MarleneAngeja

This morning I am putting together a lecture on Rhythm and came across this set of audio clips of Sean Scully discussing his paintings. I’m also reading his book, Sean Scully: Resistance and Persistence Selected Writings. I love how he makes the case in there that rhythm itself is more universal than figuration. He talks about a student named Hedwig who has a tattoo of a bird on her arm which signifies her personal mythology of flying from Berlin. He points out that this is not decipherable to those who don’t know the story because in our society we don’t agree on anything (p.94). Then he discusses the painting, Precious, and his own mythology (involving a boat trip out of Ireland) behind encasing a little painting of stripes within a larger painting of stripes. “… I want mine to be more accessible than Hedwig’s tattoo. That’s nice if you know the story, but I’d like my work also to speak through the universal language of rhythm. Rhythm communicates in a primal way, directly through feeling.” (p.97)
Here is the audio from Hood Museum of Art where he discusses the boat story.