Endangered Sky: Sean Scully & Kelly Grovier

One in eight bird species is at risk of extinction due to climate change, illegal trade, and habitat loss. Sean Scully and Kelly Grovier's "An Ode to Vanishing Beauty" is a collection of poem and drawings that celebrate the beauty and mystery of individual bird species. Scully's visual language captures the essence of creatures on the brink of abstraction, while the drawings offer hope in the face of an accelerating tragedy.

Format: Hardback
Length: 128 pages
Publication date: 27 April 2023
Publisher: Hatje Cantz

The tragic consequences of climate change, illegal trade, and habitat loss are taking a toll on the world's bird species. It is estimated that as many as one in eight species is facing extinction. In a powerful collaboration, artist Sean Scully and writer Kelly Grovier have created a series of poem-and-drawing pairings that celebrate the beauty and mystery of individual bird species. Scully's visual language, characterized by its measured and impassioned qualities, combines geometric and free-flowing elements to capture the essence of creatures on the brink of abstraction.

While his earlier iPhone drawings maintain his signature style, they also reveal a fresh intimacy, playfulness, and exhilaration of gesture, color, and form that aligns with the wonder of feathered flight. These digital drawings, created on a digital device, serve as an ironic embodiment of "technology that is ruining nature turned inside out to protest its demise."

However, taken together, these duets offer a glimmer of hope in the face of this accelerating tragedy. As Emily Dickinson famously wrote, "Hope is the thing with feathers / That perches in the soul." Through their artistic collaboration, Scully and Grovier invite us to appreciate the delicate balance of nature and to recognize the importance of protecting these precious species for generations to come.

Dimension: 210 x 140 (mm)
ISBN-13: 9783775754859