John Morse was born in New Jersey, but rural northern Florida became his home when his family moved there when he was a toddler. He showed an early childhood interest in art and attended oil painting classes from age 11 to 15. He soon earned commissions painting portraits, landscapes and murals. At 15 he began painting billboards.
At 16, he left home and moved to the Oregon coast where he concentrated on poster arts and murals, particularly super-graphics. With the exception of two years of high school art class, he received no further formal art training.
In 1981, he moved to Barcelona where he initially painted watercolors of local attractions, selling paintings to passersby. When funds for materials became tight, he often created collages using found papers, usually litter. He was soon hired as art director at Diagonal, a monthly art and culture magazine of Spain. While in Barcelona, he and fellow expatriate Brice Hammack formed Chi-Perro Studios, which created handcrafted works of wearable art and jewelry from disposable plastic, including trash bags, grocery sacks and plastic wrap.
In 1982, Morse returned to America, arriving for the first time in New York City. Within weeks he had made it his new home. From 1984 to 1988, he produced A-R-T, a silent, 30-minute, weekly program on Manhattan Public Access Television that used the TV screen as a canvas to present images intended to convert the television into a constantly evolving sculpture. His collages were first displayed in New York galleries in 1986.
Also in 1986, he was invited to serve on the inaugural board of directors of Socrates Sculpture Park, a five-acre park on the banks of the East River in New York City dedicated to the exhibition of monumental sculpture. He served on the board as one of three artist members for 15 years.
His collage, drawings, watercolors, sculptures and installations have been exhibited at a wide variety of venues including Socrates Sculpture Park; Kentler International Drawing Space, Brooklyn; Islip Art Museum, Islip, New York; Silas Marder Gallery, Bridgehampton, New York; Wm Turner gallery, Atlanta; Match Fine Print, New York City; as well as several galleries in New York and across the United States. His work is in the private collections of, among others, sculptor Mark di Suvero; New York Commissioner of Cultural Affairs Kate Levin; New York Commissioner of Transportation Janette Sadik-Khan; installation artist and sculptor Eve Sussman; Elizabeth Gilbert, author of Eat, Pray, Love; and Jacques d’Amboise, founder of the National Dance Institute.
Along with their apartment in Manhattan’s East Village, he and his partner, Ross Pedersen, also have a home in Atlanta.
SCOOP Studios Contemporary Art | 57 1/2 Broad St. Charleston, SC 29401 | p. 843.577.3292 |
Tuesday - Saturday 10am - 5pm, Sunday and Monday by appointment
John Morse was born in New Jersey, but rural northern Florida became his home when his family moved there when he was a toddler. He showed an early childhood interest in art and attended oil painting classes from age 11 to 15. He soon earned commissions painting portraits, landscapes and murals. At 15 he began painting billboards.