Aran 2005

This black and white photograph of a stone wall and a field of grass is by Sean Scully. What I see here is a tension between the organic and the structured, the natural and the built. Look at the way the stones stack. The wall becomes a series of vertical marks, echoing the blades of grass below, but rendered in stone. I can imagine Scully walking the Aran Islands, thinking about space and form, looking at the light on these walls. He’s probably thinking about his paintings too. Maybe he's thinking about Agnes Martin’s grids. The lines in her paintings often evoke a similar sense of quiet contemplation. Each mark has a unique quality. There’s a weight to each form, each stone, each decision. Artists engage in a conversation across time. They are constantly finding inspiration in the world around them. This image invites us to slow down and appreciate the beauty of simple forms and natural materials.