Julia Morison’s latest show at Two Rooms, Omnium Gatherum, features a diverse array of works that include paintings, drawings and digital prints, which are tied together through a formal connection. Across canvas, paper and pressed polyurethane supports, fine lines snake and curl, demarcating fantastical contraptions, organic shapes and geometric patterns. Inspired by the recent craze for adult colouring-in books, several pieces are akin to cloisonné where strong black outlines host jewels of colour within their borders. In contrast, a group of larger canvas works show the use of crackling paint, which adds an antiquated reverential element that is evocative of the spidery craquelure often seen in Old Master paintings. On a more practical and personal level, the choice of medium draws a formal link to Morison’s body of works made using glazed stoneware and porcelain. There is a sense of vibrancy, of delicacy, and an unbridled originality that consistently stamps itself on Morison’s work, and all the pieces that comprise Omnium Gatherum unashamedly continue in this vein.
In 1988 Morison was awarded the Frances Hodgkins Fellowship and in 1990 the Moet & Chandon fellowship and art residency in Epernay, France. She continued to live and work in France until her return to Christchurch in 1999. In 2005 she received an Arts Foundation Laureate award. In 2006, Julia Morison: a loop around a loop, an important survey of her work, selected by Justin Paton and Felicity Milburn, was presented at The Christchurch Art Gallery and Dunedin Public Art Gallery. She was included in the 17th Biennale Of Sydney 2010, with a major work, Myriorama #7: Network installed at the Sydney Opera House. Morison was inducted into the Massey University Hall of Fame in 2012.
Press release courtesy Two Rooms.
16 Putiki Street
Newton
Auckland, 1021
New Zealand
www.tworooms.co.nz
+64 9 360 5900
Tue - Fri, 11am - 6pm
Sat, 11am - 3pm