BIO
My practice engages with domestic and public space, identity and authenticity, and the political and aesthetic tensions that emerge between them. Drawing on political movements, subcultures and art history, I create connections between unlikely genres and visual languages. I am particularly interested in aesthetics that have been discarded, revived and repurposed to serve new social and political causes. My work explores whether decorative and ornamental forms can retain a subversive function, or whether their critical potential has been reduced to style.
Working across sculpture, painting, drawing, installation, film, video, photography and public art commissions, my practice explores social and spatial histories through biographical references and appropriations from fine art, vernacular design and subculture. Often situated between sculpture, furniture and décor, the work considers heritage, historicism and the persistence of folk vernaculars in contemporary culture. A recurring concern is the relationship between identity and the built environment, particularly the domestic sphere, where the home and its objects function both as expressions of identity and as surfaces through which the self is continually constructed and revised.
My work frequently draws on the aesthetics of utopian thought, from activism and counterculture to architecture and design. I examine how radical ideals are historicised, distorted and repurposed, tracing the movement of once-progressive visual languages from avant-garde expression to kitsch, ornament and commodity. Through these shifts, I explore the contradictions between the original intentions of an aesthetic and its subsequent appropriation for new, often conflicting, social and political purposes.
CV
Born in Cornwall, England, 1971
Currently lives and works in Cumbria, England
SOLO EXHIBITIONS
2022
Contemporary Art Gallery, Nooks and Corners, Vancouver
2019
Fahrenheit 451 House. Catskills, New York
Monte Clark Gallery, Vancouver
2017
White Columns solo booth, Independent, Brussels
Galerie Levy Delval, Dun Roamin’, Brussels
2016
La Plage, Furniture & Collectibles, Paris
Clint Roesnisch Gallery, Cat Math, Toronto
Komplot, Galerie De La Reine, Brussels
2014
Mélange, Up The Wooden Hill To Bedfordshire, Cologne
Simon Fraser University Art Gallery, Phantoms of A Utopic Will, Vancouver
Burnaby Art Gallery, Like most follies, more than a joke, more than a whim, Vancouver
2013
Blanket/Cologne, Cologne, Germany
2012
Kölnischer Kunstverein (project space), Cologne, Germany
2011
Catriona Jeffries Gallery, Vancouver, British Columbia
2010
Artspeak, Making Beer More Expensive, Vancouver, British Columbia
2007
Catriona Jeffries Gallery, Is Freedom Academic?, Vancouver, British Columbia
Galerie Ritter&Staiff, Frankfurt, Germany
2005
Büro Friedrich, Berlin, Germany
2004
Künstlerhaus Bethanien, Berlin, Germany
Henry Art Gallery, Alex Morrison, University of Washington, Seattle, Washington
Contemporary Art Gallery, Free Room, Vancouver, British Columbia
2003
Catriona Jeffries Gallery, Housewrecker, Vancouver, British Columbia
Frankfurt Kunstverein, Frankfurt, Germany
2000
Mercer Union Gallery, Toronto, Canada
1998
EyeLevel Gallery, Halifax, Nova Scotia
SELECTED GROUP EXHIBITIONS
2025
Town + Country: Narratives of Property and Capital, Morris and Helen Belkin Gallery, Vancouver, British Columbia
2023
Surrey Art Gallery, Through the Lattice, Surrey, British Columbia
2022
Hunt Gallery, A Word For Underfoot The Sun, Toronto
2020
Monte Clark Gallery, September, Vancouver
Somerset House, Mushrooms, London, UK (curated by Francesca Gavin)
Kvalitář Gallery, Abstract Machines, Prague
2019
Laure Genillard Gallery, “Out of Eye”, London, UK
2018
L’inconnue, Body, Montreal (curated by Domenico De Chirico)
Palais Des Beaux Arts Bruxelles, “Somewhere in Between”, Brussels
The Poetics of Space, Nanaimo Art Gallery, Nanaimo, British Columbia
Longevity or Lack Thereof, MacLaren Art Centre, Barrie, Canada
The Poetics of Space, Kamloops Art Gallery, Kamloops, British Columbia
L’idee Normale, Levy Delval Gallery, Brussels, Belgium
2017
LMAK Gallery, Loin Avec Moi, New York, New York
