Aaron Morse's work engages with human and environmental concerns, often with a view toward greater narratives about ourselves and the world in which we live.
Aaron Morse's paintings and works-on-paper invite us to consider myth, nature and culture. Their dynamic compositions combine elements in colorful and complex layers. The title of his recent show at Philip Martin Gallery, "Sea and Land," is taken, "from an 1887 illustrated book on natural history," Morse writes. "I often make use of such titles, enjoying their outmoded and somewhat flat descriptions."
Aaron Morse's synthesis of historical visual materials provides a window on both the past and the present. "I am drawn to the mutability and malleability of images, the way that an image or set of cliches might be altered and changed into another thing. I return to natural history sources again and again, as they present a core theme for me: survival and the persistence of life.”
In Aaron Morse's work, skies, forests and oceans burst with an array of animals and plants from a variety of ecosystems. The planet rotates on its axis, the sun rises and sets, humans live their lives. "I’m fascinated by the complexity in nature, and like to give my paintings a shorthand or analogous amount of detail." Morse's work points to the layered meanings of the present moment, the stories we tell ourselves, the heterogeneity of human experience, the nuance of geologic time and the natural world.
Aaron Morse (b. 1974, Tucson, AZ) received his BFA from the University of Arizona (Tucson, AZ) and his MFA from University of Cincinnati (Cincinnati, OH). Aaron Morse's work was recently featured in "Sea and Land," a solo show at Philip Martin Gallery. Morse's work graced the front page of the Arts section of The New York Times this past spring highlighting his participation in "If the Sky Were Orange: Art in the Time of Climate Change,” a major exhibition at the Blanton Museum of Art (Austin, TX). Aaron Morse's work has recently been featured in solo and group exhibitions at Hammer Museum (Los Angeles, CA); Berkeley Art Museum/Pacific Film Archive (Berkeley, CA); Santa Barbara Museum of Art (Santa Barbara, CA); Contemporary Arts Museum (Houston, TX); Nerman Museum of Contemporary Art (Overland Park, KS); Nora Eccles Harrison Museum of Art (Logan, UT); Weatherspoon Art Museum (Greensboro, NC); Frances Young Tang Teaching Museum and Art Gallery At Skidmore College (Saratoga Springs, NY). Museum Collections include Museum of Modern Art (New York, NY); Whitney Museum of American Art (New York, NY); Hammer Museum (Los Angeles, CA); Los Angeles County Museum of Art (Los Angeles, CA); Berkeley Art Museum/Pacific Film Archive (Berkeley, CA); Santa Barbara Museum of Art (Santa Barbara, CA); Henry Art Gallery (Seattle, WA); Blanton Museum of Art (Austin, TX); Nerman Museum of Contemporary Art (Overland Park, KS); Albright-Knox Art Gallery (Buffalo, NY); Nora Eccles Harrison Museum of Art (Logan, UT); Rhode Island School of Design, (Providence, RI). Morse's work has been reviewed in such publications as Los Angeles Times, Time Out, Flaunt, Tema Celeste and Artweek. Aaron Morse lives and works in Los Angeles, CA.