Ross Morgan

ROSS MORGAN is a young artist originally from a farming background in Yongala situated in the Mid-North of South Australia. His keen passion for drawing and painting was discovered at an early age. By the time Ross was attending high school at Saint Marks College in Port Pirie, art became the subject he excelled in. In his final year Ross received an award for his outstanding achievement in art at a senior secondary level. He was also awarded the Elsa Chilvers Scholarship to help in his further endeavours.

He began his university studies in the area of architecture and design at Adelaide University and soon changed over to a Bachelor of Visual Arts at the University of South Australia. While studying he gained experience in numerous areas of art including sculpture, printmaking, and research. His main focus however was in drawing and painting. In his final year Ross was involved in a number of exhibitions including the 20 x 20 portrait in landscape exhibition and the Hyphen Graduate and honours exhibition. Ross graduated in 2001 and was invited to study honours. Ross decided to do other studies in education whilst looking for employment. 

Ross started working at a jewellery manufacturing company and gained valuable experience in different areas of the precious metal industry. After working for nearly 2 years Ross began further studies in architecture. Within this time he was involved in a number of exhibitions mainly in the Mid-North region of South Australia. In 2003 he received an award for emerging young artist at the ‘Christianity and Australian Perspective’ exhibition in Port Pirie.

More recently Ross has been involved in numerous solo and group exhibitions, art prizes, public art projects, commissions and film and television productions, tutoring art classes. Ross was a guest emerging artist, for ‘ONE’, Pembroke School exhibition, a celebration of both established and emerging artists in May 2006 at Drill Hall, Torrens Parade Grounds. He was a feature artist for the Adelaide University Street Art Performance, LIFE IMPACT and Open Day Promotion in August, 2006. Ross was also involved in exhibitions for the last two South Australian Living Artists festivals including a solo exhibition in Belalie Art Gallery in Jamestown 2005. Ross recently completed 10 oil colour character portraits which will feature on the end credits of a South Australian feature film, TWIN RIVERS, which has yet to be released. In 2005 Ross received the packers choice award for the Prospect Portrait Prize and was pre-selected for the Whyalla art prize.

In between a part time job Ross spends most of his time concentrating on painting and drawing at his home-studio in Adelaide, and also tutors small art classes for a gallery / studio in North Adelaide.

Ross says his work is ultimately a reflection upon his love of the human character, spirit and environment.

CURRENT WORKS

This current collection of works is predominantly a synthetic composition of figures in landscape. I have a love of the Australian environment, however I personally believe painting a picture or taking a photo of the environment on its own doesn’t speak to me as much as really being there. Therefore I have to create a context that speaks to me on more than one level. I want my work to create an element of human response. I therefore take elements out of their original expected context and create something new that asks the question, why? 

Most of my images are painted either in oil or acrylic on canvas; I prefer the flexibility of painting oils but love the convenience of acrylics. If I had a more than a lifetime to create images I would probably always paint in oils, but because I have so many crazy ideas floating around in this little brain of mine and I need to spend most of my time trying to earn a living outside of my art. I have to get the ideas down as soon as possible; therefore acrylics have become the dominant medium I choose to work in.

I spend most of my spare time painting in my home studio with an easel set up next to a computer screen. My images are usually developed from sketches and photos that I convert into a semi-digital collage. The canvas becomes the final composition where I combine all the elements to create an unexpected result. Working from a computer screen also saves cost on printing digital photos and gives me the opportunity work on a larger scale because I can see more details.

This current way of working has given me the freedom come up with more ideas than I ever have before it also gives me the opportunity to develop my ideas further. I am currently preparing to start some new projects including a visual novel and a film screenplay. I like to think of my images as storyboards to a film that hasn’t been made yet. One day if I could afford it I would turn my imagery into a film.

The aim is for my images to create their own stories and to develop a separate meaning for each viewer. I consider my imagery as a subtle form of surrealism. I enjoy testing my character and developing my thoughts, by creating random absurd and whimsical imagery. Creating something that doesn’t necessarily make sense fascinates me. If I cannot accept what I see I have to develop a meaning, by doing this I learn something new without ever intending to. My imagination somehow teaches me something about life.

Why do I need to make sense of what I do?

The goal of my art is to ultimately research and discover my own questions. I never want to be able to answer all of them that would take the excitement out of life. However, art has become an everyday language that helps me discover elements about the world that intrigue me. Such as human character, spirit and our responses to the physical and natural environment around us. One of the most beautiful things about being human is that we are perfectly unique and extraordinarily imperfect. It’s the unique imperfections and opposing perspectives I want share and challenge through my art.

At the end of the day I love the fact that art is a unique form of personal expression, how we communicate or whether we want to share this with the rest of the world depends upon each individual artist. My personal belief is that art ultimately is a form of honesty; it should never be judged, but always appreciated.

Source: http://rossmorgan.terapad.com/