Galerie PCP, Champingons, Paris, France
The Living Room, Magical Wand and Granular Cloud, Antwerp, Belgium (curated by Xavier Mary)
2016
L’inconnue, Hybrid Objects, Montreal
Nanaimo Art Gallery, Trusses, Nanaimo, Canada
The Société, Catherine Vertige Collection, Brussels, (curated by Sonia Dermience)
Central Art Garage, Objectional Practices, Ottawa, Canada
Clint Roenisch Gallery, Cut The World Until It Fits On The Back Of Your Hand, Toronto
2015
Stopping The Sun In It’s Course, Francois Ghebaly Gallery, Los Angeles
The Poetics of Space, Vancouver Art Gallery, Vancouver, Canada
2014
Blue Times, Kunsthalle Wien, Vienna
Be Mysterious, Walter Phillips Gallery, Banff
Cindy Sherman meets Dzunuk’wa, Belkin Satellite Gallery, Vancouver
2013
Ein ahnungsloser Traum vom Park, Museum Abteiberg, Mönchengladbach, Germany
Full Frontal, Belkin Satellite Gallery, Vancouver, Canada
2012
Material Information, Museum Industrie, Bergen, Norway (curated by Juan Gaitan)
Through A Glass, Darkly, Vancouver Art Gallery, Canada
2011
Melanchotopia, Witte de With, Rotterdam
Domestic Lives:Works from the Permanent Collection, Surrey Art Gallery, Canada
Cul de Sac, Varley Art Gallery, Markham, Ontario
2010
Contemporary Art Gallery, Following a Line, Vancouver, British Columbia
National Gallery of Canada, It Is What It Is, Ottawa, Ontario
17th Sydney Biennale, Sydney, Australia, curated by David Elliot
2009
Musée d'art Contemporain de Montréal, Cubes, Blocks and Other Spaces, Montreal, Quebec
Trinity Square Video, Bred In At Least Modest Comfort, curated by Jean-Paul Kelly, Toronto
Catriona Jeffries Gallery, Loaded, Vancouver
Hannover Kunstverein, Getting Even
Oppositions + Dialogues in Contemporary Art, curated by Matt Packer, Hannover, Germany
2008
Lewis Glucksman Gallery, Getting Even
Oppositions + Dialogues in Contemporary Art, curated by Matt Packer, Cork, Ireland
Morris and Helen Belkin Art Gallery, Exponential Future, curated by Scott Watson and Juan Gaitán,
Vancouver
Burnaby Art Gallery, Our Changing Landscape: Perspectives on and Interpretations of British
Columbia (series III), Burnaby, British Columbia
Art Gallery of Alberta, Generation, curated by Catherine Crowston, Edmonton, Alberta
2007
European Kunsthalle, Modelle für Morgen: Köln, Köln, Germany
2006
The Open Eye Club, Totally P.C., Glasgow International, Glasgow, Scotland
Royal College of Art, Again for Tomorrow, London, UK
Schirn Kunsthalle Frankfurt, Die Jugend von heute/Youth of Today, Frankfurt, Germany
Kunsthaus Kaufbeuren, Unheimlich Jung, Kaufbeuren, Germany
Witte de With, Street: Behind the Cliché, Rotterdam, The Netherlands
2005
Edmonton Art Gallery, Re: Building the World, Edmonton, Alberta
Confederation Centre Art Gallery, Curb Appeal, Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island
White Columns, Post No Bills, New York, New York (curated by Matthew Higgs)
Catriona Jeffries Gallery, Mix With Care, Vancouver, British Columbia
Musée d'art contemporain de Montréal, Projections, Montréal
Städtische Galerie Waldkraiburg,Unheimlich Jung, Waldkraiburg, Germany
Kunsthaus Kaufbeuren, Unheimlich Jung, Kaufbeuren, Germany
2004
Champion Fine Art, #15, New York, New York curated by Mai-Thu Perret
Palm Beach Institute of Contemporary Art, I feel mysterious today, Lake Worth, Florida
2003
Aspex, Homemade, Portsmouth, UK
Vancouver Art Gallery, Drawing the World: Masters to Hipsters, Vancouver, British Columbia
Platform Garanti Contemporary Art Center, Making Space, curated by November Paynter, Beyoglu,
Istanbul
Platform Gallery, Group of Seven, London, England
2002
Nylon Gallery, Geometers, London, UK
Los Angeles Contemporary Exhibitions, Das Spyder Män, Los Angeles, California
Catriona Jeffries Gallery, Signage, Vancouver, British Columbia
Contemporary Art Gallery, Satan Oscillate My Metallic Sonatas, curated by Reid Shier, Vancouver
2001
Tracy Lawrence Gallery, A Drawing Show, Vancouver, British Columbia
Charles H. Scott Gallery, Surround, Vancouver, British Columbia
Kabinett Gallerie, Mobile Homes, Bern, Switzerland
John Hansard Gallery, Liminal/ Minimal/ Nominal.Architectural Traces, Southampton, UK
