Solo exhibition‘Blur the Edges, Love one another’
Château d’Oiron, 22 June – 6 October 2024
Château d’Oiron, 22 June – 6 October 2024
Oisin Red Doric, 2018 © Sean Scully
The exhibition title 'Blur the edges, Love one another' alludes to the fact that Sean Scully’s work is imbued with edges, the spaces between his blocks of paint, or stone, and thus with the idea of the importance of navigating and blurring the edges between peoples, personalities, nations, towards a place of love and acceptance of difference.
Coordinated and documented by Bénédicte in close collaboration with Sean Scully's studio and the Centre des Monuments Nationaux, the exhibition highlighted the fact that sculpture, painting, drawing and writing are intimately connected in Scully's practice.
It was conceived as a ‘first stone’ ahead of the installation of his permanent stone sculpture in the park.
The exhibition opened in the entrance hall of the chateau, where visitors were greeted by the sculpture Venice Stack, (2020) made of stacked blocks of Murano glass. The veritable three-dimensional stained-glass window, infused with a painterly sensibility, brought coloured light into the chateau. A group of seven paintings selected for Oiron by the artist were displayed on the first floor.
The selection of works on paper highlighted his vigorous yet poetic approach to life and matter (On Metal, Body).
In his writings, Scully discusses his creative process, in which emotionally charged colours, applied in a gestural manner, become a spiritual bridge between what lies beneath the layers of paint and in the viewer's unconscious. He also discusses the intimate link between his paintings and sculptures, built from simple forms that are intuitively stacked and nested until they occupy all the space given to them and seem to harbour something sacred within, inviting us to imagine the Stone Tower, the monumental sculpture of local stone specifically conceived for Château d'Oiron and donated by Sean Scully.
The Stone Tower is due to be inaugurated in fall 2025. It will invite visitors to linger in the park and discover the variety of its landscapes.
The exhibition was dedicated to the memory of Jill Silverman van Coenegrachts whose vision brought this project to life.
