A year ago, we were busy at Finch Lane Gallery installing our 35×35 exhibit, a showcase for Utah’s young artistic talent. Then the closures hit. (The exhibit only opened to the public, in a limited way, in June.) A year since the closures, we have decided to check in with the artists from 35×35 to see what they’re working on now in our WIP feature.
Art Morrill says a lot of his current energy has been put into PARC collective’s programming for people to enjoy art in spite of COVID-19.
But he’s still getting into the studio and continuing his series of fragmented images that are held together with sutures. “The sutures are a heavy handed reference to skin and tissue being stitched together,” he says. He’s thinking of calling this current piece, which is 16 x 29 in., “BBS” for Blue Baby Syndrome.
“Planning for the stitches is always a challenge because I have to compose, paint, and then assemble this kind of jigsaw puzzle that never fully comes together as I expect. This process limits a lot of the play that exists in traditional painting because of the inherent need to consider more sculptural issues like gravity and how the various components are not only aesthetic but also have to be considered within a functional framework. For example, I might want to add a component into something for visual balance but I also have to consider how I attach it and if it can bear weight.”
You can see more of his art at artmorrill.com and check back to these pages for more on PARC collective’s newest project.
This 15 Bytes feature talks with artists about what is on their “easel” right now.
Categories: Visual Arts | WIP
