Thing #91 on my list of 101 Things in 1001 Days: Visit 10 different galleries.
Glenn Morgan | Home and Away
Australian Galleries, Collingwood
2 July – 20 July 2024
Sunday before last I took myself for a spontaneous solo art expedition and found myself at Australian Galleries in Collingwood. I had done no research and arrived with no expectations, so it was an absolute delight to stumble upon an exhibition of works by Warrnambool / Melbourne artist Glenn Morgan.
Morgan’s art is unapologetically bright and chaotic, each carefully chosen scene hinting at the noise and brilliance in the mind of the artist as he created it. Glance casually at his paintings and you’ll be blasted with colour and energy, but run the risk of missing the serious complexity of thought and execution that goes into his work.
Look closely and you’ll discover that the irreverence of his painting style betrays the reverence with which he chooses his subjects. Each piece feels like a snapshot of a moment in time, set in a location that’s personal to the artist and then generously shared with the rest of us. The art extends to the edges of the framing, most pieces are captioned or scattered with speech bubbles, and as a viewer you sense that you’ve stepped out of a time-machine and walked into the middle of somebody’s conversation. It seems clear that Morgan wants viewers to understand the point he’s making with each piece – whether you’re a viewer who can extract meaning from the abstract imagery, or one who understands best through literal text captions.
I came away from this exhibition wanting to know more about Glenn Morgan, his process and his politics. This interview from 2014 is a truly wonderful glimpse into the person, and the importance he places on teaching, community and symbolism as a form of communication.
Instagram: @glennwilliammorgan