David Morris | Spotlight
David Morris was born in Springfield, Ohio in 1969 and then received undergraduate and graduate education at Washington University in St. Louis and Northwestern University respectively. His figurative realism stems from an intense and persistent interest in human anatomy from multiple perspectives: beauty in form, function, and structure. While continuing to teach anatomy at the medical school level, he uses charcoal, graphite, and oil paint in his artwork to convey something beyond the scientific aspect of the body. Morris has a deep affection for working from life. He strives to share something about what he experienced in the presence of the person represented. In this process of portraying people he explores concepts of psyche, intimacy, and gaze as it relates to gender.
David lives and works in Chicago. His work has appeared in multiple museum shows including the Freeport Art Museum (IL) and the Wausau Museum of Contemporary Art (WI) and is included in important collections such as the Lunar Codex.
How important is process versus the end result?
For me process is extremely important; I am most drawn to works that take on the look of a relic and I love when the end result holds evidence of the process. Rubens’ oil sketches are a good example of this. I love to see evidence of layers that have been built up or of hints of the underlying drawing that the artist perhaps used as a basis, but never tried to erase. Some of these marks may represent failures and others revisions. But to me such marks breathe life into a work; they represent the struggles that were part of it. As such, often the work of other artists that I have bought has been small studies that were created in the course of larger works.
What is your ultimate goal when creating contemporary realism?
I don’t think much about how my work would be categorized under a specific genre. Rather what I make is the result of my interests. I have always been drawn to the human figure as subject matter. When I represent people I look for something unique in the person’s expression, or the pose, or the design of how multiple figures are intertwined that I try to represent and communicate.
What do you do you like least about your work?
In general I work with a quite limited palette, because it is manageable for me and it feels like a natural way to keep the painting unified. That said, I truly admire, and am dumbfounded by the work of figurative artists like Steven Assael and Nelson Shanks in which they have created brilliant works with huge palettes of highly chromatic pigments, that hold together beautifully.
Which are your greatest influences?
The work that I make is an amalgam of what I have learned and what I have experienced in the course of my life. I am influenced by those from diverse disciplines who have taught me in medical anatomy, artistic anatomy, understanding form, techniques in drawing and painting, etc. My work is influenced through my studying the work of living and deceased artists. It's also from travel, reading, watching plays and noting set design, listening to music, looking at photographs, and making an effort to become one with nature and my surroundings.