Jenny Morgan's Marbled Masterpieces at Anat Ebgi
There’s a razor edge quality to the calm precision of Morgan’s brush that is perfectly exemplified in the artist’s new paintings in New York. Save to My Ocula
Jenny Morgan, Muse in Final Form (2024). Oil on canvas. 142.2 x 96.5 cm. Courtesy Anat Ebgi.
Jenny Morgan, Study of Instinct (2024). Oil on canvas. 45.7 x 35.6 cm. Courtesy Anat Ebgi.
Jenny Morgan, The Descending (2024). Oil on canvas. 213.4 x 129.5 cm. Courtesy Anat Ebgi.
Jenny Morgan, The Movement (2024). Oil on canvas. 213.4 x 121.9 cm. Courtesy Anat Ebgi.
Jenny Morgan, The Rhythm (2024). Oil on canvas. 127 x 50.8 cm. Courtesy Anat Ebgi.
Jenny Morgan‘s first solo exhibition at Anat Ebgi since the gallery announced her representation in January is set to open shortly.
No Endings for the Wild in New York (1 November–21 December 2024) presents new paintings showcasing Morgan’s diaphanous painting style, characterised by hyper-realistic figures that draw from tropes in classical portraiture, such as the reclining female nude.
There’s a razor edge quality to Morgan’s brush: an almost photographic finish to her statuesque figures, and a marbled satin quality to the materials that shroud them. However, it’s a detailing that is sometimes blurred, commonly on the face of her figures, eschewing the identity of the individual beneath.
The eye appears as a central motif in paintings such as Study of Instinct (2024), a close up of two eyes beneath a coat of fine haired furs, alluding to the act of bearing witness, careful observers, and seeing into the soul. In Study for Seeing (2024), another pair of eyes peer out through a prismatic veil, the identity of the woman gradually fading into a glittering haze.
Morgan titled the show No Endings for the Wild: a personal idiom that puts a positive spin on the expression ‘no rest for the wicked’.
According to the exhibition text, ‘the phrase relates to the dualities of wild, animal, and embodied experience of being alive in relation to the spiritual, ephemeral aspects of our nature.’
’[Morgan] is pushing portraiture in new directions, embedding the materials with the energy of her muse,’ Mother Gallery’s founder and director, Paola Oxoa explained. ‘Her concern is to feel the energy of the moment, and communicate these moments with her brush.’
Born in 1982 in Salt Lake City, Utah, Morgan holds a BA from the Rocky Mountain College of Art and Design in Denver, and an MFA from the School of Visual Arts, New York. Morgan’s originality stopped us in our tracks at The Armory Show in 2022. We did not hesitate to include the artist in our selection of five emerging talents to watch. —[O]
Main image: Jenny Morgan, The Shadow's Exquisite Game (2024) (detail). Oil on canvas. 182.8 x 127 cm. Courtesy Anat Ebgi.
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