Sean Scully’s Untitled, 1991, is a triumphant transitional work, incorporating both the stripes characteristic of Scully’s 1980s paintings with the checkerboard-like patterns that emerged in his work in the early 1990s. Presented side-by-side, the two modalities are united by the soft blend of colors that is a hallmark of pastel. Hints of red emerge from the black and cream vertical stripes, while light flecks of paper emerge amidst the red and black grid.
Discovering the checkerboard composition marked a significant breakthrough in Scully’s practice. “Breaking the stripe made the checkerboard possible, because then I’m already dividing up the surface in a way the obliged me to paint without direction,” the artist recalled. “When you paint a checkerboard, you have to paint without direction. When you paint a stripe, there’s a tautology.” With the horizontal pit against the vertical, Untitled encourages the eye to bounce across its sonorous composition.
The work’s geometric structure, however, is rounded by the artist’s gestural mark making and use of a raw edge. As John Yau identifies: “Hovering between strict order and complete disarray, with the latter seemingly about to gain the upper hand, Scully’s paintings, pastels and watercolors accept the inevitability of time’s dissembling power, even as they resist succumbing to chaos.” Yau further identifies Scully's use of “bricks” as a key element for shaping the passing of time. The form first emerged after Scully spent time in Mexico, influenced by the architecture of its ancient temples, and evolved to consider more proximal references like the stone walls ubiquitous in the artist’s native Ireland. The loose architectural motif deftly captures the essence of passing time’s relative structure but perceived fluidity.
“It’s not a question of making something perfect, it’s a question of making something true.”
—Sean ScullyUsing abstraction to represent emotions and convey lived experience, Scully’s works arrive at something deeper, and, in a sense, more real than pure representation. Supremely evocative, the subdued palette epitomizes Scully’s interest in tonality and intuitive ability to shape color to convey truths. In Scully’s own words: “It’s not a question of making something perfect, it’s a question of making something true. Something that can reflect the dimensionality of the human spirit within the grid of our world. We have more than one soul.”