave Painting”, The Clocktower, Nova York “Fourteen Painters”, Lehman College, Nova York “First Exhibition”, Toni Birkhead Gallery, Cincinnati, Ohio 1980 “Marking Black”, Bronx Museum of Art, Nova York “New Directions”, Princeton University Art Museum, Princeton 1981 “Arabia Felix”, Art Galaxy Gallery, Nova York. Curadoria de (curated by) William Zimmer “New Directions”, curadoria de (curated by) Sam Hunter, Sidney Janis Gallery, Nova York 1982 “Recent Aspects of All-Over”, Harm Boukaert Gallery, Nova York. Curadoria de (curated by) Theodore Bonin “Abstract Painting”, curadoria de (curated by) William Zimmer, Jersey City Museum 1983 “American Abstract Artists”, exposição itinerante nacional (national traveling exhibition) “Nocturne”, Siegel Contemporary Art, Nova York. Curadoria de (curated by) Michael Walls “Contemporary Abstract painting”, Muhlenberg College, Allentown, Pensilvânia [c] 1984 “An International Survey of Recent Painting and Sculpture”, Museum of Modern Art, Nova York, [c] “Part 1: Twelve Abstract Painters”, Siegel Contemporary Art, Nova York “ROSC”, The Guinness Hops Store, Dublin, Irlanda

46

“Currents # 6”, Milwaukee Art Museum, Milwaukee, Wisconsin, EUA “Small Works: New Abstract Painting”, Lafayette College e Muhlenberg College, Allentown, Pensilvânia “Hassam & Speicher Purchase Fund Exhibition”, Academy of Arts and Letters, Nova York 1985 “Abstract Painting as Surface and Object”, Hillwood Art Gallery, C.W Post Center, Long Island, EUA University-Greenvale, Nova York “An Invitational”, Condeso/Lawler Gallery, Nova York. Curadoria de (curated by) Tiffany Bell “Decade of Visual Arts at Princeton: Faculty 1975-1985”, Princeton University Museum of Art, Princeton “Abstraction/Issues”, Tibor de Nagy, Nova York; Oscarsson Hood, Nova York; e (and) Sherry French, Nova York “Art on Paper”, Weatherspoon Art Gallery, University of North Carolina at Greensboro, Carolina do Norte “Masterpieces of the Avant-Garde”, Annely Juda Fine Art / Juda Rowan Gallery, Londres 1986 “After Matisse”, exposição itinerante organizada por (traveling exhibition organized by) Independent Curators, Inc. “An American Renaissance in Art: Painting and Sculpture since 1940”, Fort Lauderdale Museum of Fine Art, Flórida “Public and Private: American Prints Today”, Brooklyn Museum of Art, Brooklyn, Nova York “Sean Scully and Catherine Lee”, Paul Cava Gallery, Philadelphia, Pensilvânia “CAL Collects 1”, University Art Museum, The University of California, Berkeley, Califórnia “The heroic Sublime”, Charles Cowles Gallery, Nova York “Structure/Abstraction”, Hill Gallery, Birmingham, Michigan, EUA. Cortesia de (courtesy of) David Mckee Gallery, Nova York, e (and) Pamela Auchincloss Gallery, Santa Bárbara, Califórnia “Detroiters Collect: New Generation”, Meadow Brook Art Gallery, Oakland University, Rochester, Michigan, EUA “Recent Acquisitions”, Contemporary Arts Center, Honolulu, Havaí 1987 “Corcoran Biennial”, Corcoran Gallery of Art, Washington, DC [c] “Harvey Quaytman and Sean Scully”, Festival de Helsinque (Helsinki Festival), Helsinque, Finlândia [c]

“Drawing from the 80’s – Chatsworth Collaboration”, Carnegie Mellon University Art Gallery, Pittsburgh, Pensilvânia “Drawn-Out”, Kansas City Art Institute, Kansas, Missouri “Magic in the Minds Eye: Part 1 & 2”, Meadow Brook Art Gallery, Rochester, Michigan “Logical Foundations”, Pfizer, Inc. The Museum of Modern Art, Nova York.

