It was the Wack! Art and the Feminist Revolution exhibition (Los Angeles, 2007; Vienna, 2008; New York, 2009) that rekindled interest in the work of this artist, who died prematurely at the age of 41. Aborted nursing studies, three kids, an often absent Marine officer husband, frequent moves: Ree Morton's artistic practice only truly began in 1966, during her studies at the University of Rhode Island, and following her divorce, at the Tyler School of Art in Philadelphia, which she graduated from in 1970. Her insolent works defy categorisation and turn their nose at the "masters". She defined space as the addition of "air to an object," and as a space for activity and engagement. She used wood for her raw drawings, simple structures assembled with nails and ribbed with lines or red, black or green spots. Later, she would call upon a larger variety of spaces and materials in her installations, namely sticks and branches joined by painted lines and dots on walls or on the ground, which lend them a near-ritualistic or primitive context. She also took interest in the psychology of space, real or imaginary topographies, the interaction between humans and industrial archaeology, as in the myth of the first house. She participated in the Whitney Biennial at the Whitney Museum of American Art (New York, 1973), which would host, the following year, the only solo exhibition that took place during her lifetime. The artist also became a teacher, discovered Grotowski's experimental theatre, and became friends with Cynthia Carlson (1942), before moving to New York. Starting in 1973, she extended her work towards more metaphorical concerns: her Sister Perpetua’s Lie (1973) installation was inspired by Raymond Roussel's Impressions of Africa; she discovered, among other things, uses for celastic, a material that enabled her to make emblems, types of ribbons, banners, or flags, decorated with mottos and floral coats of arms - as can be seen in the Signs of Love (1976), an installation which celebrates intellectual and emotional vitality.
Elizabeth LEBOVICI
See this illustrated text on the website of the Archives of Women Artists, Research and Exhibitions
