The Chicago Art Institute - The Modern Wing

I have always been a fan of the Chicago Art Institute. Over the past few years, my visits to the museum have been disappointing. An entire wing was being remodeled, created, built. Most of the art was placed in storage or lent out to other museums. The Joseph Cornell's, the Rothko, the Magritte's, the Dali's, the Ernst's, etc. All these pieces of art I associated with the museum were no longer around.

On Sunday, I was finally able to walk through the completed modern wing of the Chicago Art Institute. I was not disappointed. An entire glass wall sits in a dimly lit room. Behind the glass, all the Cornell boxes. A dream come true. My eyes and nose pressed to the glass. The little shadow boxes hiding in the shadows themselves. A whole new level of darkness.

The topping on the cake, the piece by Barnett Newman. I may never be able to explain my love for his work. But, for years, his theory on the 'zip' has hypnotized me. His pieces at the MoMA have overwhelmed me. But, none of them ever moved me in the way Untitled #3 did. My eyes turned wet and I had a few tear drops. A single sliver of canvas. Two colors. Framed in. The frame created by Jackson Pollack. But, here is everything Newman has created. The zip as a single piece. Nothing more than the zip. As if the zip no longer is just on his paintings, but it has stepped into the work of every piece in the shared space.

I had many moving moments on Sunday. My face a permanent smile. Well worth the wait.

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