Abelardo Morell

Edwynn Houk Gallery is pleased to present Abelardo Morell's most recent bodies of tent-camera works, New Ground: In the Terrain of Van Gogh and Monet (2022-23).

Morell's signature tent-camera technique, which has evolved from his experiments with classic camera obscura optics, reinvigorates ancient discoveries with a contemporary vision. Using the earliest ancestor of modern photography, the artist has developed a way to project chosen views onto the earth beneath his feet. The resulting works reflect highly intentional marriages of the landscape with the materiality of the ground.

Morell's experimental approach not only engages with photography's ancient history but also with modern painting. Inspired by the plein air practices of van Gogh and Monet, Morell made works in the same locations in France where these artists painted, not recreating their works but rather generating a radically modern vocabulary informed by art history.

Morell lives and works in Boston. He studied at Bowdoin College and holds an MFA from Yale University, and an honorary doctorate from Bowdoin. In 1993, he was the winner of a Guggenheim Fellowship. Until 2009, he was a professor of photography at Massachusetts College of Art. Morell was the subject of a documentary film, Shadow of the House, in 2007. There are numerous publications and monographs on his work, including his illustration of Alice in Wonderland and ‘Book of Books,’ with an introduction by author Nicholson Baker. He was the recipient of the International Center of Photography’s Infinity Award in 2011 and the 2017 Lucie Awards Honoree for Achievement in Fine Art. His work is in numerous private and public collections, including the Art Institute of Chicago, the Fondation Cartier, Paris, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, Victoria & Albert Museum, London, and the Museum of Modern Art, New York. Since beginning representation of the artist, Edwynn Houk Gallery has presented five solo exhibitions of the artist's work, from his earliest camera obscura images to more recent series, such as Flowers for Lisa.