Susan Morris: ONGOING WORK

SUSAN MORRIS

ONGOING WORK

SUSAN MORRIS

ONGOING WORK

LONDON 28.9. - 18.10.2021

We are pleased to present ‘ONGOING WORK’ an exhibition by Susan Morris at our Notting Hill Space. Intended as a snapshot of the artist’s overall practice, the exhibition focuses on two recently completed projects alongside selected works that inform the artist’s practice to date.

The first, Silence (Project for a Library), is a set of six Jacquard tapestries woven directly from ambient sound recordings taken in the garden outside a library. Through the application of a specially written script, the recorded sound is configured to the ‘score’ for John Cage’s 1952 Lecture on Nothing, a spoken word performance that has silence at its core. This work evolved out of the drawings and recordings made for six very large-scale tapestries, each 210 x 280cm, that were commissioned by St John’s College, University of Oxford, for their new library and study centre, now the permanent home for this major new Jacquard tapestry work by Morris.

The second piece at Bartha Contemporary takes the form of 12 paperback books contained in a wall-hung shelf designed by the artist. Entitled de Umbris Idæarum [on the Shadow Cast by our Thoughts] the work is a diary recorded over the course of a single year, using the app Evernote. Fragments from the artist’s own interior monologue are entangled with material transcribed from the radio, from overheard conversations and the entire year’s receipts. Alongside her own photographs, Morris has included a vast amount of scanned material, such as flyers, tickets and old newspapers, which litter the text like the flotsam and jetsam of everyday life. Conceived as an ‘involuntary novel’, the piece can be considered as a counterpart in writing to works from her visual practice that have been described as ‘involuntary drawings’, such as the Jacquard tapestries, her series of Motion Capture Drawings and her Plumb Line Drawings. An important example of the latter is part of this exhibition.

Erased Diary, 2021 Erased pencil marks on printed paper, cotton thread, wood frame 49.2 × 56 cm

The Crystal Ship, 2003 Ink on paper Set of 18 Drawings Each 33 × 38cm

Silence (Project for a Library) No 1 to 6, 2020 Jacquard tapestry, Cotton, Silk and Polyester yarn Edition 1 of 3 Each 63 × 88.5 cm

Susan Morris, installing Silence (on Prepared Loom), 2020 Six part work, each 210 x 280 cm Now on permanent exhibition in the new library and study centre, St John’s College, University of Oxford.

Silence (Project for a Library) No 1 of 6, 2020 Jacquard tapestry, Cotton, Silk and Polyester yarn Edition 3 of 3 63 × 88.5 cm

Silence (Project for a Library) No 2 of 6, 2020 Jacquard tapestry, Cotton, Silk and Polyester yarn Edition 3 of 3 63 × 88.5 cm

Silence (Project for a Library) No 3 of 6, 2020 Jacquard tapestry, Cotton, Silk and Polyester yarn Edition 3 of 3 63 × 88.5 cm

Silence (Project for a Library) No 4 of 6, 2020 Jacquard tapestry, Cotton, Silk and Polyester yarn Edition 3 of 3 63 × 88.5 cm

Silence (Project for a Library) No 5 of 6, 2020 Jacquard tapestry, Cotton, Silk and Polyester yarn Edition 3 of 3 63 × 88.5 cm

Silence (Project for a Library) No 6 of 6, 2020 Jacquard tapestry, Cotton, Silk and Polyester yarn Edition 3 of 3 63 × 88.5 cm

Plumb Line Drawing No. 11, 2009 157.8 × 218.6 cm

de Umbris Idæarum [on the Shadow Cast by our Thoughts], 2021 12 × Soft Back Books, each 20.5 ×12.7 cm Housed in bespoke shelf Printed paper and wood Overall: 23.7 × 34.6 ×13.8 cm

Work in progress Studio September 2021

Sun Dial: NightWatch Sleep/Wake 2010-2014 (MLS Version), 2015 Jacquard tapestry: Silk and cotton yarn Edition 3 of 3 134 × 178.5 cm

Activity Narration, 2006 Archival Inkjet on paper Edition 1 of 3 46 × 98 cm

Summer (Year Planer Series), 2006 Screenprint on paper Edition 2 of 3 60 × 90 cm

The Artists’ Tears Fall Like Rain_2004, 2009 The Artists’ Tears Fall Like Rain_2007, 2009 The Artists’ Tears Fall Like Rain_2008, 2009 Screenprint on paper Edition 2 of 3 Each 60 × 90 cm

N OT T I N G HI L L & HO L L A N D PA R K A RT & D ES I G N S AT U RDAY O CTO B E R 9 1 0 AM - 6 P M

BARTHA CONTEMPORARY WWW.BC.SHOW WWW.BARTHACONTEMPORARY.COM INFO@BARTHACONTEMPORARY.COM

Copyright: Susan Morris + Bartha Contemporary Ltd. Published by Bartha Contemporary Ltd. on the occasion of the Exhibition ONGOING WORK, September 28 - October 18, 2021 Susan Morris, installing at St. John’s College, Oxford Photograph: Stephen White & Co.

BARTHA CONTEMPORARY