John MORLEY
John Morley is a visual artist working in Istanbul, Türkiye. He graduated with an MAFA in Fine Arts from the University of Kwazulu Natal. (1998).
Having grown up on the sub-tropical, East coast of South Africa, John’s inspiration comes from rugged natural landscapes and architectural references where certain moments and impressions are used to capture the essence of a place, time or feeling.
By sanding, scraping and polishing he then reduces them into natural or urban vistas, unifying and imbuing the material realities of these disparate media with a deep sense of place.
“My aim is to create immersive, beautifully textured moments full of atmosphere and depth. I clear out a private little space among the nettles, between the vines, or behind the boulders. A shady nook from where you can peep through the branches, bathe in the atmosphere and dissolve in solitude.”
His practice is based upon building and then deconstructing composition by layering diverse media. Assemblage and collage are employed to construct the forms of a particular region and to create texture and edge contrast.
He constructs form and compresses rich, saturated colours by combining paper, acrylic and oil paint. He pushes the traditionally flat technique by incorporating perspective, adding depth and dimension to compositions.
