New Art for a New Year

Five artists featured in upcoming exhibitions share what they are looking forward to seeing and doing in 2021.

By Susan Delson 

The pandemic wreaked havoc on museums’ exhibition schedules in 2020, and the 2021 calendar remains somewhat unpredictable. But a number of expansive, well-considered shows are planned for this year, including solo exhibitions spotlighting innovative contemporary artists. Several of those artists shared thoughts on the past year and what they’re looking forward to in 2021. 

Intense physicality and an expressive hand give the geometric abstractions of Sean Scully, 75, a resonantly human touch. His retrospective, “ Sean Scully : The Shape of Ideas,” is slated to open in June at the Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth. Much of Mr. Scully’s studio time last year was devoted to his continuing “Landline” series of paintings, in which horizontal bands of varying colors evoke landscapes and horizons. He also worked on “more nihilistic, pessimistic paintings, with black squares in the middle. Which I find very symbolic of the time,” he said. In 2021, he is looking forward to “ Jasper Johns : Mind/Mirror,” a nearly 500-work retrospective that will open Sept. 29 at the Philadelphia Museum of Art and the Whitney Museum of American Art in New York ...