Giorgio Morandi spent years perusing shops and collecting small vessels for his still life paintings. This project is based on his exquisite paintings of these vessels. It is a project for an intro class, or for the advanced painter who wants some exercise. 

Morandi wrote, “For me, nothing is abstract. In fact, I believe there is nothing more surreal, nothing more abstract, than reality.” The paradox in this is that it means that abstraction itself does not exist in objects and that reality itself is abstract. This is a statement about the act of seeing.

This project is intended to rend loose the threshold between the objects of one’s perception (the vessels) and the spaces and shadows within their realm. By loosening the boundaries between one and another, one can get closer to painting solely for the purpose of perceiving. What is there? What is thingness? And, how can the painter capture the uncertainty of seeing, looking, and perceiving, in a painting?

The great beauty of the Morandi paintings is that all things loose their “thingness” and become an enactment of sight itself. The process of deciphering meaning in objects differs from one time to another and within each individual person. Visual meaning is quite different from verbal meaning. The subject of this painting will be the pure immersion into this process as a visual form.

Morandi subverted the conventions of seeing. The relations that one sees in his works between objects, space, light, solidity and air, the edge of one thing and another, are persistently questioned. This is a beautiful way to activate painting. 

Here are some instructions for the class:

• Keep colour simple. 3 colours and value within those chosen colours.

• Portray the Matter of the objects in terms of light and shadow, NOT by contouring the outlines of each shape.

• Imagine that the space between the objects is also Matter. Portray the between space as something palpable.

• Consider the boundaries of the canvas. Portray the boundaries as active properties of the painting as if it is not just a background but spacial Matter.

• Use brush marks to define the form. Allow the surface of the painting to work for you.

Preparation

I bought many vessels at the thrift store and painted them all white. I set up about 4 tables in the classroom, each with a difference still life and a shone lamp on each table. This allowed the students to group themselves around a particular table. They were working in a dark studio with only the lamp lights. This was a 3 hour exercise. Students were instructed to spend a great deal of time looking at their finished work, then to make 2 more studies using what they had learned about the experience of perception.

Reading: “Giorgio Morandi: Not Just Bottles” from the book Living, Thinking, Looking, by Siri Hustvedt, 2012. I preceded the exercise with a discussion of the reading and the works of Giorgio Morandi. The use of pigments was also discussed in relation to how to create value within a limited palette. The results of the project was really great. Critique and discussion ensued the following week.

Posted August 15, 2022

Photo: September 16, 2016, University of Victoria