Mexico VALLARTA 1984

Sean Scully made *Mexico VALLARTA* in 1983 using what looks like watercolor on paper. You can see these rectangles of color, two columns of them, and they feel so architectural, like facades of buildings maybe. I can just imagine Scully there, mixing his colors, trying to get those perfect hues of ochre and rose. You know, the way the light hits the buildings in the afternoon? It looks like he built the composition slowly, one block of color at a time, letting the watercolor bleed and stain the paper. There’s a tenderness in the way he handles the paint. The horizontal lines connecting the two sides are so subtle, barely there. This reminds me of Agnes Martin and other minimalists, but with a warmer, more human touch. It's a dance between control and chance, geometry and emotion. And you see that in a lot of paintings.