Sean Scully: Sculpture

The abstract paintings of the acclaimed New York–based painter, sculptor, writer and poet Sean Scully (born 1945) are world-famous, but until now, relatively little attention has been paid to his sculptures. For these, Scully layers elements made of steel, stone, bronze and painted aluminum on top of each other, creating horizontal structures that expand upward, yet are also linked to the stripes in his paintings.

These works are possessed of a compelling simplicity, recalling children’s blocks stacked up in solid or precarious-seeming assemblies. In Scully’s hands, these materials develop into a three-dimensional extension of the horizontal stripes of his paintings, extending their allusions to sea, land and sky into a multiplicity of tactile assocations.

This monograph is the first to compile Scully’s sculptures in one volume. Besides numerous plates, it includes several essays about these important works.