Keith Morrison
Boyz, 2014.
About 1:
“Although much of Morrison’s art is autobiographical, it includes astute political commentary and reflections on his travels, his observations, his reading and musical tastes. One of his paintings is called Wide Sargasso Sea. Religion, magic, rituals, celebrations of life and premonitions of death abound along with water – in bayous, in rivers, or the sea. People, plants and animals commingle in ironic and comedic situations. There are so many levels of understanding that the art becomes a sort of X-ray of the artist’s impressively vast erudition. Nevertheless, Morrison’s art, unlike the writings of someone like Jorge Luis Borges, never intimidate intellectually. Rather, his art is gently accessible to the eyes with abundant food for thought. This extraordinary artist and his exceptional professional career constitute a truly Jamaican jewel. “ Franklin Knight, Jamaica Observer
Sound The Knell Slowly, 2000.
About 2:
Artist, art educator, curator, art critic, and administrator, Keith Anthony Morrison was born in Jamaica, where he had his childhood education. Morrison studied at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, where he received both a BFA (1963), and an MFA (1965).
A Night in Tunesia, 2002.
Keith Anthony Morrison is a painter, printmaker, educator, art critic, art curator and university administrator. He represented the USA as art critic and cultural envoy to the 2008 Shanghai Biennale. He represented Jamaica in the 2001, Venice Biennale, the world’s most famous and prestigious art exhibition, the only time Jamaica has been represented there. He represented Jamaica in the Caribbean Biennale in Santo Domingo, in 1994. He curated the exhibition, Magical Visions, with work of eight major contemporary African-American artists in 2009. He curated the art exhibition, Ceremony in Space and Time and Sound, an exhibition of 14 Jamaican artists living in Jamaica and abroad, for the National Art of Jamaica, in Kingston in 2008. He is the subject of the biography, Keith Morrison, by Dr. Rene Ater, 2004; His paintings form the foundation for an anthology by scholars from the Caribbean, Latin American, US, and the UK, titled, African Diaspora in the Cultures of Latin America, the Caribbean and the United States, 2014. His painting is the iconic image on the cover of the book, Senghorian Meditations: The Onthology of Afro-Diasporic Aesthetics, by Professor Marc Mae Bekele, to be published by L’Harmattan Press, Paris, France, March 2015. Morrison has exhibited worldwide, including in the Venice Biennale, the Museum of Modern Monterrey, Mexico, the Art Institute of Chicago, the Smithsonian Institution and the deYoung Museum, the Philadelphia Museum of Art, the Smithsonian Institution, and exhibitions in countries such as the UK, Germany, France, Italy, Yugoslavia, Poland, Egypt, Lebanon, Liberia, Japan, Brazil, Cuba, India, and China. In the USA he has had solo exhibitions in cities such as New York, Washington, Chicago, Philadelphia, San Francisco, and Boston.
Zombee Jamboree, 1988.
Morrison has had a distinguished career as an art critic, having published in many books, periodicals, newspapers, and museum catalogues. He is also an international art curator. He is author of the book, Art in Washington and Its African-American Presence, 1940 to 1970. His essay, “Art Criticism: a Pan-African Point of View,” is widely considered a seminal contribution to the field (see: New Art Examiner, 1979, reprinted in The Essential New Art Examiner, 2013). Morrison has curated art exhibitions in Cuba, the USA and Jamaica. He was Fulbright Senior Scholar to China in 2009. Keith Morrison was the first African-American to be appointed academic dean of art in a predominantly white American university, a position he has been appointed to 5 times in different institutions. Morrison served as Dean of Tyler School of Art; Temple University, Philadelphia; Dean for the College of Creative Arts, San Francisco State University; Dean for Academic Affairs, San Francisco Art Institute, and Dean for the College of Arts and Humanities at the University of Maryland, College Park, where he was previously Professor and Chair of the Art Department. He was a Distinguished Visiting Artist/Scholar at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor. Previously he was Associate Dean and Associate Professor, University of Illinois, Chicago; Art Department Chair, DePaul University; and Assistant Professor of Art at Fisk University. More information may be found elsewhere on the web, including museum and university websites.(www.keithmorrison.com)