Sean Scully At Hirshhorn Now
One of the major highlights of the 56th Venice Biennale, the abstract paintings of Sean Scully represent a dramatic and seminal shift in the work of one of today's most important abstract artists, and the exhibition marks the first chance for audiences to experience the full range of Scully's latest evolution, including nearly two dozen works never before seen by the public.
Now through February 3, 2019 at the Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, Sean Scully: Landline traces the "Landline" series' expression through a variety of media, with nearly 40 oil paintings, pastels, watercolors, and photographs (1999–2017), and layered aluminum Stack sculptures, iconic forms that reflect in three dimensions the horizontal movement of his paintings. Vibrating with urgency and beauty, together these works form a continuous current of color that will pulsate through the Hirshhorn's circular second-floor gallery.
"I think of land, sea, sky. And they always make a massive connection. I try to paint this, this sense of the elemental coming together of land and sea, sky and land…stacked in horizon lines endlessly beginning and ending…" – Sean Scully
Spanning a variety of media—including watercolor, oil painting, and sculpture—the works in the exhibition showcase the artist's remarkable ability to deepen, mystify, and vary his relatively limited repertoire of motifs—largely comprised of vertical and horizontal stripes. With gestures toward the land, sea, and sky (and the indistinct lines between them), the works navigate the elemental relationships that compose our world, and in doing so reveal the sublime character of those interactions.
This exhibition debuts more than twenty years after the Hirshhorn opened Scully's first mid-career retrospective in 1995, a pivotal exhibition that cemented his status at the center of contemporary painting. Building on the narrative of this 1995 survey, Sean Scully: Landline affords viewers the opportunity to witness the next step in Scully's artistic evolution, one that continues to impact the greater landscape of contemporary abstract art. Following its Hirshhorn debut, the series will travel to the Wadsworth Atheneum Museum of Art in Hartford, Connecticut, in Spring 2019.
Curated by Stéphane Aquin, Chief Curator with curatorial assistance from Sandy Guttman.
Sean Scully (b. Dublin, Ireland, 1945) is a painter, printmaker, sculptor, and poet, and the recipient of numerous awards, including the Peter Stuyvesant Foundation Prize, a National Endowment for the Arts Fellowship, a Guggenheim Fellowship, and the Harkness Fellowship. Scully's works are in a number of private and public collections, including the Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth, the Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, and the Wadsworth Atheneum Museum of Art. In 2015, Scully participated in the Venice Biennale with his solo exhibition Land Sea at the Palazzo Falier. He currently splits his time living and working in New York and the Bavarian countryside.
Brews, Booze & Bites at Tudor Place Sept. 22
Join Tudor Place for heritage food and drink, outdoor music and games, and ties to local history at Brews, Booze & Bites on Saturday, September 22, from 1:00 - 4:00 pm.
Purveyors of artisonal and local food, drinks, and desserts will be on hand to celebrate at the historic Georgetown estate.
a full menu of sips and tastings in the historic garden
guided Outdoor Edibles garden tour (1:30 pm and 2:30 pm)
exclusive open house of the historic mansion (2:30 pm to 4:00 pm)
traditional American lawn games and
free keepsake tasting glass
The menu includes a side of history with every satisfying bite or sip, highlighting local history, foodways, and Tudor Place tie-ins for everything from barbecue to beer, wine, whiskey and spirits.
Returning this year, the Foggy Bottom Whomp Stompers will be entertaining all with live Prohibition-era jazz.
Brews, Booze & Bites is an outdoor event and will take place rain or shine.
Tickets for Tudor Place members $35, non-members $45. Discounts for 6 or more.
Admission is for everyone, but identification will be required for those participating in the tastings.
Tudor Place is located at 1644 31st Street in Georgetown.
KC Presents 'Music and the Mind' Sept. 7
Music has been fundamental to every human civilization. Why do we have music—and what makes it so powerful? What does current research tell us about the role that music can play in human development and learning?
On September 7, 2018 at 8:00 pm, the Kennedy Center presents Music and the Mind concert, more of today's most innovative artists join top neuroscientists for our groundbreaking concert experience exploring fascinating links between music, rhythm, and brain development as revealed by the latest research!
CNN's chief medical correspondent Sanjay Gupta hosts this electrifying evening combining music and science, featuring performances by legendary Grateful Dead percussionist Mickey Hart, master tabla player Zakir Hussain, acclaimed pianist and Kennedy Center Artistic Director of Jazz Jason Moran, world-renowned soprano and Kennedy Center Artistic Advisor at Large Renée Fleming, singer-songwriter Madison McFerrin, tap dancing sisters Chloe and Maud Arnold, jazz piano prodigy Matthew Whitaker, Freestyle Love Supreme co-founder Anthony Veneziale (Two Touch), and other special guests to be announced. Along with Dr. John Iversen, Dr. Nina Kraus, Dr. Charles Limb, and Dr. Laurel Trainor, they'll take you on an unforgettable journey of discovery—diving into how music can excite our neurons, shape our brains, harness our creativity, and bring us together.
Following the enthusiastic response to the first Sound Health: Music and the Mind weekend last summer, this concert is the cornerstone event in a brand-new weekend of performances and discussions. Designed to explore connections between health, wellness, and the performing arts, Sound Health is a partnership between the Kennedy Center and National Institutes of Health, in association with the National Endowment for the Arts.