Jenny Morgan: One and the Many

Like
the Spice Gallery is proud to present "One
and the Many,"
an exhibition by Jenny Morgan whose new body of work formulates a
grounded state of hyper-sense while stripping each figure she paints
to their spiritual core. In her second solo show at Like the Spice,
Morgan locates a mystical familiarity in contemporary musicians and
artists. The technical grace of her figurative representation merges
with surreal imagination. Thoughtful manipulations bejewel her new
work and reveal a renewed sense of reserve. Each full-frontal
portrait blossoms out of scintillating colors and effects, revealing
layers of the individual and insight into a parallel dimension.
           

In
utilizing the figure, Morgan facilitates a correspondence
between souls. The figures resemble avatars in their presence and
disdain for artificial attachment to the contours, rather than the
spirit, of the body. Each human portal is transformed by supplemental
hues, soft glazes, blurred features, or minute definition into a
striking mutant. Oftentimes her self-portraits bear the brunt of her
early experiments, epitomizing the fluidity of extremes in the midst
of unmistakable comfort. Morgan disengages from her attachment to
hands and arms, allowing her varied technique to appear as
accessories to her personages rather than staples of her practice.
           
Despite
the traditional beauty of her oil paintings, Morgan actively
contradicts simplistically pretty hyperrealism with gritty
psychedelia. Old Masters and a concept of dimensional layering were
two significant contributions to the bevy of new work. Morgan has an
informed understanding of art history, color theory, and design
theory that is simultaneously addressed and deconstructed. These
references appear as figments, sheer filters for a dimension that
pulls from the multiplicity of the present.
Morgan's
passion for spiritual science translates into an interest in
provoking a multitude of physical dimensions. Confronting the raw
canvas and its function as a corporeal boundary are important
components in many of these paintings. Each additive technique or
reduction of the canvas allows Morgan to investigate perceptual
layers. Figures fluctuate in and out of the background by way of
pattern; stripes, zips, and even checkerboards distort the fore and
complicate the viewer's understand of compositional space.
           
Dimensional
incongruity in Morgan's work extracts sobriety, focus, and a sense of
yearning from her sitters. The peculiar elegance of her work
transcends photorealism in its connection to the body, to the moments
of humanity. Morgan fastens to her subject's breath, thought, and
life. She catapults each model into the light.
In
the past year Morgan has secured several portraiture commissions for
the likes of The New York Times Magazine and New York Magazine, she
was also featured on the cover of art ltd. magazine. Jenny Morgan was
born in Salt Lake City, Utah in 1982. She had her first solo show in
New York at Like the Spice Gallery in January of 2009, and has
exhibited nationwide in solo shows at Plus + Gallery and the Pirate
Gallery in Denver, Colorado. Ms. Morgan has participated in group
shows at Postmasters Gallery, New York, NY; 92Y Tribeca, New York,
NY; Millennia Gallery, Orlando, Florida; Columbia University, The
LeRoy Neiman Gallery; Smithsonian Institute's National Portrait
Gallery; The Magnificent Basement, London, England; Galleri SE Konst,
Falun Sweden; and multiple galleries in Colorado, Florida and New
York City. This year Plus + Gallery published in collaboration with
Like the Spice gallery "New Territory" a 240 page full
color book presenting 100 paintings by Jenny Morgan from the start of
her career in 2003 through her major exhibitions in 2009. Ms. Morgan
work is in public and private collections worldwide.