Jamie Morgan – Artist’s Statement

In my prints and pastel drawings, I have focused primarily on the urban landscape with an eye for composition of light and shadow. My work has consistently utilized the illusion of light and contrasting shadow as a means of expression. I draw inspiration from my surroundings, specifically, the urban landscape. My work reflects the abstract beauty in what would otherwise be familiar, even banal subjects. From gas stations, cars, bridges and trains to overpasses and deserted streets, I often capture these subjects in a state of neglect, as artifacts and symbols of a bygone era.

 

Recently I have developed a series of houses drawn from a diversity of neighborhoods and selected not only for compositional interest, but also in a documentary sense.  I am intrigued by styles of construction in vernacular architectural terms.  Years ago I delighted in Sam B. Warner’s Streetcar Suburbs (Athenium Press, 1973) which documents the growth of Boston in the late nineteenth century.  As in Boston this area is full of details of the history of its growth in the houses we see today.  Every street has indication of original tracts, old planning and bygone modes of transportation.  Each house bespeaks not only the owner’s tastes but also the character of a neighborhood.  I work from photographs selecting optimal times of day for light angles and weather.  The resulting drawings might best be considered portraits of houses.