An exhibition of paintings by Margaret Morrison, entitled The Power of Observation, is on display through April 28 at the Lamar Dodd School of Art’s Broad Street Gallery.Located at 257 West Broad Street, the gallery is open weekdays 9 a.m.-4 p.m.
Morrison’s long-awaited debut solo exhibition in Athens follows her presence for more than a decade as one of New York’s rising stars of figurative painting. The artist has been represented by Woodward Gallery in New York City since 1995. The gallery presented Margaret Morrison’s work in two major concurrent, solo exhibitions last fall. Patron Saints and Rituals was exhibited at Woodward Gallery, while Still Lifes was in the street-level windows of Gourmet Garage / Art by the Pound Gallery. Morrison was featured in ArtNews, ArtNow Gallery Guide, Art and Auction and the New York Press newspaper during the course of these dual exhibitions.
Best known for her mastery of the figure, Morrison relies on gestures that nod toward the body language of classical theater, with her characters appearing to be on stage preparing for an upcoming performance.
Her more recent work leans toward the use of grand costumes to create drama. No longer focusing on frozen gestures of action to suggest narrative, instead Morrison’s figures lounge deviously amidst black taffeta, imagining themselves modern-day saints. High drama encircles the languid goth, Saint Lucy, who could very well be a model from the art school or the artist’s teenage daughter.