End of Days

 It’s been such an intense, surreal and difficult year. Even so I think I’m in a better situation than many with regards to the pandemic and its effects on my life. I have a good, steady job as a Fine Art lecturer which has continued since March, a roof over my head, food on the table, space for my kids to play outside. At one point in time these were seen as almost the given basics if you could hold down a job, but since the Eighties and Thatcherism, accelerated at unbelievable speed since 2010, so many have seen a complete degradation in their job conditions, can barely manage to find and keep an affordable home, and even put food on the table. These things have preyed a lot on my mind lately and especially over the Christmas period.

It’s the incredible work of scientists, hopefully with the vaccine, that will help the world return to some sort of, albeit deeply scarred, normality in 2021, but I think it’s important to acknowledge how our cultural lives can offer so much support as a way of navigating ourselves through difficult periods in our lives. Art, music, books, film, theatre and TV can be incredibly inspiring, affirming and consoling as we see aspects of our lives reflected back at us- it’s what I seek in much of the culture I seek out- but also can be a great escape from it all. I’ve been thinking about what I have discovered this year that has helped me through these times….

'Death of Winston Rose', Denzil Forrester, oil on canvas, 1981

With galleries closed for so much of this year I’ve not been to see much art, but before lockdown in March I loved visiting the exhibition of paintings by Denzil Forrestor. ‘Itchin’ and Scratchin’, at Nottingham Contemporary. That was a definite highlight of the year- the paintings were so full of life, be it in the character’s lived depicted in the scenes of the Afro-Caribbean community of dub clubs and tough streets, or in the artist’s very sophisticated use of colour and form and his use of drawing in his vast, complex compositions. They had something to say that felt borne out of a lived experience and possessed a sincerity, directness and honesty that reached out to a wider audience. They were a refreshing change to so much art on display and spoke deeply to me, taking me back to some of my own formative roots in painting. I looked closely at Denzil’s paintings as a student in the early 1990’s, and even had tutorials with him, and learned a lot of lessons from his work which I still apply. There is a great lively interview with Denzil on the ‘TalkArt’ podcast that you can find on many podcast apps. I use Castbox to download or stream the regular ones I listen to.  

Poet Roger Robinson (photo courtesy of The Guardian)

Sort of related, in the sense that his work is rooted in his experience of being a member of the black community in Britain and also in the Caribbean, Roger Robinson’s award winning book of poetry, ‘A Portable Paradise’, is the book that had the biggest emotional impact on me this year. Many of the poems deal with the Grenfell fire tragedy and are incredibly moving, and unsurprisingly upsetting, causing a tightening across the chest in this reader. Others deal with the experience of being an immigrant, a refugee, or a black artist in words that have a calm anger, wisdom and clarity of vision. In the year of Black Lives Matter and where we are all hopefully (I know this is probably naïve but I certainly am) thinking with a greater awareness of the experience of black people in this country and the US in particular the book is very prescient. I can’t recommend it highly enough.

Comus as featured on compilation by Bob Stanley and Pete Wiggs 'Gather In The Mushrooms'

If I were to choose any music that has been a good companion this year it will be the discovery of some of the thematic compilation albums of music created by Bob Stanley and Pete Wiggs. This began with ‘Gather In The Mushrooms’, an album recommended in the ‘A Year In The Country’ book I have discussed in previous recent posts (this, alongside Mark Fisher’s ‘The Weird and the Eerie’, would be my other book of the year for how many cultural doors it has opened to me), a collection of Psych and Acid Folk Music from the late sixties and early seventies, whose songs from a wide variety of artists is rooted in a slightly otherworldly English folk tradition. I love it and found myself really immersed in its musical landscape during the long summer evenings in the studio. A particular standout track is ‘The Herald’ by Comus, which is such a stunningly atmospheric song. I have a vivid memory of painting late one evening in July a scene of local woods and sitting exhausted at about midnight having finished the painting as this haunting track played on my Walkman and filled the room. I was pleased with the painting but the whole experience felt quite emotional: the effort of painting, my tiredness, the somewhat heady transportation of the album’s music to this amazing end track and coping with the whole pandemic and the effect it has had on my family in various ways.

This album remains my favourite of the compilations but I have also loved ‘English Weather’, a collection of early Seventies rock, in its broadest sense, by long forgotten and overlooked bands, ‘The Tears Of Technology’, also dubbed ‘the sadness of synthesizers’, a superb collection of late seventies and early Eighties English synth and electronic bands and solo artists including the brilliant lost classic ‘Private Plane’ by Thomas Lear (And if the opening short melancholy instrumental opening track by China Crisis doesn’t floor you well I just can’t help you, I really can’t). The most recent one I bought was the brilliant ‘Tim Peaks’, a collection of lost indie Eighties classics interweaved with more recent music by various artists with a binding link to the aesthetic of early Factory records (well apparently according to Bob Stanley and Tim Burgess who put this one together). Conceptually it is also a reimagining of Twin Peaks and it’s diner being relocated to a café in North West England and is thus an imaginary soundtrack to a late wintry afternoon near the Pennines with a mug of tea and a great jukebox in the corner looking through rain lashed windows. I like afternoons like these and have had my fair share of them when I lived up north in the West Riding.

In all of these records the sleeve notes are lovingly and enthusiastically presented by Stanley and Wiggs. It’s like listening to a great compilation tape put together with the joy and care of an older brother or good friend. It brings back fond memories for me of these experiences in my twenties when a new compilation tape would land on the doorstep from one of brothers at Uni, or the hours I spent putting one together for them or my wife. It seems from a time when these things seem to matter more.