Curadoria de (curated by) Advisory Services (1987-1988) “Works on Paper”, Nina Freundenheim Gallery, Búfalo, Nova York 1988 “17 Years at the Barn”, Rosa Esman Gallery, Nova York “Works on Paper: Selections from the Garner Tullis Workshop”, Pamela Auchincloss Gallery, Nova York “New Editions”, Crown Point Press, São Francisco, Califórnia e (and) Nova York “Sightings: Drawings with Color”, Pratt Institute, Nova York (exposição itinerante / traveling exhibition) 1989 “The Elusive Surface”, The Albuquerque Museum, Albuquerque, Novo México, EUA “Drawings and Related Prints”, Castelli Graphics, Nova York “Essential Painting”, Nelson Atkins Museum, Kansas “The 1980’s: Prints from the Collection of Joshua P. Smith”, National Gallery of Art, Washington, DC [c] 1990 “Drawings: Joseph Beuys, Paul Rotterdam, Sean Scully, Arnold Herstand & Company”, Anthony Ralph Gallery, Nova York [c] “Sean Scully/Donald Sultan: Abstraction/ Representation”, Stanford Art Gallery, Stanford University, Stanford, Califórnia [c] “Geometric Abstraction”, Marc Richards Gallery, Santa Mônica, Califórnia “Artists in the Abstract”, Weatherspoon Art Gallery, University of North Carolina at Greensboro, Greensboro, Carolina do Norte [c] 1991 “Small Format Works on Paper”, John Berggruen Gallery, São Francisco, Califórnia “Post modern Prints”, Victoria and Albert Museum, Londres “Group Show”, Louver Gallery, Nova York “La Metafisica Della Luce”, John Goode Gallery, Nova York. Curadoria de (curated by) Demetrio Paparoni

47

Galeria Sergio Tossi, Prato, Itália [c] 1993 “Tutte le Strade Portano A Roma”, The Exhibition Center of Rome, Roma [c] “Beyond Paint”, Tobor de Nagy Gallery, Nova York “Drawing in Black and White”, The Museum of Modern Art, The New York Grolier Club, Nova York [c] “American and European Prints”, Machida City Museum of Arts, Tóquio [c] “American and European Works on Paper”, Gallery Martin Wieland, Trier, Alemanha “Italia-America L’Astrazione Redefinita”, Dicastro Cultura, Galleria Nazionale d’Arte Moderna, República de São Marino, Itália [c] “Partners”, Annely Juda Fine Art, Londres [c] “25 Years”, Cleveland Center for Contemporary Art, Cleveland, Ohio [c] “Modernities”, Baumgartner Galleries, Washington, DC “5 One Person Shows”, Jamileh Weber Gallery, Zurique

1992 “Four Series of Prints”, John Berggruen Gallery, São Francisco, Califórnia “Recent Abstract Painting”, Cleveland Center for Contemporary Art, Cleveland, Ohio “Collaboration in Monotype from the Garner Tullis Workshop”, Sert Gallery, Carpenter Center for the Visual Arts, Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts “Geteilte Bilder”, Museum Folkwang, Essen, Alemanha [c] “Behind Bars”, Thread Waxing Space, Nova York [c] “Color Block Prints of the 20th Century”, Associated American Artists, Nova York [c] “Whitechapel Open”, Whitechapel Art Gallery, Londres “Painted on Press: Recent Abstract Prints”, Madison Art Center, Madison, Wisconsin, EUA “Monotypes, Woodcuts, Drawings”, Europaische Akademie Fur Bildende Kunst, Trier, Alemanha “Monotypes from Garner Tullis Workshop”, SOMA Gallery, San Diego, Califórnia, EUA “44th Annual Academy-Institute Purchase Exhibition”, American Academy of Arts and Letters

