1933 born in Long Beach, CA, US
lives and works in San Diego, CA, US

With his uncompromising formal expression and his particular interest in occidental painting, Richard Allen Morris is one of the most influential »artist artist«. His friend and colleague John Baldessari even compared him to Henri Rousseau («He is like what Rousseau was to other painters in Paris...»). Ever since the sixties Richard Allen Morris tests different medias in painting. He puts the picture on the edge of object and relief and with humor and irony he oscillates between concreteness and abstraction. At the beginnings of his career he intensely studied works by Giotto, Toulouse-Lautrec, Daumier, and Kirchner and thereof derived a painterly dialog with the classical motif by a radically reducing the formal means. The series of «Head» works, created at the end of the 1960s, mainly helped to establish his late publicity.

Solo Exhibitions (Selection)

2021 «Multiple Identities», Häusler Contemporary Zürich, CH
2019 «More like a Forest: Paintings and Sculptures by Richard Allen Morris», Museum of Contemporary Art, San Diego, US
2013 «Quick Draw», R.B. Stevenson Gallery, La Jolla, US
2010 «Boxer», Häusler Contemporary Zürich, CH
«Patch & Paint», R. B. Stevenson Gallery, La Jolla, US
2009 «Painted!», Daros Exhibitions, Zürich, CH
«Morris Code - Works from 1957-2007», Peter Blum Gallery, Chelsea, New York, US
2008 «Painter's Room», Häusler Contemporary München, DE
2007 «Crossing Edges», Häusler Contemporary Zürich, CH
2006 «Richard Allen Morris – Bilder für München», Häusler Contemporary München, DE
2005 Richard Allen Morris Retrospective 1958-2005, Museum of Contemporary Art, San Diego, US
2004 Richard Allen Morris Retrospective 1958-2004, Museum Haus Lange, Krefeld, DE
«Richard Allen Morris», QUE Art Foundation, New York, US
1997 «Almost an Apple», Mesa College Art Gallery, San Diego, US
1988 Richard Allen Morris, Mandeville Gallery, University of California, San Diego, US
«Sculpture», La Jolla Museum of Contemporary Art, La Jolla, US
1984 «439 Works 1958-1984», Santa Barbara Contemporary Art Forum, US
1980 «Recent Works», Southwestern College Art Gallery, Chula Vista, US
1978 «Recent Works», University of California Santa Barbara, US
1970 «Sculpture», California Institute of Arts, Los Angeles, US
1960 Richard Allen Morris, Art Center in La Jolla, US
«40th National Exhibition», Los Angeles, US

Group Exhibitions (Selection)

2018 «And the Stars look very different today», Häusler Contemporary Zürich, CH
2016 Richard Allen Morris | David Reed «From the Studio», Häusler Contemporary München, DE
2015 «IN THE ABSTRACT: Midcentury San Diego Painting and Sculpture», Oceanside Museum of Art, Oceanside, US
«Verkehrte Welt», Häusler Contemporary Zürich, CH
2014 «Sie griff in den Tomatensalat und schob sich ein Stück Rot in den Mund», Häusler Contemporary München, DE
«Spitting in the Wind: Art From the End of the Line», Oceanside Museum of Art, US
2013 «My kind of Disneyland», Märkisches Museum Witten, DE
«Sweet Home – Reloaded», Häusler Contemporary München, DE
«Sweet Home», Häusler Contemporary München, DE
«Spectra», SDSU Downtown Gallery San Diego, US
2012 «Trip», Häusler Contemporary München, DE «California Abstract Painting, 1952 to 2011», curated by James Hayward, Woodbury University Nan Rae Art Gallery, Burbank, US
2011 «A Collection with Stature», Heinz and Marianne Ebers Foundtation, Museum Haus Lange, Krefeld, DE
2009 «Three Decades of Contemporary Art», California Center for the Arts Museum, Escondido, US
2008 Galerie Schmidt Maczollek, Köln, DE
2007 »Blue Chips & Masterpieces», MMK Museum für Moderne Kunst, Frankfurt, DE 1965
«Gun Room 56 Works», Art Center in La Jolla, US
1960 Richard Allen Morris, Art Center in La Jolla, US
«40th National Exhibition», Los Angeles County Museum, US

Collections (Selection)

Daros Collection, Zürich, CH
Long Beach Museum of Art, Long Beach, US
Museum of Contemporary Art, San Diego, US
Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles, US
Museum Haus Lange, Krefeld, DE
MMK | Museum für Moderne Kunst, Frankfurt, DE
Museum St. Gallen, St. Gallen, CH
San Diego Museum of Art, San Diego, US