Morgan Ward

Morgan Ward (b. 1996, UK) lives and works in London.

‘I have always retained an interest in the concept of the painting’s picture plane, and significantly, how this can be manipulated. In my practice I aim to investigate the relationships between colour and the interaction of forms within the boundary of the painting and to what extent these boundaries can be extended. The central questioning has been that of what constitutes the space of painting. How one might choose to fill the space of a canvas as an object, and whether paintings can communicate and inform themselves through relational proximity. A key aspect is the expansion of a space, both physically and as an abstract illusion. I have adopted and developed a practice that allows me to constantly interrogate visual problems and outcomes. Persistently working from preliminary studies in a sketchbook and allowing them to inform, but not dictate, my paintings. In thinking about communication between paintings and how paintings can be viewed as an object in space, not just a flat surface that reacts only with the eyes has led me to explore work in series wanting the paintings to interact as a body of work, interconnecting within themselves both singularly and across the sequence as a network in actual space. Through translating forms and using colour suggestively to signify space allows me to build these networks. By using the space around a painting it plays an equal role in how the painting is encountered by the viewer. How paintings communicate and how the viewer can be manipulated in a space to react a certain way towards specific works has become the research focus of the work.’