48

1994 “Recent Painting Acquisitions”, Tate Gallery, Londres “Contemporary Watercolors: Europe and America”, UNT Art Gallery, Denton, Texas “For 25 Years Brooke Alexander Editions”, Museum of Modern Art, Nova York “Recent Acquisitions: Paintings from the Collection”, The Irish Museum of Museum Art, Dublin, Irlanda “L’Incanto e la Trascendenza”, Galleria Civica de Arte Contemporanea, Trento, Itália “British Abstract Art”, Flowers East Gallery, Londres “Recent Acquisitions: Prints and Photographs”, The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, Ohio 1995 “Seven from the Seventies”, Knoedler Gallery, Nova York “New Publications” Brooke Alexander Editions, Nova York “New York Abstract”, Contemporary Arts Center, Nova Orleans, Luisiana “US Prints”, Retretti Art Center, Punkaharju, Finlândia “Color + Structure”, Galerie Lelong, Nova York 1996 “XV Salon de los 16”, Museo de Antropologia, Madri “Balancing Act”, Room Gallery, Nova York “Nuevas Abstracciones”, Museo Nacional

Centro de Arte Reina Sofia, Madri. Viajou para (traveled to) Kunsthalle Bielefeld, Bielefeld, Alemanha; e (and) Museu d’Art Contemporani de Barcelona, Barcelona “Bare Bones”, TZ Art, Nova York “Festival de Culture Irlandaise Contemporaine”, Ecoles des Beaux-Arts, Paris “Thinking Print”, Museum of Modern Art, Nova York “Holländisches Bad: Radierungen zur Renaissance einer Technik”, Kunsthaus, Hamburgo. Viajou para (traveled to) Brecht-Haus-Weissensee, Berlim 1997 “After the Fall: Abstract Painting”, Snug Harbor Cultural Center, Staten Island, Nova York “British Arts Council Collection”, Royal Festival Hall, Londres “The Pursuit of Painting”, Irish Museum of Modern Art, Dublin, Irlanda “Prints”, Galerie Lelong, Nova York “Prints”, Galerie Lelong, Paris “A Century of Irish Paintings; Selections from the Collection of the Hugh Lane Municipal Gallery of Modern Art, Dublin”, The Hugh Lane Municipal Gallery of Modern Art, Dublin, Irlanda. Viajou para (traveled to): The Hokkaido Museum of Modern Art, Sapporo, Japão; The Mitaka City Gallery of Art, Mitaka, Tóquio; Yamanashi Perfectural Museum of Art, Yamanashi, Japão [c] “The View From Denver: Contemporary American Art from the Denver Art Museum”, Museum Moderner Kunst Stiftung Ludwig Wien, Viena [c] “Thirty Five Years at Crown Point Press: Making Prints, Doing Art”, The National Gallery of Art,Washington DC, e (and) Fine Arts Museum of San Francisco, São Francisco, EUA [c] “Singular Impressions: The Monotype in America”, The National Museum of American Art, Washington DC 1998 “Zeit und Materie”, Baukunst, Colônia, Alemanha “Contemporary Art: The Janet Wolfson de Botton Gift”, Tate Gallery, Londres “The Edward R. Broida Collection: A Selection of Works”, Orlando Museum of Art, Orlando, Flórida “Photographies”, Galerie Lelong, Paris “On a Clear Day”, Graphische Sammlung, Staatsgalerie Stuttgart, Stuttgart “Arterias: Collection of Contemporary art Fundacio la Caixa”, Malmö Konsthall, Malmö, Suécia “Large Scale Drawings”, Danese Gallery, Nova York

“Jan Dibbets/Sean Scully fotografias”, Galeria Estiarte, Madri “Sean Scully/Lawrence Carroll”, Lawing Gallery, Houston, Texas “Group Exhibition”, Kerlin Gallery, Dublin “Corcoran Biennial”, Corcoran Gallery of Art, Washington, DC [c] “Sarajevo 2000”, Museum Moderner Kunst StiftungLudwig Wein, Viena “Acquisitions 1997”, Le Conseil General du Val-de-Marne FDAC exibido no (exhibited at) Hotel du Departement, Creteil, França “Matrix Berkeley 1978-1998”, University of California Berkeley Art Museum e (and) Pacific Film Archive, Berkley, Califórnia “En Norsk Samling Au Europeisk kunst”, Trondheim Kunstmuseum, Noruega

