Sean McCusker

When Sean McCusker started developing as an artist, he found himself taking long nightly walks along the illuminated streets of Amherst, Massachusetts. The bright yellow of the street lamps against the cold blue tones of night eased the day’s stresses. Since then, his work has reflected the cool loneliness of night, warmed by the hues of artificial illumination.

The landscapes he creates are surreal constructs; a stage, rather than representations of a specific place. Like the masked actors in a Greek drama, the characters and objects are emotional archetypes. Using intense colors in a layered technique suitable for objective realism, he has developed a style that attempts to depict emotion as a solid object.

Many of his pieces center around a single figure set against a vast empty space. The light illuminating the darkness is always just out of the figure’s reach. Sometimes the light source is the sun or moon, though most of the time it is ambiguous.

The meaning of each element depends on the placement and interaction it has with the rest of the landscape. The sun and moon often stand as sentinels against the darkness. The figures sit, silently contemplating their situation. These meanings change from painting to painting. It is left to the viewer, if they choose, to imagine themselves sitting with the figure, determining what situation it finds itself in.

“Cliff”, soft pastel on paper, 22″x10″. (c)Sean McCusker.