statement
LIVE TRANSMISSION: performative drawing
My work is culturally contextualized in the practice of drawing as a fundamental human endeavor and is continuous with the time-honored practice of drawing from life. It requires connection, direct observation and LIVE TRANSMISSION. I draw from and build on the historical continuum of the field. Through this work, I transcend the arbitrary "oppositions" between abstract and figurative art, between purely gestural expression and documentary intent, creating narrative work which results in a final product which is not figurative. The drawings themselves become a third actor or mediator in the experience. That which was beneath notice becomes concretized on the page as the paper receives the image.
MODUS OPERANDI: The method I have perfected requires close observation and actual drawing in real time with multiple razor-sharp pencils and both hands. I condense movement into accumulations of graphite line, combining the controlled refinement of classical drawing with the sensuality of spontaneous gesture. My LIVE TRANSMISSIONS render visible normally invisible or fleeting movement patterns, through seismograph-like drawing.
My site-specific wall drawings are based on the LIVE TRANSMISSIONS which are projected onto a large wall, using architectural elements of a given space to determine scale and position.
The large site-specific wall drawing chosen for INDA is based on the movement of the hands of a percussionist. The LIVE TRANSMISSION graphite drawing was projected onto the wall in sections and 30 people painted it following the instructions: paint the spaces between the lines. The white is the wall coming through. Dimensions of the final work: 15 x 40 feet. Flat black acrylic paint on a white wall.
bio
born: 1941, Los Angeles, California
education
MA California State University at Los Angeles 1978
selected awards/honors
Gottleib Foundation Fellowship 2011
Pollock-Krasner Foundation Fellowships 1998, 2007, 2011
MacDowell Colony Fellow 2008, 2009
David and Rosamond Putnam Travel Fund 2008, 2009
selected publications
Cranbrook Art Museum exhibition catalog My Brain is in My Inkstand, 2014
Leeb, Susanne 2010. Randgange der Aufzeichnung. Morgan O'Hara's LIVE TRANSMISSION zwischen Kunst und Wissenschaft Notationen und choreographisches Denken Rombach Verlag, Berlin, Germany
Borgemeister, Rainer 2002.The Drawing Room Lokomotive Denken. Bonn and Berlin, Germany: Weidle Verlag. English and German
Cseres, Jozef + Frank, Peter 1995. Morgan O‚Hara Portraits for the 21st Century. Medzilaborce, Slovkia: Múzeum Moderného Umenia Rodiny Warholovcov, 8 pages text, 23 images, Slovak and English
selected solo or two-person exhibits
Operation Table Kitakyushu, Japan, 2014 (solo)
Galerie Ferdinand Baumann, Plzen, Czech Republic, 2013 (solo)
Galerie Früsorge Berlin, Germany, 2012 (solo)
Nha San Gallery, Hai Noi, Vietnam, 2011 (solo)
selected group shows
My Brain is in My Inkstand: Drawing as Thinking and Process, Cranbrook Art Museum, Detroit, Michigan, 2014
16 - 20 000 Hz, Meet Factory, Prague, Czech Republic 2013
Appuntamento, Moravska Galerie, Brno, Czech Republic, 2013
11th National Drawing Invitational: New York Singular Drawings, Arkansas Art Center, Little Rock, Arkansas, 2012 |
