Walter Robinson, a Morandi for our Times

THE DAILY PIC: At Owen James, Robinson updates the bottle still life.

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THE DAILY PIC (#1541): I caught this work by veteran painter Walter Robinson on Sunday at Owen James Gallery in Greenpoint, in New York. I love the way it seems to give a contemporary take on Giorgio Morandi’s classic rows of bottles, by filling them with pills. On the other hand, there’s already something a bit zonked-out about Morandi’s originals. It’s as though Robinson recognized the tamped-down emotions in Morandi and wasn’t afraid to posit their cause. (I also like how Robinson’s painting evokes an urban skyline. Pill bottles standing for skyscrapers: the perfect synecdoche for New York.)

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