Sean Scully, 'Wall of Light Haze,' 2012. (Courtesy the artist and Cheim & Read.)

Cheim & Read gallery in Chelsea now represents Irish-born painter and printmaker Sean Scully, according to Adam Sheffer, a partner at the gallery. Mr. Scully, who is best known for his large abstract canvases filled with brushy recentangles, approached Cheim & Read last year to propose showing there. He was previously represented by Galerie Lelong, which last presented a solo show of his work in 2009.

“He just felt it was time to make a move,” said Mr. Sheffer of the artist's motivations for switching galleries. He added that he thinks Mr. Scully is an "extraordinary addition" to Cheim & Read's roster of artists, which includes high-profile painters like Pat Steir, Louise Fishman and the estate of Joan Mitchell. “The gallery has such an eclectic group of artists, but in some ways people consider us a mecca for painting, and Sean is one of the greatest living painters," said Mr. Sheffer. "There is a strength and a vitality about his work that I think is consistent with a number of the artists with whom we work.”

Cheim & Read will mark Mr. Scully’s arrival with a solo exhibition in October. The intervening months will be busy ones for the artist, who has shows lined up at the National Gallery of Modern Art in Rome in March, the Hugh Lane, Dublin's municipal gallery, in April and at the newly renovated Drawing Center in New York in September.