Sean Scully's 'Dark Windows' presented at Art Basel Unlimited

20 September 2021

In collaboration with Kewenig Galerie, Lisson is pleased to present Sean Scully's painting series 'Dark Windows' (2020) at the Unlimited sector of Art Basel's 2021 edition in Basel.

Created during some of the darkest early days of the pandemic in 2020, this five-panelled work marks the first time that the horizons of Scully's ongoing series of Landline paintings were been entirely blackened or effectively erased, suggesting a symbolic act of protest, solidarity or shocked silence. Introducing this new, alien pathogen that lurks on the surface of the Landline form, dislocating its harmony and simplicity, the paintings are characterised by the haunting, sinister presence of the black square, referencing the nihilistic declaration made by Malevich in 1915. The work was first shown in a dual-site exhibition by Scully at Lisson Gallery in New York earlier this year.