Sean Scully: Human

About

HUMAN is a solo exhibition of recent and new works by Sean Scully, presented in collaboration with the Abbazia di San Giorgio Maggiore. Curated by Javier Molins, the exhibition invites viewers to contemplate the link between the contemporary artist and the historic church.

Responding to the church's Renaissance architecture and vast collection of illuminated manuscripts, Scully has created a series of new paintings, drawings, and watercolour works. 

Opulent Ascension is a new sculpture situated directly beneath the church’s central dome. The tallest work ever created by the artist, it is constructed from stacked frames wrapped in rich and varying colours of felt.

Having abandoned figuration five decades ago, Scully returns to the style with three portraits from a new series, titled Madonna. The triptych portraits are displayed alongside paintings from the artist's acclaimed Landline series. 

From abstraction to figuration, from painting to sculpture, HUMAN encapsulates both the diversity of Scully's practice and the consistency of his artistic goal: 'my work', Scully declares, ' is an attempt to release the spirit'.