Sean Scully’s Artistic Journey

Sean Scully (1945) is widely regarded as one of the foremost abstract artists of our time. Born in Dublin and raised in London, Scully has developed a distinctive artistic style that is both modernist and timeless. His works, often composed of bold lines, rectangles, and fields of colour, delve into the deeper layers of emotion and the human experience. Scully’s art speaks through simplicity and subtlety yet is imbued with intensity and depth.

Source: Javier Molins 

Early Years: The Influence of London and First Steps in Art

Sean Scully was born in Dublin but moved to London with his family at a young age. The environment in which he grew up was modest, yet he found inspiration in the patterns, structures, and rhythms of the city. The brick walls and industrial character of the buildings and alleys left a profound impression on him. From an early age, Scully developed a fascination with the structure of the world around him—a fascination that would later reappear in the form of his signature block-like compositions.

A formative experience from his youth, described in Inner: The Collected Writings and Selected Interviews of Sean Scully, was his discovery of the work of Henri Matisse. The intensity of colour and form in Matisse’s paintings had a transformative effect on Scully. Although he initially painted figuratively, he soon realised that abstraction would allow him a more direct expression of emotion and form. He decided to devote himself to painting and began his studies at Croydon College of Art in London, later continuing at the University of Newcastle.

The American Years: Encountering Abstraction and Minimalism

In the 1970s, Scully moved to the United States, where he was influenced by the emerging minimalist movement, which emphasised simplicity and reduction. Yet, where minimalism often appeared clinical and detached, Scully sought to infuse his work with emotion and depth. His canvases from this period, discussed in Sean Scully: The Shape of Ideas, reveal an artist pushing the boundaries of colour and form. He began experimenting with layers and textures, often applying fields of colour over one another to create a sense of space and depth.

An anecdote from this period, shared in various interviews, recounts how Scully, during a night in his studio, painted over an entire piece because he felt it was "too perfect." For Scully, art had to convey imperfection and struggle. He believed this tension breathed life into the work, provoking an emotional reaction in the viewer. This process of building up and tearing down became a hallmark of his style and work process, illustrating his interest in the journey rather than the destination.

Technique and Process: Creating Rhythm and Texture in Abstraction

Sean Scully’s technique is unique in its approach to layering, texture, and the use of both precision and chance. His paintings, built from colourful geometric planes and lines, require a process of patience, control, and spontaneous interaction with the material. Where many abstract artists opt for hard, clean edges, Scully gives his work a hand-crafted, organic depth.

In Sean Scully: Catalogue Raisonné of the Paintings, his working method is elaborated upon in detail. Scully paints in layers, building up colours by applying them over one another, then sometimes partially removing or scraping them back. This technique imparts a sense of depth, lending his work a nearly tactile quality. He does not work from a predetermined scheme; instead, each new layer responds to the previous one, allowing the painting to unfold organically. His working process is often likened to building a wall, where each "stone" – or plane of colour – is carefully placed yet always in dialogue with the whole.

Scully’s use of colour is particularly intense and emotionally charged. Unlike minimalist artists who often choose cold, neutral tones, Scully uses warm, earthy colours: deep reds, ochres, browns, and blues. These colours evoke natural materials and landscapes, creating a sense of familiarity and intimacy. Scully mixes his own colours, ensuring that each hue is unique and attuned to the atmosphere and emotion he wishes to convey.

A vital aspect of his technique is the balance between precision and expressivity. Scully uses tape to keep certain lines and shapes crisp but also allows room for mistakes and spontaneous brushstrokes. He is known for his process of constant construction and deconstruction, at times painting over entire layers because they feel "too perfect." For him, art must reflect both the order and chaos of life. By allowing his work to retain imperfections, such as visible brushstrokes and uneven layers of paint, he creates a dialogue between control and freedom, between structure and looseness.

In his Landline series – a collection of horizontal bands referencing landscapes – Scully’s process is taken further. The bands overlap as if the horizon lines of different landscapes are merging. This layered effect imparts a sense of movement, as if the lines are breathing and resonating. Here, we see Scully pushing the boundaries of his technique, constantly searching for new ways to integrate depth and emotion into his work.

Walls of Aran: The Power and Beauty of Structure

Another vital aspect of Scully’s oeuvre is his Walls of Aran series, inspired by his visits to the Aran Islands in Ireland. The stone walls of these islands left a deep impression on him, inspiring him to explore the relationship between humanity and nature, structure and chaos, in his work. In his book Sean Scully: Walls of Aran, he examines how these ancient walls—constructed from raw, irregular stones and held in place without mortar—possess an almost spiritual quality. These walls embody the resilience and endurance of Irish culture as well as the ongoing battle against the elements.

The walls of the Aran Islands, with their weathered and uneven structures, are built from stones individually placed by human hands. This process of manual construction resonated strongly with Scully, who also builds his paintings layer by layer. He saw in these walls a metaphor for life and art: both are an assembly of individual elements harmoniously coexisting, yet always bearing traces of time and transformation. The rough texture of the stones, their colour variations, and their integration into the landscape became a direct inspiration for his paintings.

In his photography and paintings inspired by the Walls of Aran, Scully translates the physical presence of these walls into his work. He uses rectangles and blocks that appear to be stacked together, paying homage to the irregular, organic patterns of the Aran walls. Rather than literally adopting the idea of a physical wall, however, he recreates its essence through colour, texture, and composition. His works in this series serve as a dialogue between the natural and the human, between order and randomness.

During his travels to the Aran Islands, Scully also captured photographs of the walls and landscape. He described how the walls seem to “breathe” and are, in a sense, at one with their surroundings. This physical and visual experience of the walls inspired him to see his paintings as “breathing structures,” where each line and plane of colour seems to live within the context of the whole.

The Walls of Aran represent for Scully more than just a landscape inspiration; they embody the notion of human vulnerability and resilience. Just as the stone walls withstand the forces of nature, Scully’s art aims to endure the passage of time and have a lasting emotional impact on the viewer. His art strives to connect the viewer to universal themes of struggle, beauty, and resilience, and the Walls of Aran encapsulate this pursuit of connection and timelessness.

Personal Life and Influence

Scully’s personal life has had a profound influence on his work and approach to art. He has endured numerous challenging periods, including the loss of his son, Paul. This loss, which he describes as one of the most traumatic experiences of his life, added a profound emotional layer to his work. His paintings from this period are darker, often conveying a sense of brokenness and melancholy.

Despite these hardships, Scully has continually sought beauty and connection in his work. He found strength in his art, viewing painting as a healing process. His work reflects his inner struggles and his search for meaning. The layers and depth in his paintings reveal how he processes personal experiences and emotions through his art.

Legacy and Influence

Sean Scully’s work has had a lasting impact on abstract art and continues to inspire artists worldwide. His search for a balance between structure and emotion, his use of colour and texture, and his ability to humanise abstraction have rendered his oeuvre both timeless and universal. Scully is admired for his ability to evoke deep emotions with simple, abstract forms, and his work remains a source of contemplation and wonder for his audience.

His art is exhibited globally, and his influence can be seen in the work of contemporary artists who strive for a similar balance between form, colour, and emotion. Sean Scully remains one of the foremost voices in abstract art, and his legacy is a reminder of the power of abstraction to articulate the human experience.