February 15, 2018

Sean Scully Lands at Luis Barragán’s Famed Cuadra San Cristóbal in Mexico City

Sean Scully’s Brown Silver Tower, 2016, in Cor-Ten and stainless steel, and Air, 2018, in locally sourced stone, are on display at Luis Barragán’s Cuadra San Cristóbal in Mexico City. Photography by Felix Friedmann/courtesy of Sean Scully.

It was 1981 when Sean Scully first visited Mexico. “I photographed lots of faded doors and walls and how the dry heat played with them,” he recalls. That trip led to his Wall of Light painting series, said to be the Irish artist’s most important work. It has likely also led to “Sean Scully–San Cristóbal,” at Luis Barragán’s Cuadra San Cristóbal in Mexico City. Open through March 24, it marks the first time the architect’s 1966 equestrian and residential complex has been opened to the public. “I knew that if I asked the owners to make an exhibition there, it would have to be with someone of great stature,” curator Oscar Humphries says. “Sean’s work is such a natural fit—two giants together, complementing and challenging each other.” Throughout the interiors, horse stalls, and 7-acre grounds are 11 paintings and three sculptures, one of which Scully made for the show from locally sourced stone.

ONLINE EXCLUSIVE. Air. Photography by Felix Friedmann/courtesy of Sean Scully.
ONLINE EXCLUSIVE. Brown Silver Tower and Air. Photography by Felix Friedmann/courtesy of Sean Scully.
ONLINE EXCLUSIVE. Landline That Pink. Photography by Felix Friedmann/courtesy of Sean Scully.
ONLINE EXCLUSIVE. Sean Scully’s San Cristobal installation at Luis Barragán’s Cuadra San Cristóbal in Mexico City. Photography by Felix Friedmann/courtesy of Sean Scully.

> See more from the February 2018 issue of Interior Design

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