Donald Morgan
British Thermal Unit
September 14–October 14, 2012
In British Thermal Unit, Morgan’s first solo presentation with the gallery, sculpture and paintings come together in off-kilter dualities: cozy/formally austere; warm/cool. The works present a mash-up of signs, hinting at interior domesticity while engaging with tropes of the modernist grid.
The works within British Thermal Unit are suffused with a broad range of color, much of it within the warmer spectrum. In each of the paintings and sculptures, color is used as both a metaphoric and literal antidote to the grey winters of the Northwest region. Winter Rain, the one piece within the show devoid of color, depicts the driving rain within its slick Formica and enamel surface.
Alongside the austral color pallet, each work within the exhibition is associated with high temperatures; a stylized woodstove, a painting of Africa, a modular geometric formation akin to a stack of firewood. Entitled British Thermal Units, this latter stacked work is a perverse material representation of what British Thermal Units, or BTUs, might look like, should these abstract units of heat measurement for firewood take physical form.
British Thermal Unit
September 14–October 14, 2012
In British Thermal Unit, Morgan’s first solo presentation with the gallery, sculpture and paintings come together in off-kilter dualities: cozy/formally austere; warm/cool. The works present a mash-up of signs, hinting at interior domesticity while engaging with tropes of the modernist grid.
The works within British Thermal Unit are suffused with a broad range of color, much of it within the warmer spectrum. In each of the paintings and sculptures, color is used as both a metaphoric and literal antidote to the grey winters of the Northwest region. Winter Rain, the one piece within the show devoid of color, depicts the driving rain within its slick Formica and enamel surface.
Alongside the austral color pallet, each work within the exhibition is associated with high temperatures; a stylized woodstove, a painting of Africa, a modular geometric formation akin to a stack of firewood. Entitled British Thermal Units, this latter stacked work is a perverse material representation of what British Thermal Units, or BTUs, might look like, should these abstract units of heat measurement for firewood take physical form.