Studio Visit with Artist Luke Morrison - Inside Art with Michael Rose
Studio Visit with Artist Luke Morrison - Inside Art with Michael Rose
Outside Luke Morrison's new studio on Harris Avenue, the sounds of the train and the highway blur together, creating a symphony of urban noise. Inside, the artist is at work on a series of modestly scaled acrylic paintings that explore cities and narratives. A painter and teacher, Morrison is making a place for himself in the Providence cultural scene and producing unique artworks in the process.
Morrison earned a BA in Drama from Vassar College and was originally drawn to Rhode Island for Trinity Repertory Company, where he worked in the Costume Department. Alongside his experience in the world of theatre, Morrison has continuously developed his skills as a visual artist, earning his MFA in Painting from Boston University in 2023. He has already exhibited his work in New York, Philadelphia, and Kentucky and through January Morrison is the featured artist at the Rhode Island State Council on the Arts' Gallery at Block Island Airport.
Reflecting on his new studio at a converted mill in the Valley District, Morrison says, "It's really exciting to have space to grow the work in a new way, and to be around other artists again after working from home following graduate school. I hope it helps to lay down some fresh roots within the larger creative community of RI! An extra perk is that the view and area are quite helpful for my work."
The view from his creative space consists of train tracks, Route 6, and the edge of Federal Hill. These are the makings of creative inspiration for an artist who is interested in cities, architecture, and flat planes of color. Within his paintings, there are also characters interacting with space. One image shows a tiny road crew at work on a street, another has a bouncer balanced with a crowd outside an anonymous nightclub. Morrison's paintings are at home in the tradition of American art that has put stories like this at its center. His subtle palette sets these scenes apart.
Asked how his background in theatre and drama has influenced his painting, the artist responds, "I aim to instill an ambiguous but engaging sense of narrative in my work, especially in the ways multiple works interact with each other, almost like different scenes or acts. I think formally there's a very stage-like, voyeuristic effect to my street scene compositions and subject matter. I'm interested in the way distance from a stage and level of attention to small moments can influence your interpretation of a story, which happens depending on where you're sitting during a live theater performance or where you're standing on the street while seeing something unfold."
In addition to acrylic paintings, Morrison is an avid sketcher and has a pile of sketchbooks in his studio, all filled with ideas. Across many pages, there are rotund characters and layered architectural scenes. He also completed a series of remarkable drawings in ballpoint pen. These pieces are intense, immersive, and atmospheric, bringing viewers into urban scenes that are filled with line and shadow. They form a counterpoint to his paintings.
Considering how his complex and detailed drawings inform and interact with his more minimalist paintings, Morrison says, "I think about the drawings describing form, space, mood, etc. through dense mark-making, whereas in the paintings, I've been exchanging that sense of mark to place more emphasis on a density of color as a means for describing just about everything. In very recent paintings, however, I'm trying to manipulate washes to exploit a figure-ground dynamic that's somewhat reminiscent of what happens in the drawings."
Alongside these drawings, Morrison also produces washy watercolors, and is experimenting with media like collage and cut out figures. These experiments strengthen and expand his painting practice, bringing new ways of seeing to his studio.
Next up in Morrison's rapidly expanding professional repertoire, the painter will be featured in a two person show alongside Corey Presha at Pulp Gallery in Holyoke, Massachusetts October 12 - November 10. The show will open on October 12, 5-7 pm. After that, he will be taking part in a residency with Ceravento in Pescara, Italy. In addition to his studio practice, Morrison is also an educator. He served as an instructor in Boston University's Visual Arts Summer Institute and is currently teaching Introduction to Visual Art at Dean College.
An emerging artist to know, Luke Morrison is adding something special to the community of painters who call Providence home. With his unique background and viewpoint, and his instantly recognizable way of handling paint, he is a creative with a bright career to look forward to.
Learn more about Luke Morrison at www.lukermorrison.com and follow his studio practice on Instagram at
