Object Decorum
Erin Morrison solo exhibition
Ochi Gallery, Ketchum, ID
August 13 - September 30, 2016

© Ochi Gallery, 2016
Checklist download: PDF

Ochi Gallery is pleased to present Object Decorum an exhibition of new work by Erin Morrison.
This is the artist’s first exhibition at the gallery. It will open Saturday August 13th and will continue
on view through September 30th. An opening reception will be held August 13th from 5pm - 7pm.
Erin Morrison makes her paintings by casting hydrocal surfaces in a monoprint process with
materials such as fabrics and linoleum to provide texture and create three dimensional grounds
upon which she then applies paint. This process creates a particular spatial flattening, similar to
collage, where the resulting singular surface is reliant on of the traces of many. The finished
surfaces have a kinship to ancient reliefs or medieval tapestries, their imagery narratively
evocative even while relying on simplistic forms and compositions.
This exhibition marks a turn by Morrison to more industrial materials for her relief methods.
Architectural motifs such as the patterns from concrete walls around her neighborhood and
industrial floor covers provide new textural associations and pull the outside world into the work.
Balancing this tougher textural palette in the casting is renewed attention to the texture of the
paint itself. Especially in work such as Black Hand, repeated cleaning and polishing are combined
with a sealing application of wax to create a smooth, luxe surface that calls to mind California’s
Finish Fetish movement.
With this body of work Morrison’s subject matter moves to the drawing room. Still lives, vases,
ferns and flowers all speak of the most formal of the domestic spaces, a place where nature is
subjugated by etiquette. Decorus objects are those that are well behaved. They are at home in
drawing rooms and country clubs, spaces ruled by good taste. A painting is the quintessential
decorus object, a marker of the status and class of its owner, it adds pleasure and decoration to
its environment.