Artist’s Statement

Art and science reveal the universe, science objectively, art subjectively.

In search of a single, objective truth, scientists seek the parameters of the universe – its source, condition, future and limits.

Art, too, revels in the great mysteries, but it refuses to examine them
neutrally. Through creation, artists subjectively define the universe not just as quantifiers, but players. Uninterested in limits, artists decipher and invent countless times over, unveiling countless truths, making room for countless more.

Art becomes a portal into that universal realm, a doorway that then becomes accessible by others. This explains the uplifting sense art can deliver not just to the artist, but also those who experience the art.

This portal, art, signifies a rare point where humans escape the mundanity of earthly existence and step into the ethereal. Communion with nature and the exhilaration of love are two other such junctures, but only art purposely devises this connection. Indeed, if the connection is not made – if the work does not “send” you – it might be argued that it is not art.

So, let us briefly consider this powerful meeting point. It is not simply a place where one crosses from here to there but, rather, a location that may be explored infinitely.

Similarly (and more specifically), my art also delves into a juncture of two seemingly disparate worlds, namely where second and third dimensions meet. Everyone easily grasps the concept of each dimension, but what of the place where these two dimensions meet? Is it possible that this point, too, may be wedged wider and wider, like uncovering the color spectrum between black and white?

Consider the power of mirrors or film and television, which present moving three-dimensionality in purely two-dimensional form. Collage, too, hints at this inter-dimensional space.

Though bound by two dimensions, much of its energy comes from its struggle to escape the page, much like a child leaping into the air or a rocket ship heading to the furthest reaches of space.

John Morse
February 7, 2009

Seen at top: A still from Morse’s guerrilla installation performance “The Color Spectrum at the Guggenheim”