Balancing discipline and emotion, Sean Sully’s paintings from the early 1970s exude a curious mixture of formal consideration and felt observation. Grid (1973), for instance, strikes a note of homey quirkiness with its layers of pattern superimposed within the eponymous hard-edged structure, a bit like the patches held together by a beloved pair of jeans. Seeing works from the outset of Scully’s career in a renovated warehouse in a humble corner of Queens — Cheim & Read’s outer-borough new venture — inevitably makes us connect with the collective energy of the massed hipsters at work nearby. KATELYNN MILLS
Sean Scully, Grid, 1973. Acrylic on canvas, 96 x 96 inches. Courtesy of the artist and Cheim & Read
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