GIORGIO MORANDI: PAINTINGS 11th June - 30th July 2004 Faggionato Fine Arts is pleased to announce their forthcoming exhibition of paintings by Giorgio Morandi. The show will consist of eleven canvases; four landscapes and seven still lifes. Named during his lifetime “the painter of the everyday”, Morandi devoted much of his work to the exploration of the still life genre. His unwavering commitment to a particular subject matter, often repeatedly depicting the same humble objects, may at first seem strangely limited but several works together tell us something a single painting cannot. Two still lifes included in the exhibition, dating from 1952, clearly demonstrate how his reductive approach produced eloquent statements about perception and the process of seeing. He painted a total of forty-two still lifes that year, seventeen of which share three important components: a cylindrical object to the left, a vase to the right and a horizontal element joining them. Whilst the compositions may be structurally similar, the subtle changes of form, placing and atmospheric effects forces the viewer to recognise that the works figurative content is only part of the story. Look long enough and the objects start to take on a conceptual quality as it becomes apparent that the subject of the work is scale, light and colour. In this way Morandi comments on things we take for granted, on things we don’t really see and thus is able to reduce painting to its very essence. Morandi’s landscapes also bear a reductive trait although the absence of compositional control encourages more abstract results. He tends towards unusual vantage points where often a man-made structure eclipses half the view. By moving away from the traditional illustrative conception of landscape painting, in which a horizon is structurally crucial, Morandi is able to continue his investigation into the formal concerns of painting. He deals with this less controlled environment in terms of interlocking colour patterns and lively brushstrokes. A fully illustrated catalogue with essays by art historian James Demetrion and artist Wayne Thiebaud is available. ----------------------------------------------------- Gallery hours: Monday-Friday 10 am – 6 pm Saturday 12-4 pm Summer opening hours from July 12th 2004: closed Saturday and Mondays For further information and images, please contact Bunny Turner at Faggionato Fine Arts, email: info@faggionato.com