Regional Work #2

1976

Ree Morton’s series of twelve two-part seascape paintings was executed in San Diego in 1976. These deliberately romantic works are sensory impressions of seaside sunsets, and Morton zooms into ocean depths to depict fish in a naturally sublime palette. These wry updates to the storied art-historical theme of the sea are framed by Morton’s groundbreaking use of Celastic to represent billowing curtains. A plastic-composite fabric, when dampened Celastic can be shaped and formed—but quickly, and with significant resistance. Morton relished the challenge of working with a material that was not passive but required work and process, and thereby challenged dominant ways of making paintings.