Sean Scully opens at Villa Panza with his exhibition Long Light and his new site-specific installation Looking Outward.

FAI presents Long Light. Sean Scully at Villa e Collezione Panza (Varese, in Lombardy. In loving memory of Alessandra Panza di Biumo (1956-2018)

Sean Scully, an American artist of Irish origin, is known as a master of light and colour. From 18th April 2019 until 6th January 2020, the Penza residence in Varese, which is an hour by train from Milan, is displaying an important collection of works that reveal why he is considered one of the leading figures of the contemporary art scene. Anna Bernadini, the Director of the Villa e Collezione Panza, is the curator of the show.

The artist returns to Italy 11 years after his solo exhibition at MACRO in Rome. His work is currently the centrepiece of exhibitions in some of the most important museums and contemporary art foundations. These include Sea Star: Sean Scully at the National Gallery, London (until 11th August 2019) and Sean Scully: Human, the site-specific project for the Basilica of San Giorgio Maggiore, which was inaugurated in May to coincide with the 58th Venice Biennale (until 13^th October 2019).

The exhibition consists of 80 works by Scully dating from 1970-2019 – paintings, letters, photographs, sculptures, installations and videos – organised according to a chronological and thematic journey that focuses on certain crucial moments in his development. His expressive yet minimalist style chime perfectly with Giuseppe Panza’s interests and taste. This affinity is reflected in how well Scully’s work interacts with the pieces in the permanent collection, exemplifying FAI’s desire to install exhibitions that are in dialogue with the architecture of the museum, its interior and its setting.

The exhibition concludes in the conservatory in the park, with Scully’s site-specific Looking Outward, which will become part of Villa Panza’s permanent collection. This piece, especially made for the occasion, plays with the viewer’s vision, transforming the greenhouse into an environment of light and colour using the individual panes of glass.