2002 “Augenblik, Foto/Kunst”, Sammlung Essl-Klosterneuburg, Viena [c] 25a Bienal de São Paulo, Fundação Bienal de São Paulo, São Paulo [c] “Margins of Abstraction”, Kouors Gallery, Nova York. Curadoria de (curated by) Robert Knafo “177th Annual Exhibition”, National Academy of Design, Nova York

1999 “The Essl Collection: The First View”, Museum Sammlung Essl-Klosterneuburg, Viena “Signature Pieces: Contemporary British Prints and Multiples”, Alan Christea Gallery, Londres “Unlocking the Grid: Concerning the grid in recent painting”, University of Rhode Island, Kingston, Rhode Island, EUA “Drawing in the Present Tense”, Parsons School of Design, Nova York, e (and) Eastern Connecticut State University, Willimantic, Connecticut (2000) “1999 Drawings”, Alexander + Bonin, Nova York “Side by Side”, Knoedler + Company, Nova York “Geometry as Design: Structures of Modern Art from Albers to Paik”, Neue National Galerie, Berlim 2000 “New Works”, Galerie Jamileh Weber, Zurique “On Canvas: Contemporary Painting from the Collection”, The Guggenheim Museum, Nova York “L’Ombra Della Ragione”, Galleria D’Arte Moderna Bologna, Bolonha “September Selections”, Knoedler & Company, Nova York 2001 “A Century of Drawing”, The National Gallery of Art, Washington DC [c] “Watercolor: In the Abstract”. Curadoria de (curated by) Pamela Auchincloss, inaugurada no (starting at the) Hyde Collection Art Museum, Nova York, seguiu para (went to) M.C. Rockefeller Arts Center Gallery, Nova York; Butler Institute of American Art, Ohio; Ben Shan Gallery, Nova Jersey; e (and) Sarah Moody Gallery of Art, Tuscaloosa, EUA

42 Land Sea Sky, 2000

C-print, edição de seis, 101,5 x 72,5cm 4 3 Santo Domingo #2, 1999

C-print, 94,5 x 124,5cm 44 Santo Domingo #3, 1999

C-print, 94,5 x 124,5cm

49

Sean Scully was born in Dublin, Ireland, on June 30, 1945. Before the age of four, he moved with his family to London, where he lived for several months in decadent Old Kent Road, until he moved with his relatives and other Irish immigrants to a nostalgic Victorian house rented by his grandmother in Highbury Hill, an Irish ghetto.

Scully’s artistic education was developed at the Croydon College of Art, London, from 1965 to 1968. He studied and taught, until 1972, at the University of Newcastle upon Tyne, United Kingdom. During this period, he was awarded the Stuyvesant Foundation Prize (1970) and a fellowship to Harvard University in Cambridge, Massachusetts, where he lived from 1972 to 1973. From then on, Scully’s time was divided between London and New York. In London, he had his first one-person exhibit at the Rowan Gallery, in 1973, and taught at the Chelsea School of Art and the Goldsmith’s School of Art until 1975. The Harkness Fellowship granted to him in 1975 allowed him to settle in New York, and he finally became an American citizen in 1983. From 1977 to 1983, he taught at Princeton University, New Jersey. In 1983, he was granted two other fellowships — the Guggenheim Fellowship and the Artist’s Fellowship, from the National Endowment for the Arts. In 1990, Sean Scully had his monograph published by the Hudson Hills Press, New York. In December 1992 he revisited Morroco, where he had been in 1969, and was enchanted by the stripes of multi-colored dyed wool hanging at the marketplace. The purpose of this second visit was the making of a film on Matisse, for the BBC. In this same year he joined the Bernd Luser Galery, in Munich. In 1993, he organized his first exhibit of the Catherine Paintings in the Museum of Modern Art of Fort Worth, Texas. During the summer of 1994, he produced his first paintings in his new studio in Barcelona.

