From August 2 to October 27, 2024, the He Art Museum (HEM) presents Sean Scully’s solo exhibition 'Away from the Sea' featuring 40 paintings and sculptures created since the 1960s, tracing the artist’s practice that spans over half a century.

Scully’s nomadic childhood instilled in him a passion for travel. Much of his work is a heartfelt reflection of the journeys and landscapes that have touched his life. He sought refuge in Gypsy homes, wandered through London slums, with the echo of his grandmother’s singing voice accompanying his footprint – “When Irish eyes are smiling, sure it’s like a morning spring.” Elsewhere, in Morocco, Mexico, or Barcelona, he depicted the soft light and endless night through the gaze of a Dubliner. Emotion-laden color blocks pile up in paintings or sculptures, seemingly self-governing and defying gravity.

Sean Scully has visited and presented exhibitions in China many times, mostly in the north of the country. This time, journeying upstream away from the sea, he embarks on another adventure in a small southern city nestled within a network of rivers. At the He Art Museum, the colors in Scully’s paintings and sculptures ripple from light to dark along the diurnal passage from day to night.