Openings, Red Rock Variation: Lake Superior Landscape

After experiencing health challenges in the mid-1980s, Morrison began to produce small acrylic paintings on canvas mounted on board as an alternative to working on larger scales that required more physical exertion. These intimate paintings, four of which are on view in this gallery, feature a strongly horizontal format that mirrors and accentuates the prominent horizon line that anchors each composition. One of Morrison’s essential motifs, the horizon line signifies his deeply spiritual connection to the earth and the sky and all of nature’s inherent mysteries and power. He explained: “I always see the horizon as the edge of the world. And then you go beyond that.…” Still, Morrison saw the horizon as an enigma, a concept rather than a destination.