Bio

Jeremy Morgan was born in 1956 in Cambridge, England. Educated at the Ruskin school of Drawing (University of Oxford) 1974-77, The Royal Academy Schools (RA) London 1979-82, and at the San Francisco Art Institute 1983-85. Between 1983-85 he was a Harkness Fellow. He is an Associate Professor of Painting at SFAI where he has taught since 1989 in both the Undergraduate and Graduate programs. He has also taught at JFK University (Arts and Consciousness program - Graduate Program), CCA in Oakland, California, and given various workshops in China (CAA Hanghzou, CAA Beijing, Luxan Academy, Shenyang). He is also affiliated with the Lucid Art Foundation in California, (Vision board member). He has exhibited in the USA, UK and China. His work is represented in several private collections and in the collections of Lucent technologies (CA), Beringer Wineries in Napa, CA, Saks 5th Avenue, New York, and in the collections of CAFA Beijing and CAA, Hangzhou.

More about Jeremy and his artwork can be read in the SFWeekly article, Jeremy Morgan of the S.F. Art Institute Mixes Eastern Sensibility with Western Tradition.

Artist Statement

My work has been a form of visual research manifesting through collage and paintings at various scales. The focus of the work has been the fusion of various trajectories; the direct experience of the phenomena of the natural world.

e.g. The Romantic Sublime tradition of European and American landscape painting, the Sung Dynasty tradition from China (Shan-Shui) with specific reference to the significance of the manifestation of Spiritual/Philosophical sensibilities as integral and intrinsic to creative visual processes. The European and American developments of Abstraction especially the work of many of Abstract expressionists has been a valuable arena of exploration. 

The work then positions itself, endeavoring to find a balance between alluding to phenomena of the natural world while resisting the notion of mimesis. Thus the work strives towards the realization of the abstract in visual realms. Giving optical fidelity to the otherwise invisible. Most recently I am considering the possibilities of fusing digital processes and painting practices into chimera, which blur the boundaries that often exist between one form and another.

This has resulted in experimental work which explores in greater depth the physical process of painting. This includes substrates, surfaces mediums, inks and acrylics in conjunction with the  use of both real and artificial silk as coverings over acrylic paintings. This process reflects a reference to the traditions of Chinese landscape painting. In that tradition there is a unique consideration of the surface which is historically utilized in China (also Japan and Korea) in the use of either silk or highly absorbent paper. 

Of absolute significance was the moment I observed a Chinese landscape artist at the China Academy of Art as she copied from an original antique painting. I observed the moment when her physical energy became fused with her psyche. Her breath became the animating force for the brush and ink, and as they came to the surface of the paper, I sensed the moment was profound because what I actually experienced was the transmission of energy disposed into space. They were not marks upon a surface.

This has brought me to the realization that for all painters the location and concept of surface and substrate is of prime significance. In the contemporary digital era I have been contemplating those parallels between the first moment of photography, which in fact liberated painting from the task of mimesis, and the new possibilities of pictorial space. 

I am interested in returning to the qualities of silence that inhabit most ancient Chinese painting due in part to the unique process and spatiality which place the image in proximity of mind as well as body..