Natural Inclination - Clarence Morgan
Natural Inclination, Clarence Morgan

Natural Inclination

Artist

Clarence Morgan

Nationality

American

Heritage

African American

Medium

Offset Lithograph

Date

2007

Dimensions

22 x 30 inches

Edition Size

36 prints in this edition

Printer

Robert "Bob" Franklin

Provenance

Brandywine Workshop and Archives

Location

Philadelphia, PA

About the Work

From the Artist

I am interested in an approach to art making that explores the often-conflicted relationship between the decorative traditions in geometric patterns found in other cultures and western modernism. However, [my] recent [as of 2019] paintings, prints, and collage-drawings avoid culturally specific subject matter in favor of a more elusive pictorial terrain of contemporary abstraction. Inasmuch, my work attempts to reflect a broader generational curiosity where the familiar and unfamiliar converge.

There is a view about art that seems intractably fixed in tradition and history. However, counter to this view is another mindset that understands art very differently. This way of seeing works of contemporary art is not so much new as simply different. Art has always possessed a malleable character and the ability to conceptually as well as materially stretch its boundaries and adapt to evolving cultural circumstances and technological innovation. By the same token, I think it is a curious paradox that art can be so entrenched in tradition yet remain supple enough to withstand centuries of very complex (albeit gradual) changes to reach where it is today. As a catalyst for the imagination, speculation and unscripted modes of knowing, I find art to be extremely useful and necessary to the health and wellbeing of society. However, as we know, health is a relative term based on whether we experience it ourselves as good, moderate or failing. The relationship between our spiritual wellbeing, physical bodies and our state of mind is paramount—so it should be with our approach to art.
—Excerpted from http://www.clarence-morgan.com/statement, accessed 7-5-2021

About the Artist

Clarence Morgan

Clarence Morgan is a visual artist based in painting and drawing with additional experience in printmaking. Drawing has been the central inquiry of Morgan’s practice for more than four decades. Using a variety of tools and mixed media, Morgan has ...

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