Untitled (#215-12)

In 1994, Rebecca Morris wrote her manifesto ‘For Abstractionists and friends of the non-objective': “Make work that is so secret, so fantastic, so dramatically old school/new school that it looks like it was found in a shed, locked up since the 1940's”.

Morris focuses on the creative process, and her guiding principle is improvisation. Next to a deceptive nonchalance and relaxed atmosphere, her abstract representations show a renewed focus on the traditional aspects of the art of painting, playing with paint that is brushed, poured, rubbed, sprayed and built up on the canvas. She uses the differences in texture, works with varying drying times for the paint and juxtaposes qualities like transparency and opacity, etc. Filled with confidence in her medium, Morris makes a deep mark on the material and technical qualities of painting.

Her drawings can be seen as studies, but they also enjoy an autonomous status. She tests and internalises this point of departure, day after day, year after year, using her own initials, for instance, as a practice zone. The result is a repertoire of painted gestures, of abstract representations that arise from the dynamics of painting.