Footy Fever @ CCAS (2015)

Warrnambool based artist Glenn Morgan could loosely be described as a bloke who makes idiosyncratic dioramas that record the social history of suburban life, but that really wouldn’t do him justice. For over thirty years he has created work that has spanned drawing, painting, kinetic assemblage and animation, all seen through a finely crafted but deceptively effortless visual aesthetic.

Morgan’s knack for humor allows him to fluently traverse issues such as the Prime Minister’s apology, the Black Saturday fires, the death of Banjo Clarke and his passion for Footy, all within the same sentence. His humorous work is bright and full of action and movement, particularly when focusing on his passion for AFL. As an avid supporter of the Geelong Cats, Morgan creates work that celebrates their goals and achievements, crafting scenes in metal, wood, wire and paint; works that in turn, offer a commentary on the rest of the AFL world. A key example of his devotion to the Cats can be seen in The Geelong team on the Geelong Highway after the grand final (2010). It depicts a triumphant return to the Cats homeland, the interior of the bus filled with pulsating energy punctuated with comical speech bubbles.

In Footy Fever Morgan presents Yablerrt! (1996), a blonde-mulleted player storming out of a wireless radio, propelled by the bellowing howl of a commentator’s voice - an ode to the Cats great Gary Ablett, Sr. This moment of sheer electricity and hope is contrasted with the final victorious release of Sydney Swans Premiers (2005), captain Barry Hall and coach Paul Roos atop the dais, the winners cup aloft, as West Coast lies deflated around the ground. Morgan uses these narratives to investigate personal experiences of the domestic, but also the wider themes of global politics, what it means to be human, and the inevitability of death.