Geoff Morrell is an Australian actor and artist living and working on Dharawal land.
During his 40-year career on the stage and screen, he has appeared in countless
iconic Australian productions including Blue Murder, Cloudstreet, Changi and
Grassroots, a role which earned him an AFI (AACTA) Award for Best Lead Actor in a
TV series. Alongside this performance career, Morrell has also forged an acclaimed
visual art practice which has seen his work held in private collections throughout
Australia, England and the USA. His work has also been exhibited publicly on
numerous occasions, including five solo shows.
Since 1995, Morrell has made a name for himself as an artist who effortlessly
crosses the boundaries between painting, sculpture and collage to create powerful
and astonishing work. Reclaiming found materials such as pieces of old linoleum
and discarded wood, Morrell cuts and splices them together - sometimes even
including chopped up pieces of his own original paintings - reimagining these
fragmentary pieces into abstract patterns, vast landscapes or evocative memories.
Not all Morrell’s works are made in this way however - some of his original
paintings have been spared this “butchering” process and survive intact.
But perhaps the most exciting development in his artistic process to date occurred
recently while in Aotearoa shooting for Amazon Prime’s upcoming TV-series The
Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power. With copious amounts of downtime due to
Covid-19 and separated from his studio, stocked with years of collected materials,
he concentrated exclusively on painting, both abstract and figurative. Spurred on
by a deep-rooted spirit of adventure and curiosity, these works were then
photographed and a layering process was undertaken with different images double
exposed and digitally manipulated. The result is a series of striking, multi-layered
portraits, landscapes and abstract images that are haunting and breath-takingly
beautiful. A solo exhibition of these works will be mounted later in 2022.