Sean Scully and Javier Molins at La Pedrera. (Photo provided by Fundació Catalunya La Pedrera)
By Marc Amat
From this March until July 6, La Pedrera hosts the exhibition Sean Scully, a retrospective that offers a complete vision of the artist’s work. With more than sixty works, the exhibition covers more than six decades of artistic production, from the first figurative pieces of the sixties to his most recent creations. It includes paintings, sculptures, drawings, watercolors, pastels and photographs, but also the mark left on his work by places such as New York – where he has lived most of his life – and Europe – where he has been traveling and working for years.
This exhibition is especially significant because it marks Scully’s return to Barcelona, a city with which he maintains a close relationship: despite maintaining an indestructible link with the empire city, he has lived and worked for more than fourteen years in the Catalan capital. This month, we delve into the artist’s career and his relationship with Catalonia and the United States, talking to Javier Molins, curator of the retrospective and an expert on the artist’s work.
An exhibition by Sean Scully is always relevant, but in this case, even more so. Why?
Because it is one of the most complete exhibitions ever held of this artist, who, from my point of view, is the most outstanding abstract painter currently at an international level. In fact, it’s not just me saying it: institutions such as the Metropolitan in New York, the National Gallery in London and the Centre Pompidou have dedicated important exhibitions to him. In addition, in the United States alone there are about 50 museums that have his work, including the Art Institute of Chicago or the Fine Arts Museum in Boston. This already gives us an idea of his dimension as an artist.
How did the possibility of doing this retrospective at La Pedrera come about?
Everything began to take shape about a year and a half ago. I had already curated a previous exhibition at La Pedrera and they were happy. When they asked me for another, I said, “My dream would be to do a Sean Scully exhibition.” And it has become a reality. I had already worked with the artist on three previous projects and was aware of his relationship with Barcelona, where he had a studio and residence for 14 years. It seemed to me that it was an ideal opportunity to bring to La Pedrera an artist of international dimension, but at the same time closely linked to the city. We made the proposal, and we began to work on it.
How did the exhibition come about?
I have opted for a chronological route. Working with him has been very easy. He showed a lot of interest and predisposition from the first moment. He has lent us many works from his personal collection and we have been able to cover all the stages. We have also had loans from important museums such as the Reina Sofía. The exhibition begins with figurative works, passes through minimalism and culminates with the style he developed in the eighties. Curiously, in his most recent stage he has returned to figuration in a punctual way, with very colorful portraits of his wife and son playing on the beach, for example. This closes a kind of circle. We also wanted to show his technical versatility: there is painting, sculpture (which was not in the exhibition that the artist did a few years ago at the Miró Foundation), drawing, watercolor and photography. It is a very complete sample.
Let’s talk about the artist’s link with Barcelona. What connects him to the city?
Scully arrived in Barcelona around 1994, after a friend recommended the city to him. He liked the energy very much and decided to set up a studio in the Gothic Quarter and a residence on Aribau Street. For a long time, he maintained three studios: one in New York, another on the outskirts of Munich, and one east of Barcelona. In fact, he used to spend three or four months each. He always says that New York is a fascinating city, but very demanding, and that living there exclusively can leave you soulless. He needed to keep one foot in Europe to nourish himself culturally, and Barcelona offered him that.
He also has a close relationship with Montserrat…
Exactly! It was very common that, on weekends, he would go for a walk in the mountain of Montserrat with his partner. There he met Father Laplana, who introduced him to the entire movement of cultural and democratic renewal that was promoted from the monastery during the Franco regime. From this friendship a very deep collaboration was born, which resulted -for example- in the work he gave to the Museum of Montserrat: “The mountain of Oisin”. It is also worth mentioning the Santa Cecilia de Montserrat project. The church was totally in ruins and he transformed it from scratch. He made stained glass windows, paintings… a total intervention. Today it is a permanent art space known as the Sean Scully Space, which can be visited. There are even buses from La Pedrera to take visitors, some Saturdays, during the exhibition.
Do you think he is an artist who is especially valued in Catalonia for this connection?
Yes, absolutely. He is a global artist, but with a very important growth linked to Barcelona. Eighteen years ago, a major retrospective was dedicated to him at the Miró Foundation, and now it was a good time to return. This new exhibition spans six decades and shows his entire evolution: from the figurative beginnings of the 60s, through the minimalism of the 70s in New York – where he soon feels shrunk and begins to look for his own style – to the emotional abstraction that characterizes him. He always says that he brought emotion back to abstraction, because minimalism was too cold, too clinical. He began to use horizontal and vertical stripes with blurred outlines and suggestive titles, which generated conflict with the more orthodox minimalists.
How has the living environment influenced his work?
His life between Europe and the United States is reflected very clearly in his painting. It has European themes and influences, but it has also absorbed a lot of things from the American world. For example, one of the works in the exhibition is inspired by a story by Borges, which he translates into an abstract key. He has also made trips that have marked him deeply, such as the one he made in Marrakesh, at the age of 26. There he discovered the colors and geometries of local fabrics. Also the twelve trips to Mexico, especially to Yucatán, from where he says that the light that filters through the ruins inspired him for the blocks of color in his work, which seem to be illuminated from within.
What side activities have been prepared?
La Pedrera is very active in this regard. It has the program “La Pedrera expandida”, which seeks that its exhibitions imprint on the city. For Scully’s, a tribute concert has been scheduled, the screening of a documentary directed by David Trueba – which we recorded in London, in Scully’s studio, and also in Montserrat – and outings to the Scully Space in Santa Cecilia. In addition, a playlist has been created with the music he listens to while painting: from blues (he had a club with his brother) to classical, or even more contemporary music, such as that of Lana del Rey. All this helps to better understand the artist and to reach different audiences.
He likes Catalonia, but New York has stolen his heart…
Despite his connection to Europe and especially Barcelona, Sean Scully is in love with New York. He’s already 80 years old, but he says he still needs the intensity and energy of the city. In fact, he spent a year in London for family reasons, but has finally returned to the United States.
