Richard Allen Morris: Curated by Siri Hustvedt

RICHARD ALLEN MORRIS 4.22.2004-5 .29.2004

Curated by Sin Hustvedt

THIS EXHIBI TION WAS MADE POSSIBLE

BY REGINA WIERBOWSKI REAL ESTATE, LLC

FORWARD

We are honored to host this exh1bit1on generously curated by S1ri Hustvedt.

Ms . Hustvedt. a writer and novelist. has chosen Richard Allen Morris, an artist from San Diego, California. Ms. Hustvedt's appreciation of Mr. Morris's work demonstrates how the Foundation's d1scret1onary selection process allows for a natural cross­ pollination between differing forms of expression.

With Ms. Hustvedt. CUE 1s pleased to offer Mr. Moms not only his first solo exhibition outside of California. but also the first opportunity to exh1b1t his work in New York 1n nearly 40 years

CURATOR'S STATEMENT

During the Korean War. Richard Allen Morris found himself on an aircraft carrier in the Pac1f1c: a vessel the size of "a small town." It had its own craft shop where the men could find materials for proJects of various kinds. including the then popular paint-by- number sets that promised to turn every ordinary Joe into a master painter The tedium of matching color to digit. however, often proved too great. and weary sailors would abandon their half-f1n1shed boards to Morns. who altered and painted over them as he wished. During his time 1n Asia, he became fascinated with the art he saw around him and tried his hand at academically rendered Geishas and versions of the masks used ,n Noh plays. At the end of his service 1n 1956. he earned his remade number-paintings home with him 1n a cruise box.

I like this story about Richard Allen Morns because 1t is telling. not only of his beginnings as an artist. but of qualities he has retained throughout his career. After his stint in the navy and his participation in a war he refers to as "malarkey," he settled in San Diego and has never left. For almost fifty years, he has continued to work with materials he finds near him. putting scraps of cardboard, wood, cloth. and paper. 1nclud1ng pages with text. as well as objects like yard sticks. model guns. and his own reJected canvases to art1st1c use. He explained to me that his works are mostly small because his studios have been mostly small. The size of his work is a product of necess1ty--a restraint he has turned into a virtue by making d1m1nut1ve canvases. which. because they resist the preciousness of the delicate and tiny, feel strangely large And his sens1t1v1ty to the many narratives of art history has never flagged. Over the years. he has filled one notebook after another with clippings and reproductions from magazines to create a dense personal catalogue of artists he admires. both l1v1ng and dead. In his art and in his conversation, his references are myriad. ranging from immense figures like Giotto to the obscure Earl Kerkam. a painter I had to look up.

I discovered Morris's art through the painter. David Reed, who sent me a series of reproductions of pictures from the late f1ft1es through the present that will be included in a show of Morris's work at the Krefeld Museum 1n Germany in October

of this year. Immediately attracted, I v1s1ted David and looked at the fourteen canvases he owns. and my in1t1al enthusiasm was confirmed With any work of art. I 1nev1tably ask myself: What am I seeing? Morris 1s a sublime colorist. and his pictures and constructions are often thick with paint. which makes them sensual. tactile things. but I am also seduced by other less tangible qual1t1es: their intelli­ gence. toughness. and humor. Over the years. Morris has looted from. adapted. reconfigured. revised. and ant1c1pated art1st1c vocabularies to suit his own purposes.

A single example of Morris's recurring reinvention and subversion may be seen in the guns to which he has returned throughout his career. He has produced both pa1nt1ngs of guns and gun objects. A canvas of a gun painted in 1965 gave me a start because 1t curiously prefigured the late. changed Philip Guston Another gun six inches high and eight feet long, named with typical poetic verve "The Great Green Gat." 1s buried somewhere 1n Morris's studio. These guns. whether pa1nt1ngs or constructions are. of course. fictional. They don't shoot. Moms calls them a "cross between children's toy and African fetish." Because they necessarily unearth the mythic meanings of firearms in our culture but also look dramatically different from real weapons. Morris's guns tease the border between iconic representation and abstraction. Dressed up with brilliant color or sprouting unlikely limbs. the instru­ ment of destruction 1s simultaneously undermined. enchanted. and reborn as art.

