When Grass Is More Than Lawn

There is a compelling body of work at Argazzi Art Gallery in Lakeville right now. Antonio Murado’s When The Wind Turns series offers up simplicity achieved through a complex process. Gallery owner Judith Singelis is always enthused to speak about her artists: she cares deeply about what she shows.

“These pieces were shown in April at the Albano Building of the United Nations. Two were placed and sent to Spain, and I was able to get the other two and the third piece, which Antonio graciously gave me to exhibit from his personal collection.”

So what’s the show? For a quick distillation, think close-up views of lightly abstracted grasses. The works invite you to look and look again.  Murado’s layering of varnishes, paints, brush strokes, scratches and rubs makes us care because he cared so much. We can tell from first sight that there’s more here than the grass that meets the eye.

A couple of decades ago I took my barely verbal daughter Samantha to my mom and dad’s lawn. She sat and reveled in the textures, in the green of it. I explained to her: 

“This is grass.” 

She repeated the word to assimilate it, grabbing up handfuls. As multiple soft blades caressed her little hands, I saw that no word could hold the essence of this mystery. Sam was touching something far greater than my paltry definitions and explanations could convey. She was not looking at grass the way we normally do. She was encountering an energetic essence. If you go to the gallery to stand before the paintings of  When The Wind Turns, prepare yourself for such a meeting.

Murado did not simply paint grass. He paved an entrance for your emotional arrest.

The teacher Deepak Chopra said: “The same stream of life that runs through the world runs through my veins night and day and dances in rhythmic measure. It is the same life that shoots in joy through the dust of the earth into numberless blades of grass and breaks into tumultuous waves of flowers.” This is grass as Murado paints it. That precise level of respect, even reverence, informs each painting.

This artist depicts, in his floral forms as well as in the peaceful cacophany of his windswept meadow barrage, a dichotomy specific to him, born in interlaced layers of intention. It invites us to see beyond the surface and to slow ourselves down, to appreciate the simple wonder so palpable when we are receptive.

Murado is an artist from Spain, and certainly no lightweight. His resume features more museums than your grandma’s summer wish list, and corporate collections along the lines of Coca – Cola and Philip Morris have snapped up his work like millennials gathering bitcoin. He maintains studio space at the infamous Mana Contemporary in Jersey City, where a wild array of creators hang their hats.

Mana, where Singelis visited Murado, is a cornucopia of art makers. Their mission is, in part, to democratize and demystify contemporary art for all and sundry. She suggested to me that this marvel is well worth the journey.  Road trip, anyone?

When The Wind Turns is showing at Argazzi Art Gallery, 22 Millerton Rd., Lakeville, CT www.argazziart.com.