Garfield Morgan is a Jamaican artist who now lives and works in Montreal. He is best known for The Tarp Project - 'a socially engaged series of works using tarpaulin from the Jamaican marketplace'. Interviewed by Jacqueline Bishop for ARC Magazine, Garfield noted, 'art for me is far more engaging and challenging when the so-called, "everyday" or "non-traditional" materials are incorporated in the process.'
His "re-use" of discarded materials and objects, and his recycling efforts are attempts to, "tread lightly", by lessening his carbon footprint on the planet. The elevation of the, "throw-away" or "discard" to art status, is a metaphor for the marginalized, oppressed peoples and cultures that he resurrects from destruction and near invisibility to re-engage now. Garfield’s acrylic paintings, mixed media collages, installations and reconstructions are an ongoing cycle of reflection on man, his engagement with his fellow human beings and his relationship with the environment.
<<My work is partly about how I investigate traditional and non-traditional materials associated with drawing and painting. I explore new meanings by creating visually stimulating, dynamic, emotive images. I use an expressive, spontaneous, intuitive approach, where I harbor no pre-conceived notion of what the work should look like, thereby allowing it to take on a life of its own.>>
The visible results that I achieve are a direct extension of my “self” and all my psychological pre-occupations. The often mundane and alternative objects I use is an invitation to the viewer to journey into a world of ideas that get us thinking, discovering and seeing new meanings which lie beneath the veneer of everyday life. In transforming my artist materials I aim to transform the viewer. His/Her sight becomes new insight…
Solo Exhibitions
2016 - “The Persistence of Memory”, Philip Sherlock Centre, UWI (Mona) Kingston, Jamaica
2016 - “The Unravelling”, Kingston Jamaica
2015 - “The Tarp Project”, New Local Space (NLS) Kingston, Jamaica
2014 - “Outside the Box”, Olympia Gallery, Kingston, Jamaica
2013 - “Re-Connections”, Redbones Gallery, Kingston, Jamaica
2013 - “Memories, Dreams, Reflections”, UTECH Centre for the Arts, Kingston, Jamaica
2013 - “Bodies in Evidence”, Olympia Gallery, Kingston, Jamaica
Selected Group Exhibitions
2019 - “Situate”, Members’ Show, Articule, Montreal QC
2018 - “Christmas in October”, Olympia Gallery, Kingston, Jamaica
2017 - “Perspectives”, Milreu, Portugal
2017 - “Pollinators”, Nacogdoches, Texas USA
2015 - “Beyond Borders”, Seinäjoen Kaupunki, Finland
2015 - “The Tarp Project”, NLS, Kingston, Jamaica
2013 - “Festival Mundial das Artes”, Pela Paz, Brazil
2012 - “A Bricolage of Identities”, Olympia Gallery, Kingston, Jamaica
2012 - “Celebrating Jamaica’s 50th year of Independence”, Commerzbank, Berlin, Germany
2011 - ARCO Gallery, Germany
2011 - “Under Fifties Exhibition”, Olympia Gallery, Kingston, Jamaica
2010 - “Environmental Concern and Human Existence”
Beijing International Art Biennale (BIAB), Beijing, China
2010 - “Kingston on the Edge” (KOTE) Grosvenor Gallery, Kingston, Jamaica
2010 - “Tea Glorious Tea, Revolution Gallery, Kingston, Jamaica
2009 - “Regeneration”, Studio 174, Kingston, Jamaica
2009 - “Annual Faculty Show”, EMCVPA, Kingston, Jamaica
2007 - “Annual Faculty Show”, SFASU Nacogdoches, Texas, USA
Publications and Media
ARC Magazine feature, “Garfield Morgan discusses an intuitive approach to art-making.”
ARC (Art Recognition Culture) Contemporary Caribbean Art and Culture, November 2016
Health, Home and Garden, Jamaican Magazine feature, “Garfield Morgan - A Journey into the realm of Expressive Fine Art.”
Youtube clip on The Tarp Project https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tuE12Jbsu-k
Youtube clip on The Persistence of Memory https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=waDp3iDUXmo
Award