paris - Morrison Polkinghorne

Australian artist Morrison Polkinghorne’s latest series of artwork is exhibited at Galleria Lee. Entitled “Cambodia Off the Beaten Tracks”, the exhibition covers the local artist’s seven years living in that Southeast Asian country before returning to his homeland iAustralia earlier this year. The exhibition s jointly hosted by Batia Sarem gallery in Siem Reap Cambodia.

During Morrison’s eight year sojourn in the kingdom, he while living in Cambodia Morrison developed his artwork and technique, mastering ink making using local distillations, which he uses to craft his drawings. In Cambodia his ink derives from lotus flowers, ever plentiful in the kingdom and symbolic of Buddhism — Sacred Ink so to speak. Likewise, in the Mallee, Morrison uses local flowers, barks and soils to paint his pieces.

While the local artist’s Aussie works focus on monochromatic landscapes, his pieces also incorporate aspects Chinese and Japanese calligraphy. Likewise, his current Paris works exhibit a form of Pointillism, pressing lotus stalks into the ink then onto paper, creating visual impressions filling a page with its markings. Fittingly, Morrison, who originally hails from outback Australia, incorporates elements reminiscent of Aboriginal dot paintings. A single work may total up to 20, 000 impressions.

Morrison’s love of handmade items remain his forte, as he was previously known for artisan passementeries decorative arts, hand-trimmings and tassels. His textiles grace Kirribilli House and Vaucluse House in Sydney, and other Historic Homes in the country.

Likewise, numerology has an important element in his art. Having a background in weaving, Morrison taught himself to repetitively count. Any weaver knows the importance of tallying the number threads and the amount of times the shuttles passing through warp. Consequently, each and every artwork records the actual number of impressions on each. This Paris exhibition has a grand total 23,930 lotus impressions.

Morrison recently left Cambodia for his native Australia due to Covid, and is now renovating a the former St John’s Anglican church in Murrayville for both home and studio.

Morrison’s art is holistic and regenerative, while his message is universal.

Three River Delta #7

By Morrison Polkinghorne
4103 lotus impressions
making my total count 506,781 impressions
101 x 120.5 cm

Three River Delta is a recurring theme in my River Series and this particular piece is my seventh variation. After completing the first version several years ago, I misplaced it for months. Before finding it again (rolled up in a “safe space”) I painted it a second time based on a photograph. It had different counts and was a totally different size. Only after recreating a reproduction, did I find the original work again. I have returned to this theme seven times.

Fleuve ២

By Morrison Polkinghorne
1070 lotus impressions
making my total count 493,145 impressions
framed: 48.5 x 68.5 cm

Waterways are the lifeblood of Cambodia. A river flows from a great lake, traversing the land, filling paddies and fields and bringing verdant life to earth. I’ve been playing with slightly thicker, darker lines in my work here, as you can especially see on the bottom of this painting. I like the intensity of the ink.

Fleuve ១

By Morrison Polkinghorne
1320 lotus impressions
making my total count 492,075 impressions
48.5 x 68.5 cm

The cover of my book, “Lotus Art – Sacred Ink” reproduces a similar piece. I was so pleased with this, that it inspired me to create my river series of Lotus art.