DICK MORRILL - Artist Statement

The current body of work falls into three categories: narratives paintings, portraits, and bas reliefs. Each group has its own subject matter, and all have a spirited directness of execution.

Most of the narratives are political, dealing with the current state of this country and the world, particularly the relationships of power, money and democracy. These paintings usually have a cast of many characters who interact with each other, often in theatrical ways. And while there are some recognizable personages, most of the figures are symbolic or fictional. The narratives are anything but straightforward–they are complex, allegorical, and sometimes cryptic. The viewer is rarely supplied with a specific message, but rather the opportunity to create their own interpretations.

The portraits and bas reliefs all share the same subject, the human face that fills the pictorial space. The portraits are painted in a combination of acrylic and oil, often with a textural ground of fabric, such as cheesecloth, sand, and gesso. The bas reliefs are made with paper mache, fabric and other assorted materials. Both of these modes of working afford the possibility of both depicting the outward appearance and suggesting the inner person. The fragmented or topographic quality of the faces, along with the vivid color in the paintings, further emphasize the character of the individual. The titles often suggest a social identity that a person maintains, while at the same time making it impossible to conceal their real selves.

The artist’s approach to this work is direct, with never any preliminaries. The process is an intuitive one, working from memory and imagination, with some works developing over a number of months or even years. The style of these paintings can be described as figurative expressionism, with roots in the challenging modern art created in pre-Hitler Germany.