In the recent paintings of Jenny Morgan, the artist continues to create penetrating portraits that are both vulnerable and surprising in her choices. The artist’s foundational excellence in realism is enhanced by her subversions of hues and form. Morgan was featured in the cover story for Hi-Fructose Volume 39.
“Although classically trained as a figure painter, Jenny Morgan is breaking with the labor-intensive preciousness associated with the realist approach,” says MOCA Jacksonville of the artist. “Technically intricate with a haunting quality, Morgan’s paintings experiment with psychological visual realism, obscuring the physical to expose the spiritual. She obfuscates the portraits’ meticulous details by annihilating their likeness, stripping away layers like physical and spiritual wounds, while retaining a striking intimacy. Like an archeologist, she digs to discover the subject’s identity.”
See more of her work from recent years below.
Deirdre Sullivan-Beeman's "Heavy Water" brings new paintings from the surrealist to La Luz de Jesus Gallery, inspired by the substance created from tap water for nuclear energy research in the 1930s. Using oil and egg tempera on aluminum panel, the artist’s works have a particular glow, implementing centuries-old techniques for the effect. The show runs Oct. 4-27 at the space.