The Adam Buxton Podcast (with dog Rosie)

Other listening pleasures include the Adam Buxton podcast of which I have listened to all 147 episodes now. It’s a great companion on the bus journey to and from work. Adam Buxton is a brilliant interviewer and in his ‘Ramble Chats’ manages to pull off the trick of seeming like he isn’t really trying in fascinating, funny, sometimes irreverent, in-depth talks with comedians, poets, writers, political and social thinkers, legends where Buxton is always warm and engaged. Two recent ones with the poet/activist Benjamin Zephaniah and Paul McCartney were compelling and brilliant. I could highlight so many more, but you should check it out yourself. I don’t know anything about so many of the people interviewed beforehand but always get something out of each podcast.

'The Mandolorian' on Disney+

And my escapism? That would have to be ‘The Mandolorian’, the Star Wars spin off series on Disney+. How cool is that show? I love it and is everything the Star Wars prequels and recent sequels have promised but never really delivered on, from the great storylines but also the design of it all, which is always the part of Star Wars that has made the deepest impression on my imagination from when I saw it as a kid.

It looks like 2021 is going to continue to be a rough ride for several months still, so hang on in there. Thanks to all those who continue to support me and show an interest in my work. Wishing you all well into 2021...

https://www.frieze.com/article/denzil-forrester-i-had-find-something-shook-me

https://www.theguardian.com/books/2020/jun/13/roger-robinson-poets-can-translate-trauma

https://www.theguardian.com/music/2017/jan/26/bob-stanley-and-pete-wiggs-present-english-weather-review-ace

https://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2020/aug/29/adam-buxton-dad-more-proud-of-me-but-he-was

https://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2020/mar/24/the-mandalorian-review-baby-yoda-has-finally-come-to-the-uk-was-it-worth-the-wait-disney

Still On The Road...Just

work in progress, oil on canvas, 120 x 150cms, 2020

I’m just posting to let you know that I’ve re-designed, updated and published a new version of my website. It’s still at the same address: www.shaunmorrispaintings.com.

It was forced upon me when I realised how different my website looked on the mobile phone, with all my titles and information absent. After contacting my site provider, ‘Portfoliobox’ (who I would really recommend) I was told I was using an old template and would need to do the whole thing again! Luckily (sort of) they migrated all of my images to the new version and I was left to plod on redesigning it over the last few months, able to keep the old one until I was ready to publish this new site. It’s been pretty easy, but just time consuming, but I’m pleased with how it looks. I’ve rationalised much of the work too into fewer portfolios of work, but most of it remains just in a different format. I’ve also added a shop to make it more accessible to buy my work as well as other things such as T-Shirts, Tote bags, and the Indigo Octagon Publications. I aim to use the store to showcase different pieces each month but as most of the work is for sale on my website, I just hope it gives anyone interested a guide to the prices of my artwork if they were interested in buying. I also hope to hold online sales of certain pieces of work for a limited period every 3 months next year, but that scares me a bit so we’ll see.

Exhibition at College view

Last weekend I delivered a recent painting, ‘Winter Field’, to an Open Exhibition at the General Office Art Gallery and Studios in Stourbridge. It’s an artist run set-up that’s been operating for the last 2 years or so, and is a welcome cultural addition to the Black Country Arts Scene which has seen the closure of many galleries in recent years including Dudley Museum and Art Gallery. For me, after a torrid year for all of us, but for so many artists including myself who has had two exhibitions cancelled this year due to Covid, it just felt great taking along a painting and showing again. The exhibition is due to open in January all being well, but will also be available to see online.

'Lockdown' (left) and 'The Green Door' (right)

'Limbs' (left) and 'Morning Way' (right)

'The Edge Of The Field' (left) and 'The Herald' (right)

And finally, I also in the last fortnight at work I also decided, quite spontaneously, to exhibit a few paintings in the corridor near the Art Department. There is a nice generous wall space there. It’s been an awful year due to Covid, but for me it’s also been one of my most consistently creative for a long time, with my painting as ever sustaining me during what continues to be a very challenging time. It’s been great to back teaching though and in amongst the community of students and I’ve been trying to deliver projects that ask the students to reflect on some of their own but also our collective experiences of the last few months, which is exactly what I’ve been doing since March too. I’m on a real creative journey, so It only seemed right to share some of my work too. I chose not to show my current work though, I’m not ready for that, but the more vibrant, colourful paintings I made from March to August. I’m so glad I did too- not only did they look great at college, but I had such a positive response from my social media friends it felt like I had had a small online exhibition of sorts. It felt really worthwhile.

Merry Christmas. Stay Safe.

 

Go on...treat yourself!

'The Far Field', oil on canvas, 30 x 40cms, 2020

I’m pleased to say I’m one of a small number of artists now represented by ‘Small Works Art Gallery’: www.smallworksartsgallery.com,  

It's a new online gallery platform set up by local Birmingham based but American born artist and recent Slade graduate Monica Perez Vega. Its aim is to sell modest scale (nothing bigger than 40cms either way) and modestly priced artwork directly from the site. I’ve got three small paintings available for now which if you are after a Christmas bargain...? 

'The Way', oil on panel, 30 x 30cms, 2020

Monica thought my work was too cheap, and she’s probably right but it is a hard one to judge as most artists will tell you (I think, but I’m not entirely sure of that- some artists seem to have no qualms about charging a fortune!). However, I would prefer to keep things more modestly priced so people may be more tempted to buy an original painting which I sincerely believe is a wonderful, enriching thing to live with. I have my own small collection of art bought from artists in a similar position to me and I just love having these artworks around me, although I find it very difficult to select things that I think I can live with, but in their own quiet way these artworks add a real richness to one’s life that’s hard to describe.  

Go on, you know you want to...treat yourself, it’s been an awful year...

www.smallworksartgallery.com