Artist to Know: Alexander Morris - Inside Art with Michael Rose

Artist to Know: Alexander Morris - Inside Art with Michael Rose

Rhode Island continues to be a magnet for artistic people from all over. For Utah-born painter Alexander Morris, Rhode Island is now homebase for the creation of his evocative abstract works which he has exhibited and won praise for widely. On view through November 12, 2022 at Monument Square Arts in Woonsocket, Morris is featured in the solo exhibition Connecting Two Spaces. The show brings together a fine collection of his paintings in a variety of scales tied together by Morris’ remarkable and unique sense for the spiritual.

 

Born in Cottonwoods, Utah, Morris earned his BFA at the University of Utah in Salt Lake City. Today he lives and works in Rumford, Rhode Island and exhibits regularly throughout New England and beyond. In addition to recent features at Woodbury Art Museum and Brigham Young University in Utah, he has shared his work at the National Art League in New York, the West Hartford Art League in Connecticut, and the Art League of Rhode Island in Pawtucket. Additionally, Morris was one of eight artists in the Attleboro Arts Museum’s 8 Visions show in 2021, one of the region’s most competitive exhibition opportunities.

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Asked why he relocated to the area, the artist says, “What brought me to Rhode Island was the desire for change and to expand my horizons. I needed a challenge artistically, I needed the move in order to grow and expand my audience. New England has a vibrant and bustling arts community, I craved to be in it. Also the ocean, I love the ocean and I have always been drawn to it.” While he desired to become a part of the vibrant cultural scene in the region, the Ocean State undoubtedly benefits from new and singular voices of artists like Morris.

 

 

Although he hails from the desert, Morris’ images often feel liquid. The draw that the ocean has had for him is evident in his paintings, as is his sense of the gauzy and multi-layered aesthetic that can arise by the sea. This quality lends itself well to his work, which probes dual ideas of things known and unknown. For Morris, his art is a combination of real, physical, man-made objects and a spiritual philosophy that looks for connections to mysterious, otherworldly, and unseen spaces.

 

One of the recurring motifs in Morris’ work is the inclusion of text alongside swaths of abstract color and texture. For his show in Woonsocket, he has even covered the gallery’s front window in text. When asked about this element of his practice, Morris replies, “I use textual components in my work as a link between the tangible and the intangible, similar to a legend on a map or a key that opens the door connecting two spaces. It creates a covenant with my audience and an undertone of unspoken understanding between what we can manipulate physically and mentally. It grounds my experience to a foundation from which I can grasp the connections that govern so much of the world around me.”

 

 

Alongside text, texture, and abstraction, viewers can expect to find vivid color and inventive uses of paint in Morris’ works, which go from intimate and small to wall height. His compositions work just as well on small works as they do on large-scale pieces and are built upon a foundation of craft. Morris enjoys experimenting with paint qualities and even mixing his own pigments.

 

 

Speaking of what he hopes viewers take away from his solo exhibition in Woonsocket, Morris is succinct, stating, “I hope the viewers take with them a heightened sense of how everything is connected. I invite them to listen for the subtle symbiotic relationships all around us and to know that you matter in that equation.” In seeing Morris’ art, audiences are likely to take away more than the painter intends and to find a new appreciation for the craft of painting along the way.

 

Looking forward, Morris plans to stay busy. Laying out forthcoming artistic endeavors, he says, “Next for me is I have two pieces on auction at Attleboro Arts Museum. They are having a live auction event on November 5th at 6:30 pm, 86 Park Street in Attleboro. My Open Studio Event is ongoing on my website www.alexandermorrisart.com. I’m also looking forward to participating in the Holiday Group Show at Monument Square Arts.” Morris also encourages individuals who are interested in his work to follow him on Instagram at @_wolfbird for regular updates from his active studio.

 

Connecting Two Spaces is on view at Monument Square Arts until November 12, 2022. The gallery is located at 2 Monument Square in Woonsocket, across from the Stadium Theatre. Current gallery hours are Thursdays 4-6 pm and Saturdays 12-5 pm or by appointment. To arrange your visit, email [email protected].