Artist Review - Malcolm Morley

Malcolm Morley (1931-  was suggested as an artist for me to review during my tutorial with Proff. Swindells last week.  He was suggested as a particularly good contemporary example of an artist who  is very playful, yet engages deeply with the material before committing  it to the substrate, but also for his incredible attention to detail and his genre of hyper- realism. (see "Tackle", Morley, 2004)


Of a similar generation to my own mother (1923 - 1995), Morley was born just ten years later, after the swinging twenties were over, and the world was reeling from deep depression.    His early life was troubled with crime, a spell of homelessness (during the 2nd World War), and eventually prison.

It was whilst he was in prison serving a three year sentence (at Wormwood Scrubs), that he developed a life long passion with Art, which began to flower following his release in 1954.  He was 23 years old.



He chose to move to the United States in 1958, aged just 27, and has since been living in New York on and off, ever since.  In the late 1950's, he met up with Barnet Newman who has been a great influence, together with the work of Paul Cezanne.  An unusual combination of genres, but when considered more deeply, it's all about the surface of the medium that he was exploring at the time.  Whilst in New York during those early days, he was able to mix with a vibrant emergence of American Artists including Roy Lichtenstein and Andy Warhol.  He was also able to see exhibitions of Jackson Pollock (who had already reached fame) in the flesh and continued to explore existentialism and expressionism...

His style changed in the early 1970's to that of more Photo-realism in nature.  (The main influence in this genre is Chuck Close, whom I've reviewed in an earlier essay, - nevertheless, it may be worth revisiting his work too).  This eventually emerged into Super-Realism, during this time Morley was married to Fran Bull, who is also known for her super-realism paintings of this era. His work then took on Hyper-Realism which the "Tackle" (2004) painting (oil on canvas) is one of his most famous.

His playful approach to Art, and Painting in particular can be seen through the varying styles he uses, in order to get a message across, - For example, see the poster style treatment of the UK (Royal Air Force) Red Arrows (2000), and their Hawker Sidley Hawk Aircraft, turned into a paper cut-out.  He has continued to work in this arena (e.g. Model Aeroplane kits for some time, and I suspect this may have been influenced heavily by Andy Warhols style and genre too.

On a different route, he also makes incredibly detailed Monoprints... see "Salvonia," by Malcolm Morley,  2007, Monotype, Image: 23 3/4" × 35", Paper: 28 3/4" × 40". Courtesy of Sue Scott Gallery., at left.

This is based on Woodblock work together with other media.  Blocks of color-saturated ink with currents of tone and texture brushed or wiped across them provide the brilliant, faceted ground for images of aircrafts, boats, and beaches that alternate between ecstatic play and impending or unfolding calamity. In a series of works on exhibit in 2012, scenes of bathers leap and dive, planes leap and dive, vessels ride the swells and shudder.