Sean Scully and David Carrier in Conversation

Book excerpt: What makes a person an artist? How do works of art and their very own, extraordinary style come into being? And how does the prominent painter view his own work? The world-famous painter Sean Scully met with the philosopher David Carrier for several in-depth interview sessions. Their conversations explore these and many more questions about Scully's life, work, and ideas. The result is a rich manuscript that very closely approaches the status of a valid autobiography. Scully provides personal insights into his life and the important sources of inspiration for his career. He discusses his own view of his entire oeuvre, of art history and his position within it. Thus, this text becomes a literal eye-opener for Scully's art, which can be (re)discovered through his words. SEAN SCULLY (*1945, Dublin) is one of the most famous artists of his generation. In addition to numerous exhibitions worldwide, he has been honored with important awards such as the Guggenheim Fellowship and Harckness Fellowship. DAVID CARRIER (*1944) is a philosopher and art critic. His contributions to art appear in ArtForum and ArtUS, among others. With this interview tape, he takes up an interest of his teacher Arthur C. Danto, whose texts on Scully were published by Hatje Cantz in 2015.