Sean Scully. Eleuthera. Exhibition, Albertina, Vienna: 7 June-8 September 2019

The exhibition Eleuthera, organised by the Albertina Museum for the summer 2019, allows you to discover the American artist Sean Scully’s works.

Fast brushstrokes and the bright colours placed in geometric stripes on the canvas are the artist’s distinctive way of painting. Although Scully’s style can be compared to minimalism and abstractionism, the artist has always avoided any theoretical categorisation, preferring to create his works in a spontaneous and intuitive way. This is particularly obvious with his landscapes, made by horizontal and colourful stripes. He explains: “They’re abstract, with a faint memory of minimalism, but they have a rhythm and spaciousness that differs from minimalism.”

The exhibition boasts a large number of works, very different from each other: besides many oil paintings, you can also admire smaller pastel drawings, sketches and photos.

The heart of the exhibition is the series Eleuthera. The title, which is the greek word for “freedom”, is well chosen for the intimate and private topic of the 23 big oil paintings: the subject is Oisìn, the painter’s seven-years-old son, intent on playing on the beach of Eleuthera Island, in the  Bahamas. His skilful use of colour expresses a father’s love, as he places, bright colourful bands that wrap around the child, onto the canvas, isolating him in his own world of games and carefreeness.

Albertina