Born in Pittsfield, Massachusetts, Robert Morgan’s early interest in art was fueled by the rich traditions of the Berkshires/Hudson Valley region of Massachusetts and New York. Even though Morgan lived in Buenos Aires, London, Boston, and San Francisco among others, he recently returned to the area of his youth and lives in the Taconic Mountains of Petersburgh, NY, with his artist wife Pennie Brantley.
Morgan’s early work sprang from the delicate, sensitive watercolors abundant in the 300 year history of the region, but his later work took the medium to another level. His watercolors have grown into huge, textured, densely hued, sculptured pieces that invite a wide, participatory view, reversing the traditional view of the medium as being precious.
Morgan’s paintings are frequently composed of a number of layers of watercolors mounted on other watercolors, resulting in visual planes that are often out of expected context. The resulting enlarged images and moody atmospheres create an eerie, disquieting transcendence, drawing the viewer into an inner world of emotional and sensual conflict. Morgan wants his works to resonate, to vibrate on a frequency that sets off a chain reaction of personal conflicts and comparisons. He isn't content with gratifying the viewer with agile craftsmanship, but instead wants us to share the tension inevitably lurking behind the beauty.
After exhibiting in numerous solo and group exhibitions in museums and galleries on both US coasts and internationally, Morgan was featured in a major retrospective at the Borges Cultural Center in Buenos Aires, Argentina. In the exhibition catalog, Ed Shaw, one of South America’s foremost art critics, said: “Morgan is an anachronism in today's art world. Cloaked in classical garb, his work requires a pause from zapping and deserves the effort of a second glance. For those who are willing to share his search, he takes aim at clarifying those obscure mysteries which make life so tantalizing.”
