Morgan Betz grapples with the boundaries between reality and fiction. From them, he investigates what new compositions can be made from his collected fragments of the everyday. Recognizable images such as breasts, garden fences, and fish may look innocent and funny, yet they evoke puns and paradoxes that represent grim scenes. The graphic images are sophisticated yet playful, searching for the balance between formal organization and spontaneity.
Betz mediates reality through constructed images and forms in such a way that they get stuck between multiple meanings. A reluctant participant reality, he constantly recomposes materials and images to produce new comments on how the self is in a constant flux between perception and imagination. Originally a series, now each drawing work stands alone, some images are familiar players in his visual language, while others are a nod to artists like Guston, Picasso or Matisse. Betz has combined drawing with other devices, to create a reciprocal relationship between works on paper, paintings, and collages. Images created on paper and end up deconstructed on canvas. Large stencils are cut out to shapes, painted and directly applied to the canvas. The very stencils used to make up these images are reconfigured and used in collages. His process searches for the right balance between directness, construction, and the tension of a planned outcome.