Sean Scully

Galerie Lelong, Paris
Galeria Carles Taché, Barcelona
Centre Cultural Contemporani Pelaires, Palma de Mallorca
Acquired directly from the above by the present owner

Palma de Mallorca, Centro Cultural Contemporáneo Pelaires, Taché a Pelaires, 2003
Madrid, Sala de exposiciones de la Consejeria de Cultura y Deportes, Sean Scully. Para García Lorca, 2005

Colour: The colours in the catalogue illustration are fairly accurate, although the overall tonality is more subtle with the orange squares tending more towards mustard in the original. Condition: This work is in very good condition. There is minor wear to all four corners. There is a small rub mark to the centre of the right extreme edge and a further rub mark to the centre of the lower extreme edge. There are a few tiny isolated media losses in places to the extreme edges. Examination under ultra-violet light reveals a few isolated small retouchings to the extreme right and bottom edges.
"In response to your inquiry, we are pleased to provide you with a general report of the condition of the property described above. Since we are not professional conservators or restorers, we urge you to consult with a restorer or conservator of your choice who will be better able to provide a detailed, professional report. Prospective buyers should inspect each lot to satisfy themselves as to condition and must understand that any statement made by Sotheby's is merely a subjective, qualified opinion. Prospective buyers should also refer to any Important Notices regarding this sale, which are printed in the Sale Catalogue.
NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF BUSINESS PRINTED IN THE SALE CATALOGUE."

In the present work Orange Robe, (2003), Sean Scully explores the emotion and spirituality of colour. Orange has long been associated with spirituality in Eastern tradition, as the official colour of the Hindu religion and the colour of Buddhist monks' robes. Arguably one of the paramount characteristics of Scully's distinctive pictorial language is its preoccupation with the concept of spirituality. As the artist explained: "Abstract art has the possibility of being incredibly generous, really out there for everybody. It's a non-denominational religious art. I think it's the spiritual art of our time." (Cited in Judith Higgins, 'Sean Scully and the Metamorphosis of the Stripes,' in Artnews, vol. 84 no. 9, November 1985, p. 106) The dawning of Scully's personal realisation took place in Morocco in 1969 where saw strips of coloured canvas laid adjacent to each other on the sand, "Against the yellow sand, they created exotic and arbitrary colour relationships so unique... I though t it was the most beautiful thing I had ever seen in my life." (cited in Maurice Poirier: Sean Scully, New York 1990, p. 16) In his choice of palette, Scully explores the interplay of colours and the resulting emotional effects that certain juxtapositions of colour may have.

The three column composition of Orange Robe can be found in much of Scully's oeuvre. However, this structure is not seeking to confine or convey uniformity but rather to express difference and individuality whilst simultaneously acknowledging common human experience. "I see these simple forms as what unites us and what runs beneath the cultural superstructures that have caused us to be estranged." (cited in 'Sean Scully, interview with Eric Davis,' Journal of Contemporary Art, 1999, online version, 18 April 2004) Layering colour upon colour, blurring the boundaries of each block, Scully breaks down structures refusing to categorise or accept limitations, just as emotions and attitudes constantly change and develop with experience. The choice of colours in Orange Robe, consistent with all of the artist's paintings, are neither pure nor easily defined just as human emotion and perspective cannot be easily defined. In an interview with Jörg Zutter, Scully stated: "The colour I use has no name or clear message. It is moody or melancholic at times...The colour on top is influenced by the colour underneath...and in a sense, it is like history itself. It is made in layers and one attitude is replaced by another. But what was there will always be there, as a shadow or a memory and that will permanently influence the present." (16 January 2004, Mooseuracgh, Königsdorf)

Scully's work constantly begs the viewer to engage in the dialogue between the colours and forms juxtaposed on the canvas. Deeply personal and somewhat autobiographical, these abstract coloured shapes simultaneously harmonious and disharmonious, unified and separate, balanced and imbalanced, reflect, without moralising, the complexities of human emotion and serve as paradigms of life's relationships and the struggles of  daily human existence. There is nothing random in his application of paint, choice of colour or placement of the colour blocks which form his canvases but rather, through abstract art he expresses concrete experiences and emotions. They are representational without being obviously figurative. Comparing his work to that of Mark Rothko he says: "[Rothko's] work does not imply, as that of his contemporary Barnett Newman does, the end of the figure-ground relationship; rather a radical new way of exploiting it, without having to tell stories." (cited in: Sean Scully: Bodies of Light, 1999, p. 69)