In the following year, he participated in the Joseph Beuys Lectures, at the Ruskin School of Drawing and Fine Art, Oxford University, England. In 1998 he took part in a colloquium held in conjunction with the exhibit “Richard Pousette-Dart (1916-1992)” at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Chelsea Wall 1999 was the first painting made in his new studio at the Chelsea District of New York. In 2000, Scully became an Honorary Fellow in the London Institute and, in 2001, in Aosdána.

50

ENGLISH VERSION

51

Contrary geometry

to confront and metabolize a startling amount of opaque reality. The challenge was the same as that facing all painters: to draw from this reality, despite

52

Reinventing painting: this is the simple and impossi-

everything, its intrinsic light. The thick stretcher

ble task of the modern painter. In order to obtain its

frame recalling boat-hulls, the protruding parts, the

contemporary power, the pictorial language of Sean

cuts and inserts of canvas into the picture, a sum of

Scully follows this classic destiny. Through a retro-

resources of approximation and intensification of the

spective gaze – which tends in fact to be misleadingly

picture plane manifesting the urgency to activate the

straightforward – above all, he had to overcome the

contact of the canvas with the world, narrowing the

virtualism of the European view in order to achieve

topological ties with the expansive contemporary re-

the physical scale of North American painting, turn-

ality.

ing his pictures into a conductor for a perception

geared to the world; and more, transform it into a pro-

do in fact involve us; their physical pulsation forces us

cessing agent of the world.

to see them with the whole body. This is a coarse and

This brought him face-to-face with the historic

heavy type of painting, done much more through the

Flags of Jasper Johns, where the all-over of Jackson

build-up of layers and mass than any expressive ges-

Pollock loses its heroic expressive drive, taking on a

tures. This is why it can at times absorb the memory of

literal and disenchanted dimension. Second-degree

the satirical paint of Phillip Guston, smearing the col-

Ready-Mades, these extraordinary canvases seemed

ors and blurring the light. Obviously, his purpose was

to draw their power from a final stroke of modern

never to redeem, purely and simply, some playful as-

irony: skeptical in the strict sense of the word, they

pect, the dance of the geometric elements that are

suspended the meaning of painting. From here, mini-

eternally available.

malist pragmatics deployed their praise of the struc-

ture, abolishing the plastic continuity of form in favor

synthesis, as though everything in them was moving

of radical breaks of the element, practically ruling out

towards a grid-lock, with no way of escaping from this

the pictorial gesture. Running counter to this trend,

dead-end, but finally resulting in harmony. A prob-

Sean Scully seeks to uphold the pertinence of paint-

lematic harmony, of course. Within a basic scheme,

ing as a cultural practice. This demands nothing less

the continuous and discontinuous clash and embrace,

than recycling the compositional short-circuit of the

conflicting and integrating within this explicit but al-

all-over, relativizing it, triggering new and surprising

most always disturbing juxtaposition of geometrical

relational – or perhaps counter-relational – nexi. This

patterns. Each of them is closed within itself, isolated

recharges painting with a vital pulse that the minimal-

and incommunicable; together however, side by side,

ist canvas visibly lacks. And he does so firmly, on the

they end up forming a set, an insinuating whole that

homeground of the adversary – within the severe lim-

we can only confirm and never reconstitute. Intrigued,

its of an abstract geometric combination.

the eye tends to return, interminably retracing the ab-

surd route.

