Sunday Pick: Sean McDonough

Flouri, 2012, Oil on Linen

Arkansas Mishap, 2013, Oil on Linen

Mockingbird, 2013, Oil on Cotton

Sis, 2012, Oil on Linen

Armed, 2012, Oil on Linen 

I recently saw Sean McDonough's work for the first time when I dropped by Gross McCleaf to see their current show Signs and Systems.  McDonough's work was one of the stand outs in the show for me.  So much of the work in that show hinged on the surfaces for me, some worse in person, some better.  This work is subtle and complex in its surfaces and color and varies between the pieces.  

When I later read McDonough's statement I liked what he had to say about this (excerpt):

My objective is one of haptics – the communicative power of touch. What are the communicative qualities of the mark, and how do they relate to the body? The making of marks is the meaning.

Paintings by their nature exist as images – as manifestations within pictorial space. I’m primarily concerned with how the image is created. The image is the evidence of the body’s engagement. 

seanmcdonoughstudio.com