Giorgio Morandi + Robert Ryman
Object/Space

Kohn Gallery is pleased to present a two-person show featuring the work of Robert Ryman (b. 1930) and Giorgio Morandi (1890 – 1964) who each, across space and time, dedicated themselves to the investigation of object and environment. Using a reductive visual vocabulary, Ryman and Morandi harness the nuances of light and shadow to complicate perception either within the painting or without. 

Painted in muted colors, Morandi’s meditative compositions beautifully blend still life subject matter and interior space so as to almost dissolve one into the other. The still life becomes nearly abstracted, allowing a harmonious rhythm to dominate the composition.  

Robert Ryman began painting his reductive paintings around 1955. Challenging the boundary between painting and sculpture, these textural paintings create a complex surface of rhythmic light and shadow. Underscoring the objecthood of these paintings is the way in which they blend into the space in which they inhabit. 

Selected Press

Featured
Morandi + Ryman - ARTFORUM
Morandi + Ryman - ARTFORUM

In what feels like an inevitable, predestined union, small, quiet works by Giorgio Morandi and Robert Ryman come together in a vast white room. And yet they are not swallowed. Careful studies, these works dramatize and depict the melodrama that small details within a much larger whole can command.

Morandi + Ryman - L.A. Weekly
Morandi + Ryman - L.A. Weekly

Painter Robert Ryman was born in Nashville in 1930. Giorgio Morandi, also a painter, was born in 1890 in Bologna, Italy (he died there in 1964). Ryman paints abstractly, Morandi representationally, but the two share an attraction to a muted palette.

Morandi + Ryman - Los Angeles Times
Morandi + Ryman - Los Angeles Times

Inspired curatorial efforts are rare these days, so even the idea of pairing still lifes by Giorgio Morandi (1890-1964) with nearly monochrome abstractions by Robert Ryman (b. 1930) excites the imagination.

Morandi + Ryman - Los Angeles Times
Morandi + Ryman - Los Angeles Times

Giorgio Morandi and Robert Ryman, "Object/Space" at Kohn Gallery. In an age of shiny objects, this exhibition is quite the opposite, showing the restrained and quiet works of a pair of artists who explored the subtleties of light, shadow and muted tones. The show features Ryman's white paintings and Morandi's tight still-life arrangements. 

Morandi + Ryman - KCRW
Morandi + Ryman - KCRW

And the widespread interest in abstract painting continues apace: The eccentrically intimate still lives of Giorgio Morandi are being shown with the incomparable white paintings of Robert Ryman in Object/Space at Kohn Gallery opening September 19.

Morandi + Ryman - Arts Life
Morandi + Ryman - Arts Life

Tinte tenui e nature morte che si avvicinano all’arte astratta. Le tele di Giorgio Morandi, a cinquant’anni dalla morte dell’artista continuano ad affascinare il pubblico e ad esercitare influenze sugli artisti contemporanei. Lo dimostra la mostra “Object / Space – Giorgio Morandi e Robert Ryman” realizzata dalla Galleria d’Arte Maggiore G.A.M. 

Morandi + Ryman - Arte.it
Morandi + Ryman - Arte.it

A cinquant’anni dalla sua scomparsa, l’attività creativa di Giorgio Morandi (1890-1964), continua ad esercitare la propria influenza sugli artisti contemporanei. Ad offrirne un esempio concreto è la mostra “Object / Space - Giorgio Morandi e Robert Ryman” realizzata dalla Galleria d’Arte Maggiore G.A.M. di Bologna in collaborazione con la Kohn Gallery di Los Angeles che, dal 19 settembre al 31 ottobre, metterà a confronto l’opera dei due artisti negli spazi espositivi al 1227 di Highland Avenue.