ARTIST STATEMENT

Several years ago when I had been commissioned to develop designs for art quilts I was given a piece of 1/4” graph paper to aid in the process. While doodling on this graph paper I found that I could conjure up an endless variety of shapes that suggested faces, landscapes, animals, etc. The more I worked with this grid based design process the more I began to realize the implications of the grid in general and how pervasive it is. The images we see on our computers, watch on television, and capture on our cell phones are all based on a grid of pixels. Most of our architecture and cities are based on a grid. The grid is a man made construct that we have mapped onto the world.

In addition, I found that the designs I made based on the grid in a way all fit together, as if they were all pieces of a giant puzzle. This entirely in keeping with the THREE LAWS I had found in the old Whole Earth Catalog from the sixties:

1. Everything’s connected to everything else.
2. Everything has to go someplace.
3. There’s no such thing as a free lunch.

I no longer have anything to do with quilts but all of my artwork starts out as a drawing on the aforementioned graph paper. I then scan the drawing into my iPad and use an app called Procreate to work out the color scheme. Previously I would then transfer the drawing to a panel using drafting tools and execute a painting using acrylic paint and painter’s tape. Lately however I have started cutting each shape out of plywood, painting it, and then glueing the pieces down according to the original drawing/blueprint. However they’re made, the titles usually emerge once the piece is finished.
 

 

Gregg Morris

​

​