Slow Art

Even before I got to DC I became a member of the Phillips Collection. For me, it's the perfect size; not so big that I get lost and overwhelmed by the art - not so small that I can't feel the range of stuff in a particular exhibit. Also it costs $ to go but is free to members. Today was my first visit as a member and I knew right away that I belonged.

Today being a Wednesday I stayed away from the permanent collection and went in search of the Morandi exhibit which runs through May 24. I'm glad that didn't wait until it was almost done because I intend to go back again and again.

The brochure for the show calls Giorgio Morandi The Master of Modern Still Life. How interesting could that be? But think about both of those words. His work is certainly still and it is also certainly informed by life. Besides the visual loveliness of the colors and shapes that created the framework of the experience there is a whole way of looking that is at the heart of Morandi's work.

A tour of the exhibit was scheduled for a little while after I arrived and I had no interest in it. But when I walked through the room where it was taking place I guess I was sufficiently opened up by the paintings and etchings - I decided to listen as well as look. Amanda Jiron-Murphy, In-Gallery Interpretation and Public Programs Coordinator, took me one step further into Morandi with the work required by her tour. Stopping in front of two very similar looking paintings (Morandi painted the same objects in differing combinations, over and over again, for many years) she gently demanded that the group go directly into the art by looking real hard at the differences bewteen them. The specific categories she outlined helped us with this personal exploration.

Morandi spent a lifetime looking hard, seeing deep and using his art to express what he saw; the viewer can appreciate his work and our added perception of it becomes part of what's been created.

Was that last part in English? I sense some rolling eyes. Sometimes MAD does get carried away.

Throughout the gallery I had been thinking about the mindfulness generated in me by the calm direct experience of these paintings and etchings. I had seen an announcement of the upcoming A Mediation on Morandi at the Phillips to be led by Jim Goodwin and Erin Wilhelm. On paper the connection made me wonder; in person it made utter sense. MAD has been (intentionally) slowly reading Jon Kabat-Zinn's Coming to Our Senses. Looking at Morandi has given me another opportunity to get closer.