Jim Morphesis: Passion and Presence, Memento and Myth

Jim Morphesis: Passion and Presence, Memento and Myth, was an exhibition of the artist's paintings, spanning four decades, on view at the Kellogg University Art Gallery, Cal Poly Pomona from November 18, 2017- February 1, 2018. With 85 color reproductions and text by curator, Michele Cairella-Fillmore, this catalog describes how, to date, Jim Morphesis' life work has represented not only a spiritual, but cognitive and ever personal journey of self-exploration, not only for the artist himself, but as a study of humankind's mutual self-examination. Traveling hand-in-hand with historically religious uses of symbolism that emanate from early Christian and Easter Orthodox iconography, direct and indirect uses of memento mori, and a masterful nod to Renaissance's chiaroscuro and impasto, his figurative work may, on the surface, speak for itself. However, while religiosity and its visual interpretations float on the surface, one can earn more by delving much deeper. By exploring the more profound meaning beneath layers, a subliminal encounter more personal in nature, evolves. Through archetypal and allegorically-infused subjects and themes, Morphesis offers an encounter with the existential, ontological and ever-ephemeral search for life's meaning: the philosophical questions regarding the nature of being and the understanding of self, both internally, and communally as a human race, emerge. This probing expedition confronts our own inescapable mortality, and leads towards the always-elemental human query of spiritual immortality. Symbiotically fused with Modernist styles and techniques including abstraction, Cubism, assemblage, Abstract Expressionism, and Hyperrealism, Morphesis' six bodies of artwork also become a purposeful voyage through art historical disciplines of visual expression, while inevitably crossing through the self-imposed straights of auto-reflection, and the human collective's conscientiousness.
About the Author: Michele Cairella-Fillmore, Director and Curator of the Kellogg and Huntley University Art Galleries at the California State Polytechnic University, Pomona.Since the 1980s, Jim Morphesis has been one of the most influential members of the expressionist art movement in Los Angeles. He is known for his physical paintings inspired by art historical and religious iconography. Morphesis (born 1948) received a B.F.A. from the Tyler School of Art and Architecture of Temple University in 1970 and earned an M.F.A. from the California Institute of the Arts in 1972. Morphesis' paintings have been exhibited at museums and galleries internationally. His awards include grants from the Louis Comfort Tiffany Foundation and the Los Angeles County Museum of Art. Morphesis' artworks are represented in the permanent collections of numerous major museums.