That Canine You Simply Can’t Let Go


Stephen Morrison is a painter who has a tough time letting go. The fragile flowers he renders seem wistful as they refuse to decompose, frozen in time in a seemingly fantastical association; tied to the again of portray stretchers, the petals and stems of the preparations are suspended in mid-air. However what makes these virtuoso canvases notably particular is that his beloved canine, Tilly, a pit bull combine who was the ring bearer at his wedding ceremony and handed away three years in the past, is built-in into the flowers themselves.

The impact is each completely up to date and marvelously Baroque. Demise is thwarted in these memorial preparations, but whimsy is simply too. Some might even see these works as memento mori of kinds, however I believe they signify a second of extra — extra recollections with a favourite companion, or with a favourite flower association earlier than it wilts. All of the whereas, he thumbs his doggie nostril at conference and reminds us that it’s all a stage anyway: life, artwork, every little thing.

I requested the artist some questions on this sequence, which is obtainable on the 2024 Spring/Break artwork truthful and curated by Marina Molarsky-Beck. Search for extra of his work in his solo exhibition at Hashimoto Modern in January 2025.

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Hyperallergic: Are you able to inform us about your canine? What do you most keep in mind?

Stephen Morrison: If you happen to speak with canine house owners, normally you’ll hear that they’ve liked all their canines however there may be at all times one canine that actually stands out as “the very best canine.” Tilly was that for me. She simply felt like such an actual companion. What I love most about canines is their full lack of disgrace and guilt about pleasure and need. In the event that they need to eat an excessive amount of, sleep all day, hump your leg, no matter — they only do it. Tilly did all that with grace and sweetness. 

After I was a child my idol was Hugh Hefner — not due to his precise job, which I used to be unaware of, however as a result of he acquired to put on his pajamas all day — which is to say that I believe I’ve at all times been a little bit of a hedonist and type of set as much as love the lifetime of a canine, of doing no matter you need if you need to do it. That’s why making work with canines feels so pure, as a result of it’s deeply part of my character. 

H: Why is she featured within the work?

SM: The primary portray I product of a canine was her. I made it for my mother as a Christmas current and I keep in mind feeling a lot extra pleasure making that than the artwork I used to be making on the time. Portray a topic I actually felt love for was radically totally different. It kickstarted this complete obsession, utilizing canines as a theme and growing these repeating characters. I exploit them as self-portraits, in sculptures of meals, in recreations of historic masterworks, and many others. 

H: What made you consider combining these flowers that seem to develop from the again of the work and your canine?

SM: The concept behind the present is much less in regards to the flowers and canines themselves and extra about life and loss of life. As a result of my husband is kind of a bit older than me, we regularly discuss how finite our time collectively is. Seeing the minimize flowers in our residence, lasting just a few days earlier than starting to wilt after which absolutely die, impressed me to make use of them as a metaphor for this. To understand each minute with one thing you’re keen on whereas it’s round, even when it would wilt in only a few days. And relationships with canines are comparable. For instance, I not too long ago was speaking with a buddy about how she may get a canine for her household as a result of “they’re good for instructing kids about mortality.” We undertake canines as pets realizing full effectively that best-case situation we shall be completely heartbroken in 10 to 12 years. 

So actually all of this stuff work collectively effectively. Even a portray has a life span if we zoom out far sufficient on our timeline. The whole lot is momentary, and with this present I’m simply attempting to learn to not be so petrified of that.

H: Why are the canvases painted as in the event that they’re turned away from the viewer?

SM: I began this sequence utilizing the again of the help itself to stage the nonetheless lifes. On this method, after I painted it, the help itself can be included within the trompe l’oeil impact, impressed by the best way the body is utilized in Pere Borrell del Caso’s well-known work “Escaping Criticism” (1874). Even way back to 1670 there may be an instance of this by Cornelis Norbertus Gijsbrechts that’s merely a portray of the again of a framed portray — so I’m additionally referencing this lengthy custom with trompe l’oeil painters.

When a collector purchased a chunk from the sequence and requested to have the work framed, I got here up with the thought to border the work in reverse as effectively. Lastly, with this Spring/Break present, even the textual content playing cards on the edges of the work have been flipped to create the phantasm of a complete museum or gallery present in reverse.  

Inside this phantasm, my flower canines are experiencing this life and loss of life cycle. I see it like mould rising in a basement cupboard or bugs residing in a tomb — a type of life throughout the static lifelessness of a museum. [I’m] enjoying with the thought of purity and immortality of artwork, and blurring the road between our personal mortality and the concept a portray lasts perpetually. It provides a layer to the thought of nature morte and makes the gallery a type of nonetheless life in itself. 

H: They appear joyous, treasured, and endearing to me however I’d love to listen to the way you’d describe them.

SM: Cuteness and joyousness play a piviotal function in my total apply. I exploit them to interact individuals after which sneak in additional layers of much less agreeable concept beneath, like over consumption or emotions of hysteria and, on this case, getting old. It brings individuals nearer in after which they’re confronting these disagreeable elements of life as they’re utilized to cute, cuddly puppies, which for me is more practical than utilizing a human as a result of we’re so desensitized to seeing these [aspects] in individuals. 

With a canine I can painting feelings purely and straight, with out the trimmings of a human identification that the viewer has to deal with. 

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