GEORGE MORL
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Symptomology of a Basildon Boy
2018
WORK
Symptomology of a Basildon Boy
DATE
2018
MEDIUM
Acrylic, protein powder, flavourings, polyvinyl, ink, glitter, collage varnish, vinyl
DIMENSIONS
170 x 130 cm (displayed on ceramic tiles)
COLLECTION
Southend Museums
Symptomology of a Basildon Boy
DATE
2018
MEDIUM
Acrylic, protein powder, flavourings, polyvinyl, ink, glitter, collage varnish, vinyl
DIMENSIONS
170 x 130 cm (displayed on ceramic tiles)
COLLECTION
Southend Museums
︎ Summary
"Symptomology of a Basildon Boy, 2018, explores the relationship between post-industrialism, queerness, and the performative nature of masculinity portrayed via social media. Through observing rituals and performances online for body-enhancing undertaken by men from fasting, water loss, steroids, exercise videos, filters, the figure is painted in body enhancing supplements as well as flavourings. Each pigment section is designed to separate and crack like stained glass windows or deterioration of historical paintings, revealing the wounded psychology of the individual beneath, and the elementary fragments structurally referencing the brutalist architecture found within Essex, notably Basildon.
Referencing both folklore art and craftwork witnessed at the ‘British Folk Art’ exhibition at Tate Britain and ‘Radical Craft’ at Southend Museums; examples produced by soldiers in prisons or hospitals, from decoupage involving buttons and collage, to quiltwork made from uniform scraps. The surface of my paintings are decorated with collages of boxing iconography, dolls, portraits of children throughout art history, as well as pressed flowers and military coins referencing the act of women offering flowers to wounded soldiers over the balconies in Queen Mary's Hospital in Southend in WW1 which became a convalescent home. Together, these question the gender roles and restricting ways these place upon emotional vulnerability. In the same way my practice spawned from engagements with art and therapeutic practices in medical settings during youth, to psychotherapy in adolescence, often my works examines the remits between trauma and recovery, art and science, where the art object becomes the channel. Ultimately a network of mutual understanding."
︎ Further Reading
George Morl, Communal Cherub Acapellas, Gay Times, 30 June 2020
George Morl, LGBT+ Pride & Neurodivergence, Southend Museums, 03 July 2020
︎ Exhibitions
Precious Boys, Southend Museums, 14 July - 08 September 2018
︎ Assosiated Awards
Darren Henley Scholarship, 2016