Official Opening Saturday 30 September, 7.00pm – 9.00pm
Last chance for a dark wash is a new site-specific exhibition by artist Locky Morris. The exhibition reflects the artist’s current practice and process, with elements drawn from the video project residency at the Regional Cultural Centre (2021 – 22).
Over the last two decades Morris has adopted a daily routine of walking and wandering, probing at the edges of the city and coastline. Gleaning his material from liminal spaces we are invited to look differently, beyond the actuality of what we might see and perhaps consider the sublime in the most ordinary.
The exhibition includes an installation of found-sculptural assemblages, video and photographic work. The artistic approach, mostly improvisational as witnessed on his Instagram feed, is situated between a certain order and spontaneous energy. Playful, succinct and often discordant, the work suggests another way of looking and interacting with the world, while questioning notions of intrinsic value.
Over the course of developing this body of work Morris has invited the artist and musician Jaki Irvine to contribute written and sonic elements to the exhibition.
Locky Morris was born in Derry City where he continues to live and work. Renowned for his early work that explicitly dealt with the conflict in Northern Ireland – most notably from a socially embedded perspective – he has gone on to develop another working vocabulary that moves fluidly between the personal, public and political. While still informed by the complexities and intricacies of his immediate landscape, this work extends across photography, video, gallery installation and incorporates the social media platform Instagram.
Morris’ practice, born in part out of a fascination for what confronts him in the often chaotic details of the everyday, is rich, inventive and marked by a visual playfulness that feels distinctly his own. Running parallel to this have been numerous large-scale works and interventions in the public realm. The work has also been influenced by his active musicianship.
This exhibition is curated by Rachel Botha.
Kindly supported by the Arts Council of Ireland and Donegal County Council.