Part IV_Borrowed Images

Works in the Exhibition | Interview



Ivan Morley: From Don, George, and Diane, 2004
Photo: courtesy Goetz Collection

Works in the Exhibition

Tehachepi (sic), 2004, oil, acrylic, thread and varnish, k-y jelly on canvas
From Don, George, and Diane, 2004, oil, wax, k-y jelly on canvas over panel
Tehachepi (sic), 2006, oil, acrylic, batik printing, thread, varnish on canvas
Tehachepi (sic), 2006, oil and leaf on tempered glass



Interview

Jan Seewald: Your works are enigmatic and colorful explorations of the world you are living in. You once described them as "souvenirs of a fictional as well as an actual place".(1) Would you agree with me that they are similar to the memories we have, memories which become misty and then fade over time?
Ivan Morley: It seems to me that the faux nostalgia that motivates a lot of the work evaporates in the finished presence of the paintings. They are so obviously contemporary, but I guess memories are too. A friend will tell me a story I relate to, or I'll read first-hand accounts of 19th century California, and 'facts' will be exposed. But the finished paintings are more (f)actual than the data that makes them up. Sometimes I have the feeling that memories are bigger than facts and sometimes a painting's physical fact-ness makes memory irrelevant.

(1) Press Release for the show Ivan Morley, Galerie Bernier/Eliades, Athens, 09.12.2004-29.01.2005.

Text excerpt »I work to give form to uncertainty« - A Conversation via E-mail with Ivan Morley, March 2006 (Author: Jan Seewald), Exhibition Catalogue Imagination Becomes Reality Part IV_Borrowed Images