ABOUT THE ARTIST: It has been said that Robert Morrison handles steel the way a seamstress handles fabric. His command of the material is indisputable---steel, fiberglass, sound, electromechanical installations---but it is the emotional impact of his work that most resonates. The simplicity of line and form; the clarity and precision of composition; and above all, the honesty and directness of the message combine to create an emotionally powerful blow to the senses and intellect----but it is a beautiful blow. Like a Noh play, the structures are carefully pared down to essential haunting elements. Nothing extra is provided. At the hands of this master, minimalism stands true to its promise of providing more, much more, with less---much less.

Robert Morrison is not as well recognized as one might expect given his impressive body of work. Renny Pritikin, curator of the Nelson Gallery in Davis, has commented, “Being an artist’s artist suggests a lack of wide acclaim….” A reserved and focused artist, Morrison has not seemed interested in documenting or promoting his work. Instead, he quietly works and teaches at the University of Nevada at Reno.

In 2004, the Nevada Museum of Art acknowledged his stature as one of the most important sculptors in Nevada by presenting a retrospective of his work, including his monumental installation Tongues: the Half-Life of Morphine (1987), which occupied nearly 4,000 ft2 of gallery space and consisted of 30 steel and fiberglass cots organized on a grid---suggesting a hospital ward. Each unit was equipped with a sound element evoking a jittery pattern---creating an atmosphere of suppressed yet relentless anxiety.

Morrison has also exhibited at New Langton Arts in San Francisco, the Foster Goldstrom Gallery in New York and the Museum of Contemporary Art in Lakeworth, Florida. He has been the recipient of numerous awards and grants.

Born in Fresno in 1941, he attended graduate school at Stanford and pursued postgraduate work at UC Davis in 1965-66. Like Eva Hesse, Robert Morrison, uses a minimalist vocabulary that is purposely unrefined in its approach to materials. Despite his obvious roots in the 1960s minimalist tradition, his work is surprisingly fresh and perhaps more relevant in the context of today’s frenzied technocentric environment.