2023-11-30 15:13:58
Par Editorial Côté Brest
Published on 30 Nov 23 at 4:13 p.m. See my news Follow Côté Brest
By Dominique Cresson
Sean Scully is one of the great abstract painters of the second half of the 20th century, “the great American painter, following Rothko”, sums up Loïc Le Gall, director of Passerelle, very proud to have succeeded in bringing the artist in Brest, also very proud of the trust he shows in him by exhibiting some of his paintings at the contemporary art center.
“A real shock for him”
To create this exhibition, Loïc Le Gall thought a lot. “Everything had already been done. » He finally chose to leave the artist’s living spaces.
Irish of origin, Sean Scully has a unique background. He grew up in a family of gypsies. To support his family, he became a typographer in London. And it was by taking evening classes that he discovered art history and painting. “A real shock for him to discover Matisse and other French painters,” continues Loïc Le Gall.
His style will evolve over time, going from a fairly minimal abstraction to the destructuring of the human being.
It claims to enter into a painting and be absorbed by it.
Loïc Le Gall, director of Passerelle
The question of the grid is already there. There is Mondrian in his approach, human in addition. Sometimes we think we see windows. This relationship with the sensory and the pleasure that painting gives him will never leave Sean Scully.
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There also appears, in his work, an essential relationship with literature. Like a mise en abyme, each of his works makes you want to explore something else.
A rare work on display
If Sean Scully’s visit to Morocco in 1969 opened a new gap in his creation, it was to the United States that he emigrated in 1973. He spent many years there. He is struck by the violence that reigns there. His series of paintings entitled Ghost is testimony to this. Moreover, it was yet another killing in a school that caused it and made him decide to move to France.
Sean Scully exhibits at the Passerelle contemporary art center in Brest. ©Côté Brest
These paintings undoubtedly represent the most controversial expression of his career. In the land of guns, you had to dare to replace the stars on the American flag with a pistol. This iconic work has never been shown. “This is a first for an institution,” rejoices Loïc Le Gall.
A sensation, certainly in Brittany
The abstract painter who has never stopped changing his style, has more recently dabbled with figuration, with a series evoking his partner and his son, Liliane Tomasko and Óisín, on the Caribbean beach, on the island of Eleuthera. Color, sunshine. A form of daydreaming, carefreeness, joy. The need to show off his new family following the loss of his eldest son.
The Geographies exhibition is constructed through leaps in time and space. We particularly like Landline, a painting taken from a series. She has the right to her space. An in-between, a passage. “It is a kind of construction where the artist mixes the sky, the sea, the foreshore. It’s not a particular place, but rather a sense of place. Certainly in Brittany,” sums up the director of the contemporary art center, also under the spell.
Until January 13 at Passerelle, 41 rue Charles-Berthelot in Brest. Tuesday to Saturday, except public holidays, from 2 p.m. to 6:30 p.m., Tuesday until 8 p.m. www.cac-passerelle.com/
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