about M&M
Tuesday, February 9, 2010 "... the only people for me are the mad ones, the ones who are mad to live, mad to talk, mad to be saved, desirous of everything at the same time, the ones who never yawn or say a commonplace thing, but burn, burn, burn like fabulous yellow roman candles exploding like spiders across the stars and in the middle you see the blue centerlight pop and everybody goes 'Awww!'... " She was born just after the height of the Beat Generation and says she is inspired and influenced by the spirit of the Beats to embrace originality and individuality and to express herself without aid or sanction of formal training and without fear of reproach. In her own art she is determined to offer us something honest, something true, worthy of contemplation, perhaps in the hope of offering nourishment as she is nourished in the making of it. Like Morrissa's female archer within the photograph, 'Heavenly Archer', you will just know when she's found the zen-like target within us that she's aiming for when we look at the result and recognise that we have been hit too and find ourselves going 'Awww'.
— Jack Kerouac (On the Road) 
Morrissa A. Morris is an American artist, poet and photographer living in Scotland. Mainly self-taught and considered a raw or out-sider artist, her work manifests itself in many diverse forms but is always emotionally driven and straight from the heart.
Her imagery can at times almost burn itself up from the effort to reveal and contain moments of true anguish. There are several intensely personal themes she repeatedly returns to in her work but in articulating these complex states she somehow invariably manages to find accessible forms which are both appealing and often uplifting.
By way of contrast some of the lighter pieces are touched with subtle humour, and give free rein to the simple pleasure to be had in the handling of her materials, be they pastels, acrylics or film/digital capture. She has an innate understanding of composition and finds ways to instil a sense of drama or calm. So too with the resonances found within her choice of colour palette and her adeptness in cleverly varying texture - one moment the paint is bright, rich and buttery the next there is an impeccable soothing flatness to provide contrast.
While this is an artist developing at an exciting rate it seems clear already that it is the dualism of balancing and combining the dark and light forces that is fundamental to her creativity.
She says about her first book of poetry, "It was born of running from, facing up to and living creatively with depression and life with all it's challenges. Creativity helps me survive and thrive through life-altering events. It's what saves and nourishes me, and how I learn to adapt and cope."
In the process of addressing the fall-out from challenging life events through her creativity Morrissa feels, "it is our own life stories we wish to share which allows us to connect, empathise and relate with others - our individual human experience that must be expressed".
