My initial thoughts of how I would use the Dover Prize is to use the opportunity for experimental thinking about and around my art practice in a societal context. The opportunity to open up the debate about my work in a place that is both vibrant and creative would be an exciting prospect. Darlington offers the opportunity for social interaction within a different environment and community that I believe would have a lasting beneficial influence on my working approaches.
I have a strong interest in British history, heritage and contemporary society with particularly focus on national identity and the politics of representation. I have often drawn several of these elements together using a mixture of historical and contemporary sources to create humorous dialogues surrounding fiction and reality.
The opportunity to expanded the materiality of paint and semiotic potential of mixing painting styles would play a significant role in how I would use the Dover Prize. For example, the frozen expressionist streaks and runny drips emphasis the inanimate nature of painting but simultaneously foster the idea that the artist is present and absent at the same time.
On this project I would like to act as a social anthropologist, researching a community through its artefacts and remnants before recontextualizing into a contemporary painting context. The Dover Prize would give me the ideal opportunity to expand my on-going artistic practice both conceptually and technically.
Having completed two artist residences, Berwick Gymnasium Fellowship 2009-10 and Arts Council, England – Art in Industry 2007-08, which both involved working with local communities and Gallery/ studio visitors I developed a series talks and studio visits that offered insight into my working methods and approaches. I anticipate doing the same in Darlington.
My aim would be to exhibited the paintings in and around Darlington in various non-art public locations. The objective is to create an inclusive exhibition that directly relates to Darlington by re-interpreting Darlington into a larger conceptual framework of contemporary painting using humour and irony to depict Darlington as the centre of the art world. The aim is to raise Darlington profile but at the same time critique the inherent exclusivity of the contemporary art world and market.
My interest in painting has always revolved around the inherent illusion and deception involved in making and looking at paintings. The manipulation of a flat surface to create space/deny space or create feeling or meaning. My paintings display a concentrated dialogue with contemporary art and art historical references, particularly with Nicole Eisenman, Sigmar Polke, Francis Picabia and Giorgio de Chirico. My paintings are puzzles involving social-political, personal and humours concepts as well as highlight painting’s illusionary tradition and its unreliability to create narrative through inarticulacy The painted critique of painting in my current work is reflected in the choice of Kirk Douglas’s Vincent Van Gogh in Lust for Life as a humorous depiction of an artist’s identity. Growing up in a working-class family on a Northern Council estate I had no idea what an artist was until I saw Kirk Douglas’s Vincent Van Gogh in Lust for Life and then when I went to art college I thought it was a ridiculous stereotypical version of an artist, but now I think the film negotiates the close bond between the artist and the product as well as explore funny/ sad ways to portray the predicament and mental life of the artist. Having completed the Berwick Gymnasium Fellowship, which involved a six-month residency in Berwick upon Tweed and resulted in a solo exhibition that toured to the Queen’s Hall, Hexham.
The exhibition entitled English Heritage focused on the impact of the heritage and history industry on the local community. The paintings dealt with politics of representation by focusing on the inherent contradictory references and the symbolic representations of English/Scottish national identities with particular reference to Berwick upon Tweed. The paintings used images re-contextualised from souvenir tourist tea towels from the border country to produce a series of large – scale paintings. The small tea towel images depicted the important historical moments and conflicts in the area. The result of enlarging and elevating images that are devoid of artistic merit but still entwined with representational historical significance created a series of negative grandiose history paintings that highlighted Britain’s increasing decline into a history theme park. The exhibition also contained a series of paintings that use contemporary British Army recruitment material. The paintings show the faces of the new recruits obscured by drips of paint that incorporate elements of tartan fabric. The objective was to make refer to the larger issues that are often connected to defending or conquering borders with particular reference to the human costs that inevitably result from such conflicts.
MA in Painting Royal College of Art, London
BA in Fine Art Staffordshire University
Art Council England Production Grant
Neville Burston Memorial Award, Royal College of Art
TI Travel Awards, Greece, Budapest and Berlin
Royal College Art Collection
Wellworth, Group Exhibition, Keith Talent Gallery, London, Time Out London 2003
Berwick Gymnasium Artist Fellowship 2009-2010
International Artists’ Fellowship won via open competition. Living and working in Berwick upon Tweed as part of an Arts Council England Artist Residency Programme.
Arts Council, England – Art in Industry, Artist residency 2006-2007
Working with a scientist on the interdisciplinary aspects of art and science, based at Askam Bryan College, York. Funded by Arts Council England.
Email: morley180@hotmail.com
Address: 50 Valence Road, Lewes, East Sussex, BN7 1SL, GB
Local Authority: East Sussex
