Reception: April 6, 5:30-7:30
Santa Fe, NM— The combination of repetitive geometric form and color in Pard Morrison’s work creates an alluring rhythmic harmony of structure and surface. Psychologically, says the artist, the repetitive segmentation of form is similar to dissected time and is intended to evoke the soothing effect of prayer and ritual. The painterly surfaces represent humanness, or spirit, transcending corporeal weight and strict containment in bodily form.
Morrison’s fabricated aluminum pieces are hybrids of painting and sculpture—a blurring of sculptural and painterly conventions—and, in particular, a hybrid of the two most powerful early influences on his work: Donald Judd’s rectilinear, minimalist sculptures and Agnes Martin’s ethereal, though also minimalist, grid paintings.
Although formalist, Morrison’s work is above all visionary. He has said, “I am interested in three issues in my work: the materiality of metal as it refers to human mass, the ethereality of surface as it refers to and is a vehicle for human spirit, the fusion of these two as it refers to the weight of human physical vs. the weight of human transcendental. This fusion of surface and medium is an applicable metaphor for the human condition.”
The surfaces are achieved by repeatedly baking on finishes, a process Morrison calls “patination.” His characteristic colors are vibrant but recently he has added more neutral, earthy tones, a context that allows the brighter colors to shine with even greater luminosity. He frequently aims for a visibly expressive painterliness in his finishes to evoke the “humanness” of the painter’s touch.
The dramatic scale of some of his work is relatively recent. Included in this exhibition is the free-standing sculpture called Love Prayer, eight feet in height and nearly nine feet in length (96” x 106” x 12”). The larger scale, in combination with the work’s predominantly neutral color and rhythmic segmentation, evokes the prayerful serenity of his smaller works along with the awesomeness of a larger dimension without a hint of arrogance or grandiosity.
To an interviewer Morrison said, “The visual segmentation and linear quality of the work creates a rhythmic repetition like dissections in time. You know, just as drumming can create a ritualistic environment I think the rhythms in these pieces create a more intimate, ritualistic relationship between the viewer and the art work. The big, free-standing piece was kind of a springboard for the new work. I turned a painting on end and segmented it, and the experience of that was delightful.”
In addition to the linear pieces, Morrison has created a series of cubes. “They came out of nowhere,” he says, “and are a little more complex than the linear pieces, visually and in terms of my psychology. They’re made of differently colored, segmented forms that fit together to form the cube. So there’s uniformity of composition but with a substructure that is jumbled. . . . It’s a reflection of my own psychology. I need prayer and I need repetition.”
Born and raised in Colorado Springs, Colorado, Morrison received his BFA with a concentration in sculpture from Colorado State University. His work has appeared in select solo and group exhibitions from coast to coast and in such centers as New Orleans, Denver, Chicago and Santa Fe. His most recent museum exhibition was as one of four artists featured in “Spring Forward: Four Colorado Artists” (January 27-March 4, 2007) at FAC Modern in Colorado Springs.
