Sobre el Artista

My web site (ekmorris.com) shows Recent Work and Prior Work. Like many artists my work reflects various differing—yet interrelated—series of works (all of them paintings). Compositions on Strathmore Paper This series involves two types of selected work: (A) oil crayons & collage on Strathmore paper (titled “Marbling Fragmentations”) in which segments of collage pieces are extended and imitated in oil crayons; and (B) oil crayons & graphite on Strathmore: experiments with abstract shapes, using the sides of the crayons, in which the negative white spaces of the paper interact with them and with varied types of notational devices. All works in this series are 19 x 24 in. & 14 x 17 in. Aggregate Compositions The above series was preceded by a series of abstract “aggregate” compositions in oil–puzzle-like canvases in which undercoats of gesso were designed to peer through a series of interacting shades of a single color and in which the differing scales of the irregular component forms appear at varied locations on the canvas. This work immediately led to my work on paper. Canvases are 24 x 24 in. & smaller. Marble Ledge Compositions The above works followed directly from a long, complex series of oil “marble ledge” compositions. These oils on canvas, each 36 x 24 in., consist of tri-partite compositions, each section of which is inspired by patterns of varying sorts and colors deduced from books illustrating marble types. These were merely points of departure for my imagination. They are exercises in abstract pattern-making. The three “ledge-like” components of each canvas sometimes involve interrelated colors and forms and sometimes are mutually distinctive. They can be interpreted as semi-abstract works when the viewer realizes that each canvas features three interrelated “ledges” or ‘shelves’ within which the patterns occur. Canvases are 36 x 24 in. each. Figural Configurations: See Prior Work Before these I involved myself in a series of semi-abstract erotic figurative compositions in oil and collage on canvas, including my tall “totem” paintings. Symbolism and applied ornament play significant roles in these works, as do various architectonic devices such as linear constructive forms. Works after Picasso and Cezanne are especially important. Sizes differ, as indicated. Antherium Configurations: See Prior Work Following the Figural Configurations are a series of irregular configurations in oil & collage based on Antherium configurations—paintings composed of differing sizes of canvases linked together to form an expressionistic whole. Semi-abstract in nature, they explore themes of Antheriums amd other tropical plants and imagery, often with collage and framing elements used to convey symbolic meaning and axial geometries. Color plays a vibrant role in these works. Sizes differ, as indicated. E.K. MORRIS Los Angeles, 2018