Byron Morgan Art

Drought, Drought

2010-03-08T09:34:00.000-08:00

It's been a while since the last post. I have done a lot of work recently and will soon be posted, have no fear. This is just an update of what is coming.

Japanese style moleskines

Artist Trading Cards

"Return of the bar man"

"Self Portrait Jack"

Faces

2010-01-18T09:51:00.000-08:00

I always draw faces. Lines that suggest form, shape, depth, movement. Its my style. My drawing teacher hates it. c- because I don't draw like everyone else. I deserved it though. I'm stubborn, set in my ways. As she elegantly put it, "its hard for someone with your talent to accept criticism and try to change. Your ego won't let you." I'm confident in my drawing so I didn't change for her.

This is the first painting where I depict more than one face. I wanted to show a light side and a dark side. Its not working too well. So they just co-habitate the canvas. One relies on the other.

Underneath It All

2010-01-11T20:58:00.000-08:00

Most paintings I do consist of a sketch then the first step in painting is an underpainting. A sponge, paint and a lot of water. The paint gets watered down and becomes more like a stain, a wash. In Ambroise Vallant, the underpainting was the lightest part and looks like a sort of spray paint in the background. For this painting, the underpainting also serves double. It was like a mock sketch, planning out where values would go and how big the faces would be. Its a simple and short process. Just water and paint.

Myspace

2010-01-10T21:42:00.000-08:00

I decided to film every part of this painting. Set up through completion. Windows Movie Maker sucks. I attempted to edit all these 2-5 second time lapse clips into one clip for a blog posting, but for many reasons, Windows Movie Maker simply will not work. I want a Mac. So until I find a suitable editor, enjoy the set up.

Planning

2010-01-09T14:12:00.001-08:00

Every art piece I make, usually begins with a sketch. This sketch was done about 3 months ago. I was attempting to plan a 12x24 painting but I never started it. In preparation for my upcoming art show, I decided to make this painting bigger. The same size as my past work, Ambroise Vollant, Face:Face would be an accompany piece in the same style but warm colors. I also decided that this piece would be the best time to film.

Processing

2010-01-09T14:08:00.000-08:00

My process. I've always wanted to witness my process. I feel as though any person that creates anything wants to view it, that's why skaters film their tricks and football players watch game film. This desire, entwined with my friend's camera, resulted in a few video files that showcase my work being created through time lapse. So here is the set up, a 24x36 canvas, paint and a drop cloth.

Tools Of The Trade

2010-01-05T19:26:00.000-08:00

Every time I pick up any sports magazine, they break down the "tools of the trade." The common equipment they use for their sport or what new gear their sponsors deck them out in. Pro skaters show off their new cloths or their new board set ups, football players brag about their new under armor models and past stories. Well this is my gear: (Top Left going clockwise) My art box, where I keep all my painting supplies. Inside I rig up tape to hold my 2 favorite brushes and pallet knives. I taped in an old book to separate the box to have all my paints on the left and assorted brushes and oils on the left. Next up is the 2nd drawer in my desk. Cluttered with about a dozen moleskines, hidden gems await. Envelopes, postcards, a sticker maker and random paint samples. Finally, my pencil box. It holds all my drawing supplies, erasers, pencil sets, sharpener. Also, my prized possession, a pair of scissors I "borrowed" from 10th grade art class that almost have never left my fingers for any art project. Double sided tape is also a common resident in the box.

And thats about it. next post will be the starting of my next piece, Face:Face. I'm filming myself painting with time lapse on. Should be amazing. Spoiler alert, I have almost finished the piece and reviewed the film and IT IS AMAZING.

Moleskine In Progress

2010-01-02T14:10:00.000-08:00

Just an update of what I've been working on. The molecover was won on a Twitter contest for @molecover. More to come.....

The Next Step

2009-12-11T10:27:00.000-08:00

It has been more than a month since I have made a blog post. I may not have many avid readers, but nonetheless, I need to commit. "The Drought" has taken over. I have had many ideas, but no time for anything to receive enough attention to allow blooming. My life has been taken over by waste. 1 page reflection papers about topics I have no feeling about, 10 page research papers with another senior that literally thought the world was flat for 40 minutes. Torture.

My next month of life will be devoted to art. I will be on break and art needs to be created. I have new ideas and old painting that need to come to completion. Monetary restraints will be lifted and art can flow. My dorm will become my studio.

The Drought

2009-11-02T22:38:00.000-08:00

The past few days I've been in what I call The Drought. This phenomena of my artistic mind is caused when things, such as school or love, takes all my time up. While I've been pounding away at science, I have less time for art, and the time I do have for art, I can't find inspiration to create. The Drought.

This piece helped bring life after The Drought, entitled, The Switch.

Clone

2009-10-27T20:30:00.000-07:00

This is the second piece of the self portrait series Impostors.

