Sleight of Hand: Geoff Morten Show – thru March 4

Sleight of Hand: Geoff Morten Show – thru March 4

Painter, poet, surfer, magician — Geoff Morten died two years ago. mortenimage.jpgAn artist of uncommon daring, he left all of us who knew him both thrilled that he’d entered our lives, and angry that he left so soon. A prodigious intaglio artist, painter and innovator of mixed media, Morten explored the mysteries of his own journey through a body of work rich with metaphor, psychological paradox and astute observation.

His etchings belong in the rarified company of Morandi, Rembrandt and Goya. Of the boldly produced suites of monotypes, drawings and gesturally-compex oil paintings he made during his short life, two dozen works on paper will be on view for the next month at UCSC’s Porter Faculty Gallery, starting February 2 through March 5, 2011.

Trained in the British figurative tradition, Morten pushed through fashionable genres and created magic realist studies (more…)