The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston revealed two installations Wednesday in the Caroline Weiss Law Building. Themes and Variations in Painting and Sculpture: New Work by Sean Scully, Sherrie Levine and Joost van Oss features Scully’s installation, Four Dark Mirrors, and Levine’s and Oss’s Sculpture II and Sculpture III.
"The idea of themes and variations runs through both installations," MFAH Curator of Contemporary Art and Special Projects Alison de Lima Greene said in a release. "Over the past three decades, Scully has built his work upon the pure beauty of controlled brush strokes and bands of radiant color.
"Four Dark Mirrors is among his most severe and reductive works, and only on contemplation do we recognize the level of nuance that animates these canvases," Greene said. "Levine and van Oss revisit classic designs from the formative years of modernism, and through appropriation, repetition, and measure, ask us to reconsider these icons afresh. All three artists are consummate masters of scale – and it’s fascinating to see how these works interact with both one another and the Miesian architecture."
The minimalist Sculpture II and Sculpture III is a display of 24 tables and 24 chairs. Four Dark Mirrors features paintings from Scully’s series of mirror paintings, in which he explores relationships between objects and their reflections.
The installations will be on view through Sept. 23 as part of the larger exhibition. Greene will give a lecture on Sculpture II and Sculpture III on Sept. 20. For more information, visit www.mfah.org
