Land, Sea, Sky

BY: PROVOKR Editors

The sublime awe and power of the natural world might have been most famously captured by the Romantics of the nineteenth-century, but before and far after this style emerged, mother nature has been a muse to many artists and thinkers. Recent work by Sean Scully, known for his vast geometric abstractions, is on display now at the Wadsworth Atheneum in Hartford, Connecticut. Entitled Landlines, Scully presents dozens of works that capture the beauty and emotional intensity found in nature.

Scully was born in Ireland, but has lived in many places: London, New York, Munich, and more. However, Landlines is most influenced by Scully’s memories of the coast of Ireland. The spartan beauty of the three planes- land, sea, sky -appear as almost abstract compositions because of their incomprehensible vastness. This conception of nature- a force that is well beyond our understanding -is a nod toward Romanticism, but Scully’s technique and execution seem to linger in this period as well. Shades of blue and earthy tones of ochre and brown and green again evoke things like dirt, ocean waves, grass, or a sky at dusk. The artist’s signature use of thickly applied paint and brushy surface also is useful in communicating the movement and ravishing disorder that is found in nearly every single element of the natural world.

Scully has been working within the parameters of geometric abstraction since the end of the 1960s, and in this particular style of abstraction since the 1980s. Much like other abstract artists, Scully is one of those admirable individuals who works within a microcosm of details for decades. Where others may fail, Scully shows that an artist can maintain working with seemingly narrow parameters. They show that style and subject matter can be mined indefinitely, and, like Landlines, in emotionally resonant and meaningful ways.