By re-introducing a positive pictorial act among

Despite their full frontal approach, these canvases

The canvases of Sean Scully sum up a disjunctive

the “indifferent” stripes of Johns – and through the

same gesture, dismissing the pop concept they display

an, there are no diagonals. The difficult task is to

However, there are no tricks here. As in Mondri-

–, Sean Scully renews contact with the modern tradi-

shake the planar order, showing its contingency, its

tion of freedom to paint. For instance, in contrast to

intrinsic uncertainty, without appealing to illusion-

the guilt-laden minimalistic chromatic seriality, he can

isms. The colors are ordinary, the tones of our daily

deploy once again the contrasts of Matisse. Averse to

lives, and are also erudite, blended by the rich pictori-

linear progressions, his irregular geometric combina-

al imaginary universe of the artist. To the unforgetta-

tions are driven by clashes and counter-positions; im-

ble shades of the Moroccan Matisse of the second

pregnated by the vital keynote of color, intense, diver-

decade of the 20th century are added the sensational

sified, this odd narrative geometry has an indirect but

open and almost pop colors of Matisse during his late

unmistakable biographical accent, eager to keep up

period in Nice at the end of the 1930s; the somewhat

with the pace of life.

cynical grays of Johns (almost essential to Scully) take

However, all this depends on a growing signifi-

on a severe aspect, which is at the same time denser

cant materialization of painting, on the effort to en-

and more liquid, as though Freud’s famous return of

dow the picture with a quantum presence enabling it

the repressed were taking place here – returning to

the surface of the canvas the pictorial effects typical of

The canvas is a presentation of reality itself, never its

Abstract Expressionism that Johns parodied and re-

mimesis, because it assimilates subjective processes

strained, and that Scully releases once again, giving

and objective processes. In this case, this merger de-

them a more austere use, it is true, but nevertheless no

rives from the play of oppositions and conjunctions

less substantive. Looking at the works on paper, above

between geometric patterns that are contrary but co-

all the pastels, it seems almost impossible to me not to

extensive (don’t ask me how). These walls may be

evoke Paul Klee and the playful chromatism of his

made from light but still remain walls.

“magic squares”. This is an unparalleled trait of the

cultural nomadism of Sean Scully (which includes a

would identify the language of Scully with the con-

notorious empathy with “primitive” civilizations), this

structive tradition or even Op Art, which would be di-

capacity to distill esthetic values and I would even say

ametrically opposite, the challenge remains of deci-

the texture of certain states of spirit that are character-

phering his strange geometry, a challenge which is

istically European within the context of a work with

particularly timely due to the importance of the Will

such a North American scale. Curiously enough,

for Order in modern Brazilian aesthetics. Strictly

though perhaps this is not so important, I am unable to

speaking, this is a combination or perhaps an arrange-

recall a single contemporary artist who has achieved a

ment between exclusive rectangles. The canvases of

similar artistic dialogue.

Sean Scully draw their initial impact from the fact that

Having discarded a first simplistic reading that

At this stage, it would not be feasible to bring

they make a clear, serial and anonymous planar struc-

painting back to a fresh enchantment with the sub-

ture, pictorially ambiguous. Within the apparent con-

lime pathos of Abstract Expressionism that the artist

text of a rationalist economy, ruled by abstract logic,

admires so much; nor is it acceptable either to leave it

there pulsate unforeseeable events. Not only are the

bound to the sophistic circularity of Pop Art (and its

rectangles individualized and almost nominated

endless Post-Modern versions), consuming its ener-

through a certain expressive treatment and an unmis-

gies somewhat needlessly. The paintings of Sean

takably lyrical chromatism, but the visual intelligence

Scully aspire to everything but spatial recession. Their

of the picture itself also turns out to be decidedly em-

thick, aggressive surfaces are already born disbeliev-

pirical.

ing in the ideal transparency of the projective system

of perspective. They speak the language of imma-

exercise of living perception, which resolves its dilem-

nence, completely immersed in the lifeworld. This is

mas as they are discovered, would be an understate-

why they reject the dilution of a concrete work of the

ment. Through their physical vibration, the canvases

spirit – the historic materiality of painting – in the

of Sean Scully find their own form: a kind of weighted

docile artifacts of the culture industry. What other

average between the variations and graduations, dis-

name does this output warrant, intended for instant

tinguishing each of the rectangles and determining

institutional consumption? This is an art that is quite

their respective values within the whole. Oddly

literally conformist: it adopts the same form as the

enough, it is the treatment of intensities, those inde-

world that it usually criticizes. For Sean Scully, a con-

finable particles, which decides the outcome of this

temporary romantic, the form of art always reflects a

geometry. In my view, a phenomenon that is insepara-

way of being, some active uplifting of life.

