Sean Scully's art in the 1980s marks a significant period of transition and experimentation, leading to a profound impact on his career and contributions to contemporary art. Beginning the decade, Scully declared a personal and artistic shift away from the rigidity of Minimalism towards embracing more humanistic and expressive elements in his work. This period was characterized by his extensive travels, notably to Morocco and Mexico, which deeply influenced his artistic direction. These experiences propelled him to reintroduce color, space, and texture into his work, moving away from the monochromatic palette that had defined his earlier phase (Wikipedia). One of Scully's pivotal works from this era, "Backs and Fronts" (1981), showcased at the PS1 Contemporary Art Center in 1982, represented a significant departure from Minimalism. It was acclaimed for reintroducing emotional depth and gestural expressivity into the abstract landscape, effectively "breaking the logjam of American minimalist painting" (Wikipedia). This painting exemplified Scully's shift towards a more expressive abstraction, characterized by the freehand drawing of stripes and visible brushstrokes. The early 1980s were also a time when Scully began exploring new materials and methods. He started producing small multi-panel works on found pieces of wood and applied a combination of rigid geometry with expressive texture and color to larger paintings. This period marked the beginning of his long-standing commitment to printmaking, reflecting his interest in exploring a range of mediums (Wikipedia). By the mid-1980s, Scully had achieved international recognition. His work was included in the Museum of Modern Art's "International Survey of Recent Painting and Sculpture" in 1984, and the following year, his first American solo museum exhibition was held, which traveled from the Museum of Art at the Carnegie Institute to the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston. During this time, Scully's work began to incorporate lighter color palettes and his experiments with watercolors in Mexico led to the development of the Wall of Light series, which became one of his most celebrated contributions to contemporary art (Wikipedia). The "Wall of Light" series, initiated in the late 1980s and continuing to evolve, was inspired by Scully's trips to Mexico. His fascination with the interplay of light and shadow on ancient Mayan stone walls led him to create a series of paintings, watercolors, pastels, and aquatints that explored similar visual effects. These works are characterized by rectangular, brick-like forms arranged in horizontal and vertical groupings, with a wide range of luminous colors built up in layers, showcasing Scully's masterful handling of light and darkness. The series reflects his commitment to pure abstraction and its emotional power, narrative potential, and particularly, its capacity to convey light (The Metropolitan Museum of Art) (The Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth). Throughout the 1980s, Sean Scully's art underwent a profound transformation, marking a departure from the austerity of Minimalism to a richer, more expressive mode of abstraction. His work from this period, especially the Wall of Light series, demonstrates his unique ability to blend the formal traditions of European painting with the aesthetic experiences of American abstraction, cementing his place as a pivotal figure in contemporary art.
