Bruce Morser

I love a sharp pencil, 
the simplest tool but capable of creating so much. The vast majority of my work is basically drawing. From detailed technical illustrations to portraits to storybooks to large 3-dimensional installations, it’s all just a zillion-little-lines trying to organize themselves into a story. Even the photoreal paintings are just dry-brush drawings on canvas. I wouldn’t always call drawing fun, it’s challenging and admittedly lonely at times, but where it gets me is wonderful. Six of my major career areas are the focus of this show. Before I knew about different kinds of art, before I could really read, I was compelled as a 2^nd grader to create “The True Book of Vallcno” (yup, not much of a speller). Art, for me, was less about making pieces of art, but rather, more as a way to converse with people about what I saw in the world. I’d pour through encyclopedias to find drawings that explained what others saw. 

I have a passion for mechanical things and realized 50 years ago that I could make large canvases, which could then be animated with 3-dimensional components. This led to big fabricated installations covered with a drawn story, like the wood installation here at VCA.  Portraits and storybooks and scenes from months-long bicycle adventures are each their own kind of storytelling. But the majority of my 45-year career was as a freelance illustrator for countless magazines and corporations. “Go learn as much as you can about X, Y & Z, then make art about it so others can learn,” they would say.  “Really? You’re hiring me to do this?” This led to a wonderfully broad education that connected me with many of the mechanical things that originally inspired me to draw. It’s all about the conversations, the stories and ideas; my tool is a sharp pencil.

Bruce Morser