Suzi Morris
Suzi Morris (born 1961) is a British painter, born in the town of Ayr, Scotland. Morris' paintings question ideas of a contemporary Sublime, drawing connections from many sources within history, literature and today's world of whole-genome sequencing, to create densely layered imagery that resonates with the spirit of scientific discovery whilst revealing the phenomenological experience and inner landscape of the human body.[1] She lives and works in London.
Life and career[edit]
Morris graduated from Kingston University in 1983. She was selected to represent the university at a national ceremony of Academic Awards at Edinburgh University, where she was awarded a First-Class Degree in Illustration and Design from HRH Prince Charles. In 2012, Morris was awarded a scholarship by Kingston University.[2] She gained an MA in Fine Art at The City & Guilds of London Art School and completed a Professional Doctorate in Fine Art (Painting) at the University of East London. Morris co-founded the da Vinci Artist's Residency Nuremberg and features in the documentary "The Residency",[3] by Fact Not Fiction Films, where she worked as an Art Director in film.[4]
The cumulative lived experience of the body and a lifelong battle against chronic outbreaks of viral Keratitis lies at the genesis of Morris' paintings. French philosopher Maurice Jean Jacques Merleau-Ponty's (1908–1961) writings on Phenomenology and Perception offered Morris an insight into the constitution of meaning in human experience. Secondary source material emerged from Morris's affiliation with the Imperial College, London. when during the course of her research, Professor Charles Coombes, Professor of Medical Oncology, Imperial College London revealed to Morris, the ways in which science is making use of new biotechnologies to harness the lethal potential of viruses and using them in cancer treatments as regenerative medicine in individuals with natural viral infections. A virus being put to therapeutic use marked a turning point in Morris' research. The Families series of paintings represents the viral families: Herpesviridae, Rhabdoviridae, Poxviridae, Reoviridae, Paramyxoviridae, Picornaviridae, Adenoviridae, Parvoviridae, and Retroviridae. Each panel corresponds to a viral family under clinical investigation at the time, using viruses with selective tropisms for cancerous cells in the treatment of cancer.
The culmination of Morris' doctoral research: The Viral Sublime and the Bodily Experience of Painting exposes a symbiosis between oil paint(ing), virology, and contemporary concepts of the Sublime, explores how the Sublime is portrayed by the dual identity of viruses as both malevolent and beneficial in regenerative medicine and genomic science. In 2017, Morris proposed the Viral Sublime as a new category and extension to existing knowledge within the canon of art history, surrounding the notion of the Sublime.
Morris was invited by Wellcome Trust as the sole artist, amongst leading global scientists, to present the Viral Sublime at the Virus, Genomics, and Evolution Conference in Cambridge, in 2016.
In 2017, Modern Painters Magazine published "Painting the Virus", a seven-page article by Archana Khare-Ghose, revealing the genesis of Morris' practice, and how the sciences of virology and genomics capture her imagination in multifarious ways and have become a medium through which decisions are made in her painting.
The Irish academic, poet, writer, and art critic, Cherry Smyth wrote the opening essay "Of Blooded Things: the paintings of Suzi Morris" in the Parallels of the Sublime.[5]
Publications
Parallels of the Sublime - Suzi Morris 2013 ISBN 5 060151 960191[6]
The Viral Sublime Exhibition Catalogue - Suzi Morris ISBN 978 1 5272 1566 5[7]
Selected exhibitions
- Of Blooded Things, Imperial College, London[8]
- The Viral Sublime Herrick Gallery, Mayfair, London
- Landscapes of Mind, Atelier-und Galleriehaus Defet, Nuremberg, Germany.
- The Residency, Herrick Gallery, Mayfair, London
- Sensibilities of Belonging, Mall Galleries, London
Collections
- Morris' work is held in private and corporate collections in the UK and overseas:
- Imperial College Arts Collection, London
- Investec Wealth Management
- Da Vinci, Nürnberg, Germany
- Petrofer Industries, Germany
- Sedgwick Park House
- Sky Arts
- CNRS Aix-Marseille University
- Fact Not Fiction Films
- Private commissions held in collections in London, Los Angeles, Turkey, Thailand, Hungary, and Germany[9]
Awards and recognition[edit]
Following are some of Morris's recognitions:
- Shortlisted Royal Academy Summer Exhibition (2018)
- Awarded Da Vinci Special Edition Series 538 Suzi Morris mottler brush (2018)
- Presented 50 short films for Da Vinci Artist Brushes (2016)
- Bursary award by Schmincke German Paints and Da Vinci Artist Brushes in support of doctoral study (2014)
- Presented 26 short films for Schmincke Paints in association with Da Vinci (2014)
- Shortlisted Academy Award documentary film Shady Lady as Art Director (2014)
- Commendation, MA City & Guilds of London Art School (2013)
- A.G.F Award for painting. (2012)[10]
References[edit]
- ↑ Art Map London (2017-11-27). "The most interesting art events to see in London this week (27/11)". FAD Magazine. Retrieved 2020-07-07.
- ↑ Lisa Takahashi (2020-05-25). "Suzi Morris: Expressing Inner Experience". Jackson's Art Blog. Retrieved 2020-07-07.
- ↑ The Residency, retrieved 2020-07-10
- ↑ "Suzi Morris". IMDb. Retrieved 2020-07-07.
- ↑ Cherry Smyth. "'Of Blooded Things: the paintings of Suzi Morris' by Cherry Smyth" (PDF) – via squarespace.com.
- ↑ "Suzi Morris". Issuu. Retrieved 2020-07-07.
- ↑ The Viral Sublime Paperback – Illustrated. Dr Suzi Morris. Search this book on
- ↑ "Activities | Imperial College London". www.imperial.ac.uk. Retrieved 2020-07-07.
- ↑ "Dr Suzi Morris on ArtRabbit". ArtRabbit. Retrieved 2020-07-07.
- ↑ "Biography". Suzi Morris. Retrieved 2020-07-07.
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