ble from another enigma: the communicative power of

A canvas by Mark Rothko, one of the Olympian

the recurrent basic geometric patterns of Sean Scully.

models of Sean Scully, still had the poetic right to im-

The attraction of the artist to Islamic and pre-Colom-

materialization, fused to the aesthetic ether of the

bian geometries, without forgetting the Celtic her-

world, provided that it managed to gather sufficient

aldry of his forefathers, already offers us a clue. These

contemplative energy to dissolve the functionalistic

geometries open up a dense semantic field which is

geometry that dominated it. Opposed to the physical

invested with a sense of life. In the same way, geom-

intensity of the poetics of Scully, at the start of the 21st

etry pulsates through the painting of Sean Scully,

century, is an unparalleled mass of violence and ba-

speaking to us affectively and instinctively.

To say that each work depends on the renewed

nality that would like to appear impenetrable. Although striving to adhere to the mobile and heterogeneous surface of the modern world, Scully’s paintings nevertheless do not forego the contemplative moment – élan vital itself cannot do without inner reflection.

Ronaldo Brito, Rio de Janeiro RJ, 1949.

Art critic, teaches esthetics and art history, and has published a large number of essays and articles in books, periodicals, and catalogs.

53

For quite some time, the visual arts have undoubtedly

It is with great satisfaction that the Centro de Arte

been significant for Irish-born US artist Sean Scully –

Hélio Oiticica, the Secretariat of Culture, RIOARTE,

one of the special guests invited to the 25th São Paulo

and the Municipal Government of Rio de Janeiro pres-

Biennial. Today, his work is admired by connoisseurs

ent to the Brazilian public this opportunity to see

and collectors in both the Old and New Worlds.

“Wall of Light” an important exhibition of work by the

artist Sean Scully.

This underscores the importance of his first one-

man show in Brazil, hosted by the Centro de Arte Hé­

lio Oiticica (CAHO) and based on “Wall of Light”, the

ings, dense and colourful grids of horizontal and verti-

In the1970s, Scully made a series of striped paint-

large-scale traveling retrospective exhibition present-

cal stripes laid on one on top of the other and sharply

ed in 1996 by the High Museum of Modern Art in At-

painted in a hard edge style. These works display a

lanta, USA.

shallow but tactile space. Towards the end of that

With this event, CAHO forges ahead with its pro­

decade, the paintings had become less colourful and

gram of international exhibitions that has already

more austere, still using thin stripes, but now horizon-

brought Luciano Fabro, Richard Serra, Guillermo

tally orientated.

Kuitca, Mel Bochner and Daniel Buren to Rio de Ja­

nei­ro. This City is reaffirming its position as a hub for

ings where wide bands of colour were applied onto

disseminating traveling exhibitions on the interna-

different canvases – sometimes painted separately –

tional circuit – which is good not only for art, but also

and then bolted together. The stretcher frames were

for tourism.

often of varying thickness, giving the works at times

In the 1980s, he worked on a large series of paint-

an accentuated relief and a box like appearance.