Finding out someone resembles you is strange. I recently heard from a close friend, that the is another bizarre-o Byron at a close by University. I've seen his picture and it does somewhat resemble me. Most all of the people that share an appearance of me is not 100% exact in features but more of a spiritual and at first glance resemblance.

This piece started out by me seeing this portrait in a magazine and deciding that if someone saw this really quickly, that it could be mistaken for being me. In attempt to speed up the eye movement of the viewer, the yellow and red pop out and take over the composition. The lines of yellow act like the lines of a road, pushing you along allowing only glimpses of the figure.

Office Space

2009-10-26T18:35:00.000-07:00

This, sadly, is my work space. Messy, unorganized. Most would see this as disgusting, wondering how I find anything. If I think to myself, I need a purple paper made from flowers, I surprisingly know right where is it; under the works from paint next to the scrapbook paper. My organization never fails me.

I guess it helps that most the paper i have has a story behind it. Its pretty hard to forget paper made from real flowers or the picture of a bear slamming a 40 oz beer I got from Paul's magazine. Its easy to forget the plain paper you can buy by the pound at paper factory, but in all honesty those are the pieces of paper that are meaningless and deserve to be lost forever.

Inquiry

2009-10-25T02:08:00.000-07:00

The Joker. Each work tells a story. A simple collage that is made to resemble a playing card. But its deeper than that. Every piece of paper causes questions. Inquiry. Curiosity.

The chest piece, a suit and tie. Part of an 'E.' Where is that 'E' from? What does the giraffe have to say? Where was he from? Everything has a story. The giraffe has a story. He was a traveler, from a skateboard magazine. He is actually the head of a cartoon costume. The wearer was a creepy man, dirty. He was something like a mascot. But from that first glance at the suit wearing giraffe you wouldn't know that. Did you even think about the story behind the paper?

I just think about what every piece of paper could be, what it wants to be and then i just help it along.

Imposter?

2009-10-24T11:22:00.000-07:00

Lately I've grown fascinated with look a likes. Supposidly there is a kd that attends college with me that looks similar to me. I don't personally see it. They call him "bizarre-o byron."

This inspired me to find what i think resembles me in the media and make it into a "self portrait." Most of the time it just involves adding my black framed glasses with a sharpie but for some reason i get satisfaction with finding something that can resemble me.

Beef Storm

2009-10-23T21:46:00.000-07:00

This work is entitled, The Bull. It is made up of a few pieces from prints of Picasso's work Guernica. Picasso had such talent showing emotions in his drawings. Part of Guernica depicts a horse head. The head is perfect, showing its pain and torture. Someone stated that Picasso, "He has been able to see and imagine more suffering in a single horse's head than many artists have found in a whole crucifixion."

I took parts of Picasso's work to try and create my own bull with meaning. The piece i added, a water color mono print, holds feelings of a class i took two years ago. It was my return to art after my tortuous high school art career. Even the simple watercolor holds deep feelings, smells and memories of a past class where i found myself as an artist.

This work is very simple but still gives hits at me finding my style and exploring the medium of collage and mixed medium.

Something New

2009-10-23T13:12:00.000-07:00

Yesterday's post was about my beginning, now lets jump ahead to the present. My latest collage is a two page collage in my biggest moleskine.

On the left, a sort of self-portrait, on the right a horse figure. Both pieces involve paper that was all found. Chips clipped from coupons from Wilson Farms, a photo from a flea market. Other papers from the recycling bin, discarded construction paper, a water color print. Each paper has nothing to do with each other, but together they can make a work or art.

Self portraits are very tough, i like taking things that have nothing to do with my personality, like a cigarette, and using it to make up myself. Irony.

The horse on the other hand, was made in the light of NECKFACE. NECKFACE does strange drawings and graffiti of strange figures that are somewhat disturbing, quite genius. The horse skeletonized. Its strange to me but i feel as though it causes confusion and curiosity.

Roots

2009-10-22T21:22:00.000-07:00

This is my first collage. I hated it. It seemed like something a small child would create and mommy would proudly hang it on the fridge. Fear caused me to hide it from my teacher. I was lost. No clue why I still clung on to art. I slacked in high school. Coasting by with mediocre work. I had nothing to show for the entire 13 years of public schooling. But this collage changed my life. It was simple, clean, cleaver and different. My teacher loved it. "I love this, keep doing this." That's all I needed to hear.

From then on, I advanced my technique. Enhancing the meaning of my works, adding papers that told stories. Every piece of a collage has a story. The papers used on this work, The City Sleeps In Flames, screams the biography of my journey to find my artistic point of view.

Greetings

2009-10-22T21:17:00.000-07:00

Byron Morgan. A mixed media, found art and collage artist. 21 years old. Senior, St Bonaventure University. My goal is to simply establish a fan base that will support my career as an artist. My first show is in the horizon. I'm looking for comments and guidance. All opinions, bad or good, are welcomed.