If you haven’t managed to catch local artist Jeremy Morgan‘s impressive abstract exhibition Tipping Point at Darle and the Bear, then there’s still time.
Keen to tell his story and explain his art to an avid audience, Jeremy will be expanding on his practice, motivation and inspiration at the Woodstock gallery this Saturday (Nov 12) between 2pm-3pm.
“I’m really looking forward to talking about my work. I always find it really exciting to find out what others see. Those conversations often spark new ideas which help me stay inspired to evolve my practice,” he says.
Painting mostly on offcuts of wood which are then rearranged in a modular format, Jeremy is endeavouring to be less linear, to expose the rough edges and unsychronised forms to create more realistic and interesting compositions which reflect his sustainable and environmental ethos.
“I wanted my work to show through the surface to the work and materials, the layers and marks beneath.” he explains.
“i call it itchy art; the inherent fraction, movement and disconnect, the chaos incorporated within something aesthetically modular.”
“I call it itchy art; the inherent fraction, movement and disconnect, the chaos incorporated within something aesthetically modular. So the itchiness is its contrariness and something I aim to investigate further.”
Previously Jeremy’s art was more opaque (see pic of Reformer below) but more recently his work has concentrated more on depth, hence the exhibition title Tipping Point which also addresses the conflict within and the scarcely achieved balance, the itchiness again.
Read about Darle’s concurrent exhibition Landscapes Within starring Jen Gash, Justine Formentelli and KV Duong, on until November 20 here
The graphic designer who has recently joined the Oxford Art Society is on the Green Arts Oxfordshire Network Advisory Board and recently exhibited at OFS, gets his offcuts from a carpenter neighbour in Cumnor, often smaller pieces which he then builds back up into a bigger painting.
Experimenting with varnishes, textures and different materials from plumwood and plywood to MDF, Jeremy says it’s that hybrid interface between the grain and the natural and the painterly subject matter which pushes this new direction, giving it an organic quality.
“It’s about the awkwardness of the space so the challenge is to make that zing, to give the work a kinetic energy that’s almost perverse”
“It’s about the awkwardness of that space so for me the challenge is to make that zing, to give the work a kinetic energy that’s almost perverse.”
“It’s contemporary mixed with something more nostalgic, more artisan and how those elements can fit together and have a conversation. So for example Quencher is about the humour and frivolity of the 1970s – trying to revisit modernism in a funky 70s style.”
So how do the worlds of graphic design and painting work co-exist: “I started painting again because I was desperate to be doing something that wasn’t on a screen, an antidote to that, something more analogue and scruffy. And it’s been really refreshing,” Jeremy says.
And is he excited about explaining his work to the public? “It should be fun and I’m looking forward to sparking some interesting conversations.”
‘Tipping Point’ by Jeremy Morgan at Darle and the Bear in Woodstock has been extended to November 16. For details on this and the talk go to https://www.darleandthebear.co.uk/exhibitions/11-tipping-point-jeremy-morgan/
