Plus Gallery

 Romantic Comedies

"Romantic Comedies" is Jenny Morgan's first official solo exhibition with Plus Gallery, one that comes at a time when the momentum for the young artist is at a genuine peak that few ever achieve in their careers. The story of Morgan's history with the gallery along with her acceptance into the Smithsonian Institution's "Outwin Boochever 2006 Portrait Competition" is now legend, standing as an honor that has quickly brought her works to collector status. The new paintings deliver on the promise shown in Morgan's prior exhibitions, advancing stylistically and conceptually in directions that are invigorating and entirely appropriate. Based on the demise of a recent significant relationship, "Romantic Comedies" delivers a compelling vision that is as thought provoking as it is beautiful.

From the Press Release

Plus Gallery is proud to begin one of the most highly anticipated art season's with an exhibition that brings together Jenny Morgan and Colin Livingston, two of the finest young contemporary artists ever to blossom in Denver.  Ever since the two graduated from Denver's Rocky Mountain College of Art and Design, Livingston in 2001 and Morgan in 2003, they have exhibited a quiet and steady dedication to their talents, producing bodies of work that promote signature styles in both their execution and ideas. Both have seen a fair share of collector, press and institutional interest, a direct result of their grounding in a forward vision that is personal and uncompromising.  Morgan's "Romantic Comedies" and Livingston's "Palettes, Patterns, Logos and Slogans" are explosive progressions for both artists and easily two of the most compelling, intricate and vivid bodies of work to ever be presented at Plus Gallery.

"Romantic Comedies" is Morgan's first official solo exhibition with the gallery, one that comes at a time when the momentum for the young artist is at a genuine peak that few ever achieve in their careers.  In 2005 Morgan created two bodies of work, "First Person" as her introduction to the Plus Gallery audience and the follow up "Mine Not Yours" as her final cooperative foray with Pirate.  The story of Morgan's history with the gallery along with this year's acceptance into the Smithsonian Institution's "Outwin Boochever 2006 Portrait Competition" is now legend, standing as an honor that has quickly propelled her stature and further validated the the positive attributes of artist representation within the commercial realm.  That the new body of work coincides with start of Morgan's graduate studies at New York City's School of Visual Arts leaves heavy anxiety for the gallery along with a genuine sense of excitement for the future development of the artist's already strong career.  

The new paintings in "Romantic Comedies" deliver on the promise shown in Morgan's prior exhibitions, advancing stylistically and conceptually in directions that seem fresh yet genuinely appropriate.  The artist retains all of her already signature elements including a non-traditional cropping of nude forms, use of herself as subject, variations of single panels, diptychs and triptych's, her unusually narrow, vertical panel sizes as well as rich, symbolic fabrics juxtaposed with the figure.  Her last exhibition introduced the concept of narrative flow between groupings of panels, a premise that with is now fully developed, providing a sense of completeness.  Morgan is not content to simply repeat herself, however, and further additions to the work bring deeper meaning and maturity.  The extensions as well as departure points are what push "Romantic Comedies" over the edge into a complex, compelling vision that can only be appreciated in viewing the entire body of work in its intended gallery setting.

At the core of "Romantic Comedies" are traditional lines drawn by literature and film, with a conflict based plot encompassing obstacles and barriers that all relationships carry, ultimately resulting in a joyous, satisfying resolution fully dosed in ironic humor.  According to Morgan, the work is about "finding the light side of troublesome circumstances within ill-fated love," something that the artist depicts in a succinct, bold manner from a perspective that is as much about youth as it is world history.

In chronicling her relationship, Morgan employs the figure of both the male and female nude, the first and most significant development for the young artists work, her previous works being largely defined as self-portraits.  The introduction of the male figure advances the artistic thought process in light of the working process, one in which Morgan utilizes photographs and staged compositions to define the work.  The combination of the sexes automatically implies sexuality with undefined layers of meaning, the specifics of which are focused through the cropping and segmenting of forms.  In executing such a concept, Morgan references the classic realm of religious portraiture in which emotion was at once painfully obvious while symbolically veiled through rich, flowing fabrics.  In this context Morgan makes a second significant development,  a color scheme that is vibrant, unnatural and ultimately the grounding essence of the works.  According to Morgan, "After blatantly displaying the two counterparts of the romantic narrative, the flow of the work leads back to the self-portrait. The formal concept of cropping the body and dividing her into multiplicities through diptychs and triptychs is used to visually depict the manifold selves that form as a result of emotional conflict. The interaction between figure and fabric becomes absolutely important.  Layering and overlapping the thick and folded cloth allows the figure to be enveloped by symbolic color, which in turn, dictates the message of each piece." 

While a keen audience might recognize the artist's intentions and perceive the narrative threads, further layers undoubtedly satisfy a thoroughly personal nature for the artist.  The often severe cropping of the figure allows each composition to transcend the individual, deflecting traditional notions of portraiture in a resounding manner.  Particularly with this body of work an argument may be made as to whether the internal conflict is strictly about the artist or possibly others, with little question as to how the viewer might know otherwise.  

Finally, and perhaps most spectacularly, Morgan dictates each painting's dimensions and position through an intriguing numerology that is generally relegated to mysticism, yet here is more likely a further layer to personalize all aspects of the works in view of the relationship in question and her life in general.  Though Morgan employs a common term in naming the body of work, it is obvious that the relationship held great importance, something that can only be dealt with through a process of time passing, internal reflection, and finally constructive exposition through the artist's skills.  The end result is a "happy ending" that for the artist started out from the most "unhappiest of endings."