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“Cole Morgan“...he finds eloquence in the most banal minutiae which he then fashions into wildly incongruous cross-cultural associations. In the vernacular of Morgan’s canvases, triangles, pyramids and balls happliy co-exist with zulu shields, planets and dervishes. Not that he sets out to plan these things. he speaks of being “taken”by these objects, adding that “when I’m done ‘exploring’ them, a new one presents itself.”

Cole Morgan’s self-contained, abstract paintings confront our perceptions of reality. It is as if he’s sending us a message: If we look beyond accepted notions of form and function, we might discover a parallel reality amidst the familiar. Morgan’s primary goal is to direct, but never to guide us through constant discovery in his paintings. The tools he employs to “conduct” our eye are as likely to be drawn from classical principles of painting as from the vernacular of the mundane. The cross element or triangle construction, a style derived from 17th-century religious tableaux of the Holy Trinity, provides spatial division in his compositions as he re-configures shapes and objects to a new purpose. But if Morgan ascribes to any religion, it would be the one of “Order”, in which composition is distilled to its barest minimum, where “shapes, textures and colors are refined and concentrated to their most visually descriptive elements. Every square millimeter of canvas is controlled.”

For anyone in search of meaning, Morgan’s obscure notes to himself and primal scratchings are fool’s gold, since value is wholly subjective. Indeed, meaning is an afterthought, because in spite of all the tease, all the titillation of controlled form and classic proportions to direct our gaze, the tour on which this artist takes us is nothing but an elaborate ruse designed to free our imagination. All the self-important scribbles are just that, and meaning lies, as it did for the Dadaists, only in what we make of Morgan’s clues to the trail of our subconscious.

1950 Born New York, USA. Currently works/lives Antwerp Belgium

Selected Exhibits: 2009 - Los Angeles Art Show, Caldwell Snyder Gallery. 2008 - Campton Gallery, New York NY; Red Dot Art Fair, Miami FL, Caldwell Snyder Gallery. 2007 - Caldwell Snyder Gallery, San Francisco, CA Ludwig Museum, Koblenz, Germany; CIGE, Beijing, China; Korea International Art Fair. 2006 - TEFAF Maastricht, Galerie Mi a Joosten, Amsterdam, The Netherlands; Art Milan, Milan, Kashya Hildebrand, Zurich, Switzerland; Museum Laerken, Nykobing Falster, Denmark; Oisterwijk Sculpture 2006, Etienne & Van Loon Contemorary Fine Art, Oisterwijk, the Netherlands; Art Cologne, Galerie Jorg Hasenbach, Antwerp, Belgium, Capetown, South Africa; Robert Sandelson Gallery London, England, England via Kashya Hildebrand Gallery, New York USA. 2005 - TEFAF Maastricht, Galerie Mia Joosten, Amsterdam, The Netherlands; Art Fair Den Bosch, Galerie Husstege, Den Bosch, The Netherlands; KUNST RAI, Amsterdam, Galerie Contempo, Rotterdam, The Netherlands; Oisterwijk Sculpture 2005, Etienne & Van Loon Contemporary Fine Art, Oisterwijk,, The Netherlands; Art Cologne, Galerie Jorg Hasenbach, Antwerp, Belgium; Kashya Hildebrand, Zurich, Switzerland; Caldwell Snyder Gallery, San Francisco, USA; Toronto International Artfair 2005, Gallery Jones, Vancouver, Canada. 2004 - San Francisco International Art Exposition, Caldwell Snyder Galleries, San Francisco, New York, USA; ART ROTTERDAM, , Galerie Contempo, Rotterdam, The Netherlands; TEFAF Maastricht, Galeria Mia Joosten, Amsterdam, The Netherlands; NATIONAL GLASS MUSEUM LEEDERDAM, The Netherlands; PAN Amsterdam, Galerie Hüsstege, Den Bosch, The Netherlands; Galerie Laerkin, Nykobing Falster, Denmark; Galerie Protee, Paris France. 2003 - San Francisco International Art Exposition, Caldwell Snyder Galleries, San Francisco, New York, USA; Buschlen Mowatt Galleries, Palm Dessert, California, USA; ART ROTTERDAM, , Galerie Contempo, Rotterdam, The Netherlands; TEFAF Maastricht, Galeria Mia Joosten, Amsterdam, The Netherlands; KUNST 2003 ZURICH, Galerie Leupi, Nottwil-Zurich, Ascona, Switzerland; KUNST KÖLN 2003, Galerie Leupi, Nottwil-Zurich, Ascona, Switzerland; Buschlen Mowatt Galleries, Vancouver, Canada; STANDSMUSEUM ZOETERMEER, Zoetermeer, The Netherlands; Gail Severn Gallery, Ketchum, Idaho, USA; ART PARIS, Galerie Protee, Paris, France; TORONTO INTERNATIONAL ART FAIR, Buschlen Mowatt Galleries, Vancouver, Canada; ART COLOGNE, Caldwell Snyder Galleries, San Francisco, New York, USA; Caldwell Snyder Galleries, San Francisco, New York, USA; PAN Amsterdam, Galerie Hüsstege, Den Bosch, The Netherlands. 2002 - ART MIAMI, Caldwell Snyder Galleries, San Francisco, New York, USA; San Francisco International Art Exposition, Caldwell Snyder Galleries, San Francisco, New York, USA; ART ROTTERDAM, Galerie Contempo, Rotterdam, The Netherlands; TEFAF , Maastricht, Galeria Mia Joosten, Amsterdam, The Netherlands; KUNST 2002 ZURICH, Galerie Leupi, Zofingen, Switzerland; KUNSTRAL ART AMSTERDAM, Galerie Contempo, Rotterdam, The Netherlands; ART CHICAGO, Caldwell Snyder Galleries, San Francisco, New York, USA; Galerie Guy Pieters, St. Martens – Latern, Belgium; Gail Severn Gallery, Ketchum, Idaho, USA; Caldwell Snyder Galleries, San Francisco, New York, USA; PAN Amsterdam, Galerie Hüsstege, Den Bosch, The Netherlands; TORONTO INTERNATIONAL ART FAIR, Buschlen Mowatt Galleries, Vancouver, Canada; ART VIENNA, Galerie Leupi, Zofingen & Ascona, Switzerland; Galerie Hüsstege, Den Bosch, The Netherlands.

Education: 1971 BFA University of New Mexico. 1972-72 Santa Reparata, Centro d’ Arte Graffico, Florence Italy. 1973 – 74 De Vrije Akademie, The Hague, The Netherlands. 1974 – 75 Taught painting and drawing – York Road School, Dun Loaghaire, Dublin Ireland.