Vancouver Art Gallery, These Days, Vancouver, British Columbia
2000
Henry Moore Institute, Belvedere, Leeds, UK
1999
Platform Gallery, From Memory, London, UK
SELECTED MONOGRAPHS / EXHIBITION CATALOGUES / PRESS
2015
Alex Morrison: Like Most Follies More Than A Joke And More Than A Whim, catalogue co-
published in Vancouver by The Burnaby Art Gallery and SFU Art Gallery, essay by Andrew Berardini,
interview by Denise Ryner
2012
Janssen, Renske ‘Alex Morrison: My House Is My World’, Freize Magazine online
Esperanza, Rosales “Melanchotopia” Frieze, January/February 2012: 145-146
2009
Connolly, Maeve “Getting Even: Oppositions + Dialogues in Contemporary Art”, Art Monthly,
February 09, No. 323
2008
Juan A. Gaitàn, Exponential Future, Morris and Helen Belkin Art Gallery, Vancouver
Anthony Kiendl, ‘Informal Architectures: Space in Contemporary Culture,’ Informal Architectures:
Space in Contemporary Culture, Black Dog Publishing , London: 829
Jerry Zaslove, ‘Silence, Counterfeit and Aesthetic Act in Alex Morrison’s Vision of ‘Academic
Freedom as Academic’ – Installations of the Phantoms of a Utopian Will,’ Anthology of Exhibition
Essays 2006/2007, CJ Press, Vancouver
2007
Lorch, Catrin. “Models for Tomorrow,” frieze June-July-August 2007, p. 258. January 11, 2003
2006
Max Hollein and Matthias Ulrich (eds.), Die Jugend von heute/Youth of Today, Verlag de
Buchhandlung Walther Koenig, Cologne
2005
Lars Bang Larsen and Jeff Derksen Alex Morrison: Giving the Story a Treatment, Lukas & Sternberg,
New York
Dominic Molon, ‘Mysteriously Yours…’, I Feel Mysterious Today, Palm Beach Institute of
Contemporary Art, 2005
Nielsen, Henrikke. “Alex Morrison; Buro Friedrich”, Flash Art, Vol. XXXVIII, No.243, July-
September 2005, p.130
Wallace, Ian. “The Frontier of the Avant-Garde”, Intertidal: Vancouver Art and Artists. Muhka,
Antwerp and Morris and Helen Belkin Art Gallery, Vancouver, 2005. 51-62.
2004
Heather, Rosemary. “Skateboard Modernism”, Canadian Art, Winter 2004, Vol.21. No. 4, p.42-47
Augaitis, Daina. “For the Record: Drawing Contemporary Life”, For the Record: Drawing
Contemporary Life, exhibition catalogue, Vancouver Art Gallery, Vancouver, 2003
Hierholzer, Michael. “Mit dem Skateboard durch die Wohnung”, Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, 12
October, 2003
2003
Anthony Kiendl, Godzilla vs. Skateboarders, Skateboarding as a Critique of Social Spaces. Dunlop
Art Gallery, Regina, 2003
2002
Buck, Luisa. “London, Contemporary gallery shows”, The Art Newspaper, No. 122, February 2002
Currah, Mark. “Geometers”, Time Out, p. 48, January 23-30, 2002
Kitamura, Katie. “Geometers”, Contemporary, March 2002 (photo)
Meyers, Holly. “Turning Impulses into Works of Art”, Los Angeles Times, August 16, 2001
2001
Milroy, Sarah. “Masters of the Art”, The Globe and Mail, Saturday, December 1, 2001
Schlup, Murielle. “Mobile Home als Lebensstil”, Berner Woche , # 160, July 18 2001
2000
Diviney, David. Space Invaders, exhibition companion, Mercer Union, July 2000
Schultz, Deborah. “Belvedere”, Art Monthly, April 2000, issue 235(photo)
Taylor, John Russell. “ The Big Show-Belvedere”, Times. ‘Metro’, 5-11 Feb 2000
1999
Kent, Sarah. “From Memory”, Time Out: London's Living Guide, July 21-28 1999 no. 1509(photo)
PUBLIC COLLECTIONS
Museum Abteiberg, Mönchengladbach, Germany
National Gallery of Canada
Art Gallery of Ontario
Musée d'Art Contemporain de Montréal
Vancouver Art Gallery
Burnaby Art Gallery
Art Gallery of Surrey, Canada
Helen Belkin Gallery, Vancouver
Zabludowicz Collection, London
Julia Stoschek Collection, Düsseldorf
EDUCATION
1992-1993 Victoria College of Art, Victoria, British Columbia, Canada
1994-1995 Ontario College of Art, Toronto, Ontario, Canada
1995-1996 Ontario College of Art, Off-Campus Study Program, Florence, Italy
1998-2000 Nova Scotia College of Art and Design, Halifax, Canada
2012-2013 Düsseldorf Kunst Akademie, Klasse Lucy Mckenzie, Germany
RESIDENCIES
2025 Glenfiddich, Artist in Residence, Dufftown, Scotland
2018 Bonnie McCombe Kreye Residency, Victoria, British Columbia
2013 Embassy of Foreign Artists, Geneva, Switzerland
2003 Kunstlerhaus Bethanien, Berlin, Germany