ARTISTS
WHAT NOW
JULIA MORISON
- // Julia Morison, Headcase 79-80, 2018. Porcelain,
fake hair, horse hair, bristles, 50 x 12.5 x 12.5cm. - // Julia Morison, Omnium Gatherum 39-42, 2017.
Acrylic and varnish on PVC board, 4 parts, each 60 x
90cm.
COURTESY: THE ARTIST AND JONATHAN SMART GALLERY,
CHRISTCHURCH. PHOTO: VICKI PIPER
Can you tell me about what you are currently
working on?
There is a project, Omnium Gatherum, which is
the title for a suite of 100 paintings that all share
the same dimensions (60 by 90 centimetres)
and a composition that divides the picture plane
into six. This structure permits the paintings to be
combined into diptychs, triptychs or any number,
for increased scale and complexity. Alongside this,
I am also making 100 ceramic heads for a project
that is preoccupied with the apertures of the
head. Headcase is scheduled to be shown at the
Christchurch Art Gallery early next year.How does your project Omnium Gatherum
relate to previous work you have made?
I tend to work out an idea within a defined,
self-imposed brief, such as a specific concept,
number, scale or medium. The Omnium
Gatherum works are a similar idea to the works
within the suite Myriorama (2008–ongoing).
However, while Myriorama is formally abstract,
Omnium Gatherum is figurative and unabashedly
illustrative.In the late 1980s, you devised a system around
the number 10. 10 “logos” and 10 materials.
Can you describe how this system informs your
latest body of work?
The skeleton for the system was worked out in
Vademecum (1986), which pairs 10 materials
with 10 symbols. Each pair is combined with
another to form a logo. It is a system based on
ancient holistic knowledge systems such as
alchemy and the Jewish Kaballah, which are
interesting to reconsider in terms of contemporary
thinking about the interrelatedness of the world
and our relation to it.You’ll be showing a group of sculptures and
paintings at Auckland Art Fair, works that
appear vastly different from one another in
some ways but seem unified in the use of a1grid-like (or net-like, maze-like, cage-like)
structure. Is there a significance to this form
within this body of work?
The invitation from Jonathan Smart to have a
solo installation at the art fair is an opportunity
to show the different projects or preoccupations
together. Serendipity played a part – the grid
within Omnmium Gatherum is 30 by 30
centimetres and the space is constructed of three
by three-metre modules. The grid was chosen
as a formal device to cohere the relationship
between the works, and between the works and
the space itself.What keeps you awake at night?
There are many anxiety-inducing issues like
Trump, Syria and global warming that give us
sleepless nights. But we need sleep to survive,
so distraction is necessary. My distraction is my
impatience for a recently-purchased theremin toWHAT NOW?
Our writers talk to three artists exhibiting at Auckland Art Fair 2018 who collectors should know about.
arrive from Amazon. My artist-muso friend,
John Chrisstoffels, is confident he can teach
me to play this intriguing instrument, so I dream
that Clara Rockmore will effortlessly channel my
tone-deaf body. Not sure how this will inspire my
work, if at all, but it’s fuel for dreaming.
Lucinda Bennett❱ JONATHAN SMART GALLERY, CHRISTCHURCH,
PRESENTS WORK BY JULIA MORISON AT AAF 2018,
STAND A8.