Simon Morris

Aotearoa New Zealand, b.1963

June Pause

  • 2005
  • Acrylic on linen
  • Purchased 2005
  • 1900 x 1900mm
  • 2005/039

Op + Pop 6 February – 19 June 2016

Packed with an energetic sense of movement, Simon Morris’s painting gives the effect of a boldly rhythmic musical score. Its pattern, appearing at first to be random or chaotic, is found to be sequenced and repeating, and with diagonals regularly breaking up the picture plane.

Morris builds on the legacy of pioneering New Zealand geometric abstractionists such as Carl Sydow and Gordon Walters. This optical sequence was generated by a mathematical formula, which he says “creates images that I wouldn’t come up with myself. It’s like the system partly makes the work.”

Exhibition History

other labels about this work
  • Simon Morris is a leading proponent of the Geometric Abstraction style in New Zealand. In June Pause, 1900 square, black and white shapes appear to shift and interlock creating a disorienting effect.

    The artist’s primary concern is to invent new ways of defining abstract painting. This has been achieved through a variety of strategies, including near-invisible wall-paintings and sometimes allowing chance (such as the throw of dice) to influence the painting process.

    Morris completed a Batchelor of Fine Arts at the University of Canterbury in 1985 and a Master of Fine Arts at RMIT, Melbourne in 1998. He lives in Wellington and lectures at the College of Design and Fine Arts and Music at Massey University, Wellington.

    (Label date unknown)