ALEX MORRISON

FOLLY ELECTRIC, 2020

Photos: Benjamin Fenton

The artwork consists of an electrical lantern constructed of aluminum and Plexiglass and powered by LED lights. The artwork is based upon the idea of a folly, an ornament constructed primarily for decoration, but suggesting through its appearance some other purpose. The sculpture can be experienced as a “destination”, as well as experienced by viewers in transit, night and day.

Alex Morrison was born in Redruth, UK and currently lives and works in Vancouver, Canada. Subcultures, activism, rebellion, the history of domestic architecture, civic spaces and avant-garde aesthetics have been persistent themes in his work for over a decade. His drawings, paintings, videos, sculptures and installations reveal a preoccupation with the vernacular and a critique of the universalizing aspects of Modernism’s trajectory. He combines the aesthetics of craft with the language of protest, looking at subculture alongside legacies of colonialism and religious power. Morrison’s work has been exhibited at White Columns (New York), La Plage (Paris), the Contemporary Art Gallery (Vancouver), Walter Phillips Gallery (Banff), the Vancouver Art Gallery, Artspeak (Vancouver), and others. His work is collected by the National Gallery of Canada, the Art Gallery of Ontario, the Vancouver Art Gallery, Musée d’Art Contemporain de Montréal, Museum Abteiberg (Germany), Zabludowicz Collection (London), and numerous other public and private collections.

MATERIALS
Aluminum, Plexiglass, and LED lights.

DETAILS
Commissioned by PC Urban.

LOCATION
5495 Regent Street, Burnaby BC.

This project is located on the ancestral, and unceded territory of the hən̓ ̓qəmin̓əm̓ and Sḵwx̱wú7mesh speaking peoples, who have lived throughout this region for thousands of years.

PUBLIC ART CONSULTATION AND MANAGEMENT
Ballard Fine Art

PUBLIC ART REGISTRY
City of Vancouver