Richard Allen Morris 1s seventy years old. For nearly five decades. he has worked quietly and indefatigably 1n San Diego, beyond the purview of the larger art world. producing an impressive. sophisticated. and robust body of work. Although fellow artists like John Baldessari. James Hayward. David Reed. and Doug Mellni have long championed his work. this important American artist 1s only now beg1nn1ng to get the attention he has long deserved.

I offer my deepest thanks to David Reed.

Sm Hustvedt

ARTIST'S STATEMENT

I have never been able to put the right words together to describe my work.

All I can say 1s that its foundation is rooted 1n abstract express1on1sm. anything else is just jargon.

Richard Allen Morris

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I [' ,l SONIC SILVER Collage on paper, 5" x 7", 1980

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ARTIST'S

BIOGRAPHY

Richard Allen Morris was born in Long Beach. CA in 1933. Morris, who received no formal art education. began exhibiting at the age of 26 and has had solo and group exh1b1t1ons throughout California since. This is his first solo exh1b1t1on 1n New York.

Morris currently lives and works in San Diego, CA

CURATOR'S

BIOGRAPHY

Siri Hustvedt was born in Northfield, Minnesota in 1955. In 1986. she received a PhD 1n English from Columbia University. She 1s the author of a book of poems. Reading

to You. three novels. The Blindfold. The Enchantment of Uly Dahl. and most recently What I Loved. She has also written frequently about art. most often for Modern Pamters. but also for Art on Paper and other publications. Some of those pieces were included 1n a book of essays, Yonder. that was published 1n 1998. Princeton University Architectural Press will publish a book of her essays on painting, Mystenes of the

Rectangle. 1n 2005.

CUE ART FOUNDATION MISSION STATEMENT

BOARD OF DIRECTORS

CUE Art Foundation. a non-profit organization. provides educational programs

Thomas G Devine

for young artists and aspiring art professionals 1n New York and from around the

Thomas K. Y Hsu

country These programs draw on the unique community of artists. critics. and

Brian D. Starer

Gregory Amenoff

educators brought together by the Foundation's season of exh1b1tions. public lectures. and its in-gallery studio program. Gallery 1nternsh1ps and stipends afford

ADVISORY COUNCIL

the next generation of art professionals intimate. working knowledge of the art­

Gregory Amenoff

making and exh1b1tion processes CUE's 2000 sq. ft. gallery and offices. located in

Vicky A Clark

New York's Chelsea gallery district. serves as the base for the various educational

William Corbett

programs conducted by CUE.

James Drake

The Foundation¡s exh1b1t1on season gives unknown or under-recognized artists 0

Bruce Ferguson

professional exposure comparable to that offered by neighboring commercial

Sanford Hirsch

galleries. without the usual financial restraints. CUE does not promote a particular

Dana Hoey

school of art1st1c practice or regional bias; we only require that exhibiting artists must either not have had a solo exhibition in a commercial venue. or have received

GALLERY DIRECTOR

m1n1mal recent public exposure.

Jeremy Adams

CUE's Advisory Council. an honorary group of artists and leading figures from the arts education. applied arts. art history, and literary commun1t1es. has

GALLERY ASSISTANT

the responsibility of selecting exh1b1t1on curators. The curators. in turn. nominate

Sandh1n1 Poddar

artists to exh1b1t at CUE. and continue to play a role throughout the exh1b1t1on process. helping the artists catalogue their work for exh1b1t1on. Both the Advisory Council and the exhibition curators actively participate 1n the public lectures and educational programs.

ALL AR.W(RK

RICHARD ALLEN MOR" S

CATALOC )ES1CNE') BY ELIZABETH ELLIS PRINTED IN CANADA