Ricardo Macieira

Their resulting corporeality lends an almost sculptural

Municipal Culture Secretary of Rio de Janeiro

dimension to some of the works from this period. The vertical and horizontal bands of colour applied with wide brushes and gradually built up, often wet on wet, were always contained within areas of relief to which

The first one-man show by US artist Sean Scully in Rio

they were applied. The brushstrokes themselves, be-

de Janeiro is a major event on the city’s cultural calen-

cause of the separation of the planes, are able to go

dar. His large and densely-surfaced paintings offer a

off the end of their surfaces without interfering with

rare opportunity to spur lively discussions on the per-

other painted areas. This ties the painted bands of col-

tinence of this trend in contemporary art.

or to the surfaces on which they are painted, creating

Through the Municipal Art and Culture Institute –

a dialogue between their pictorial quality and their

RIOARTE, the Rio de Janeiro Mayor’s Office and the

objectness. Even when the reliefs started to disappear

Culture Bureau offer the people of Rio de Janeiro the

from his work, Sean insisted on working with separate

works of this important artist, heir to the great paint-

stretcher frames which allowed the components to be

ing tradition whose works blend constructive rigor

painted separately and then inserted into the whole.

with chromatic sensibility as few others are able to do

today. From this standpoint, Scully is not too remote

the Wall of Light series represent yet another develop-

from the Brazilian Constructivists, particularly the

ment in the artist’s work. Although there remains a

Neo-Concrete artists.

characteristic physicality in the work as a whole, the

By presenting the works of Sean Scully, the Cen-

brushstrokes are all applied on one plane forming

tro de Arte Hélio Oiticica forges ahead with the cycle

bricks of colour – rather than stripes – which butt up

of exhibitions and shows organized by RIOARTE, fol-

against one another. The ends of the brushstokes are

lowing a broad-based policy of supporting the visual

more feathery and you can now see where they stop.

arts in Rio de Janeiro, in addition to offering its public

These bricks now hover on the picture plane bringing

events of undeniable beauty and quality throughout

in more light and air and allowing the subtle passage

the entire year.

of underlying colours, creating an ambiguous dia-

The paintings of the 1990s and more specifically

logue between the structure which is always present Fábio Ferreira

and something more mysterious and ethereal.

President of Municipal Art and Culture Institute Charles Watson Managing Director, Centro de Arte Hélio Oiticica

54

46 Omaha Snow Door, 2000

C-print, edição de seis, 76,2 x 64,8cm

55

Exposição / Exhibition

Coordenação Geral / General Coordinator Júlia Peregrino Curadoria / Curator Michael Auping Texto / Text Ronaldo Brito Produção / Production FazerArte Assistentes de Produção / Production Assistants Maria Pia Amado e Tiago Peregrino Montagem / Exhibition Hanging Mauro Saraiva Assessoria de Imprensa / Press Relations Meise Halabi Projeto gráfico / Graphic design Danowski Design Ltda, Rio de Janeiro Sula Danowski, Adriana Cataldo Joana Filizola (assistente/assistant) Biografia / Biography Miriam Danowski e Celina Campello Tradução / Translation Jerusa Gonçalves de Araújo Versão / Version Carolyn Brissett e Charles Watson Revisão e padronização de texto / Proofreading Rosalina Gouveia Fotolito / Films Rainer, Rio de Janeiro Impressão / Printing J. Sholna, Rio de janeiro Fotos / Photos Zindman-Fremont, Nova York no. 8, 10, 11 Liliane Tomasko, Barcelona no. 1 (p. 4), 19, 20, 21, 39 (p. 43), 41 (p. 47) Sean Scully, Nova York no. 42, 43, 44, 46 Visum/Michael Lange, Hamburgo no. 45 (p. 51) As fotos não relacionadas foram cedidas por Sean Scully.

The remaining photos have been provided

by Sean Scully.

Agradecimentos / Acknowledgements Carrie Chamberlain , Jacopo Crivelli Visconti, Cindy Lessa, Julia Michaels, Siri Chateuabriand e a toda a equipe do Centro de Arte Hélio Oiticica (CAHO staff).

Centro de Arte Hélio Oiticica Rua Luís de Camões 68, Centro 20060-040, Rio de Janeiro RJ, Brasil tel [55 21] 2242-1012 fax [55 21] 2232-1401

Capa

Small Checker, 2000 (detalhe) รณleo sobre linho sobre painel de madeira (oil on linen on wood board) 81,3 x 61cm, col. particular

ISBN 85-86675-12-1

9 788586 675126