Yellow Red 1994

Sean Scully made this artwork, "Yellow Red," by, well, who knows when! It looks like a straightforward geometric design, but it's got this handmade quality to it. You can see the artist figuring it out as he goes along. The yellow and green stripes on the left - they almost look like a kid's drawing, but they create this sense of rhythm that pulls you in. Then, the checkerboard section, black and white, is so direct. I like how the colours aren't perfect; they are a bit scuffed and smudged. It's like the paint itself has a memory of being applied. Over on the right, the red and black squares create another kind of pattern and rhythm, echoing the yellow stripes. For me, the whole piece feels like a conversation between different ways of making a mark. The more you look, the more it unfolds, a bit like Agnes Martin, but grittier. It reminds me that art is always a dialogue, an exchange of ideas across time.