Bio
Born in California’s San Fernando Valley, Richard Morris is a representational painter and draftsman. He studied at the California Art Institute (CAI) and the Los Angeles Academy of Figurative Art (LAAFA), where his emphasis was the human figure. The philosophies of both schools stressed the importance of historical tradition while also being firmly rooted in contemporary methods and concepts. Continuing this legacy, Richard began teaching in 2003 at both CAI and LAAFA and opened his own teaching studio in 2008. In 2012, Richard took a break from teaching to pursue an MFA at the New York Academy of Art. Since graduating in 2014, Richard has taught at California’s Laguna College of Art and Design and is currently teaching at Rochester Institute of Technology in New York. Richard has exhibited his work in galleries and museums in Los Angeles, New York City, Cincinnati, Portland, Oregon, and in New Jersey.
Statement
“The development of an image often begins with something observed in my daily life. Rather than seeking out anything specific, I wait for images to come to me. I allow my subconscious to sift through the unending flow of visual information and alert me to something potentially interesting. The alert may come in several forms: a visceral reaction in the moment, a vivid memory that appears after the fact, or a recurring dream. I am concerned primarily with communicating the mood and feeling that I have experienced. If a narrative starts to form as a result of this process, I make no attempt to control it. I do not wish to impose a defined narrative upon the viewer. Rather, I give the viewer room to construct their own. The mood that I am trying to communicate in my work is most often tied to the phenomena of light, shadow, atmosphere, and their relationship to the subject. Although color is an intrinsic component of light, I often favor working in monochrome to achieve these effects.”
