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eric morris
artist
A story of roaring lions, sky high mills and storyboards.
Eric, born 1954, has led - and is still leading - a colourful life. One of his earliest memories was waking to hear lions roaring at the end of the road where he and his family lived in inner-city Manchester; the young Eric was often found wandering the nearby Zoo and Theme Park with paper and crayons.
The scene was set. At 11, he gained a place at the groundbreaking Manchester High School of Art and Music, famed for its unique and inspirational approach to education.
Eric's art has been the thread that weaves through every stage of his life - at 20, an art college student subsidising his grant cleaning windows, he scaled Manchester's huge mills, coming home with sketched industrial landscapes viewed from roof tops 150 feet high.
Subsequently he spent many years working in the advertising and events industry as a conceptual visualiser, producing thought-provoking campaigns, images and storyboards. He worked with numerous national and international blue-chip companies, eventually leaving to paint full time.
Working in "whatever media seems right on the day" he now paints with a flourish, producing a vibrant mix of bold and emotive paintings - some from observation, some from imagination - but all inspired by a life lived in colour.
"Your art is a reflection of your vision and creativity"
Artist statement:
Although my work today is influenced by both traditional and contemporary art, I still recall the many years I spent working as a visualiser in the creative industry. The essence of visualising is spontaneity - a visual shorthand that captures the energy and vitality of a concept or image.
A process that allows emotion and engagement to be natural, transcending the restrictions of perfectionism and letting the artist think outside the box, feel comfortable with doing things they may not have thought or done before.
I found painting to be basically just another way of visualising, interpreting or expressing my ideas. I get the best results when the marks flow freely onto the canvas, with spontaneous, loose broad strokes. With the right emphasis and interaction of colours and shapes, I find painting can be as exciting and emotional as any other form of self expression.
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