Paula Morison (UK, 1985) is a conceptual artist using a variety of media. She focuses on the ways in which we, as human beings, attempt to order the world around us. Morison investigates the systems created by people and the behaviours we show that help us exert perceived control over our existence and how we archive things for the future in search for answers. She takes a poetic approach in her research to create a narrative and language for her artworks. This often leads her to revisit existing objects by reinventing them. She attempts to exactly replicate something that might have been made with very different techniques, going beyond the use of trompe l’oeil towards the realms of recreating or forging. Like the artist claims, she fears being forgotten and this is why, through her art, she wants to leave a trace and, however lightly, touch people’s lives.
Morison graduated with an MFA in Fine Art at the Slade School of Fine Art in 2019 with a monumental textile-based artwork. Morison has been featured in Bloomberg New Contemporaries 2018 at South London Gallery and Liverpool Biennial, and is a recipient of the Red Mansion Art Prize offering her a residency in Beijing in 2018. She recently had exhibitions at g39 in Cardiff, Barbican Art Trust in London, Royal Academy in London and a two-person exhibition with Josh Rowell at Daniel Benjamin Gallery.
Selected Exhibitions
2020
Mapping the Discordant Blues, A Room Upstairs Gallery, London, UK
Depictions of Living, The Art Pavilion, London, UK
2019
Author’s Translations, two-person exhibition with Josh Rowell, Daniel Benjamin Gallery, London, UK
Postgraduate Printmaking: A Survey of London Art Colleges, Clifford Chance, London, UK
Stretch, PS Mirabel, Manchester, UK
Untitled, (SOLO) The Pole Gallery, Paris, France
Rumblestrip, g39, Cardiff, UK
Pareidolia, Space Station Gallery and Daniel Benjamin Gallery, London, UK
The Red Mansion Art Prize Exhibition 2019, Royal Academy, London, UK
Fast Forward: Women in Photography, Slade Research Centre, London, UK
Bite the Bullet, Barbican Arts Trust, London, UK
2018
Bloomberg New Contemporaries, Liverpool John Moore’s university, Liverpool, UK
Bloomberg New Contemporaries, South London Gallery, London, UK
2013
Cascades: Past Present and Future, Studio 180 as part of Art Licks Weekend, London, UK
2012
Untitled, The Wallet Gallery, London, UK
2011
100: Postcards, The Royal Standard, Liverpool, UK
Paula Morison, (SOLO), The Wasteland, Stroud, Gloucestershire, UK
2009
Made in Roath, Milkwood Gallery, Cardiff, UK
Untitled, (SOLO), Crafty Sew and Sew, Cardiff, UK
2008
Works on Paper, Elysium Gallery, Swansea, UK
Residencies
2018
Red Mansion Art Prize Residency, Beijing, China
2011
Paula Morison, The Wasteland, Stroud, Gloucestershire, UK
2009
Untitled, Crafty Sew and Sew, Cardiff, UK
Awards and Grants
2018
Winner of the Artists’ Collecting Society Prize
Awarded a Grant from South Square Trust
2010
Awarded £6000 from Safle (with Arts Council Wales) to pursue curatorial work
Commissions
2015
Small Lies and Half Truths, Commissioned by Tangle International, South West England’s African and Caribbean Theatre Company at Guest Projects, London
2009
Wall with a Viewpoint, Commissioned by National Assembly for Wales, Cardiff (with Lauren Curl, Ed Elliott and Madge)
2008
Wall with a View, Commissioned by Cardiff Bay Harbour Authority Cardiff Bay, Cardiff (with Lauren Curl, Ed Elliott and Madge)
Publications
2019
isthisit? issue 06
2018
Bloomberg New Contemporaries 2018 Exhibition Catalogue
Education
2019
MFA Fine Art, Slade School of Fine Art, London, UK (Distinction)
2008
BA Fine Art (Hons), University of Wales Institute, Cardiff, UK (1st)
2004
Foundation Diploma in Art & Design, Stroud College, Gloucestershire, UK(Distinction)