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Lot Essay
‘I like the idea of a happy thing being embodied as an object’ (Annie Morris)
Towering two metres tall, Bronze Stack 9, Copper Blue (2015) is a kaleidoscopic, early example of Annie Morris’ celebrated ‘Stack’ series, first begun only the year prior and now emblematic of her practice. These sculptures are named systematically for the number of components from which each is formed, and the particular, pure colour of its uppermost element. In the present work, nine orbs in shades of graphite, viridian green, violet, ochre, cadmium red and the titular copper blue soar skywards. While many of Morris’ ‘Stacks’ are executed in plaster and raw pigment, the present work is a spectacular cast bronze example. The soft undulations of its glossy contours catch and reflect surrounding light to produce a dazzling, animate surface. In 2023 a monumental bronze ‘Stack’ was commissioned by the Hepworth Wakefield, which is permanently installed at the West Yorkshire History Centre.
Morris is a compulsive draughtsman, and each ‘Stack’ begins with a sketch, often in watercolour on paper. Intuitively testing compositions and combinations of colour, the artist has recalled looking for inspiration in paint shops, pulling out and sorting through drawer after paint-filled drawer. She plays particularly with scale, revelling in the seeming impossibility of each work which appears to balance in defiance of gravity. The patina of each work is integral: ‘For me it’s really all about the surface,’ explains Morris (A. Morris quoted in D. Trigg, ‘Annie Morris—interview’, Studio International, 28 September 2021). Seeking to maintain the vibrancy of raw pigment used in her foam sculptures, for cast bronze works such as the present Morris has devised a careful process of colour application which involves burning natural sulphates and nitrates onto the surface of each sculpture. Like an enchanted, prismatic forest, dozens of ‘Stacks’ fill the artist’s studio, their moulded contours and gentle tilts forwards and backwards imbuing each sculpture with an animate, totemic presence.
Morris began working on this series in 2014, during a period of intense grief following the stillbirth of her first child. Despite these sombre origins they are hopeful, defiant works. In their radiance they assert humanity’s essential strength and anticipate the joy which will ultimately—one day—follow loss. With its striking vertical structure, Bronze Stack 9, Copper Blue appears ever on the verge of toppling, yet is held in perpetual balance, evocative of the intrinsic precarity of life, and the tenuous line between joy and grief which underlies all human experience. ‘Everybody experiences tragedy at some point in their life and for me these Stack pieces are all about what happens afterwards,’ says Morris; ‘they have a hopeful quality to them I think, that’s what I want them to have’ (A. Morris, ibid). With shimmering chromatic brilliance, Bronze Stack 9, Copper Blue captures the breadth and depth of human emotion and reminds us of life’s ultimate beauty.
Towering two metres tall, Bronze Stack 9, Copper Blue (2015) is a kaleidoscopic, early example of Annie Morris’ celebrated ‘Stack’ series, first begun only the year prior and now emblematic of her practice. These sculptures are named systematically for the number of components from which each is formed, and the particular, pure colour of its uppermost element. In the present work, nine orbs in shades of graphite, viridian green, violet, ochre, cadmium red and the titular copper blue soar skywards. While many of Morris’ ‘Stacks’ are executed in plaster and raw pigment, the present work is a spectacular cast bronze example. The soft undulations of its glossy contours catch and reflect surrounding light to produce a dazzling, animate surface. In 2023 a monumental bronze ‘Stack’ was commissioned by the Hepworth Wakefield, which is permanently installed at the West Yorkshire History Centre.
Morris is a compulsive draughtsman, and each ‘Stack’ begins with a sketch, often in watercolour on paper. Intuitively testing compositions and combinations of colour, the artist has recalled looking for inspiration in paint shops, pulling out and sorting through drawer after paint-filled drawer. She plays particularly with scale, revelling in the seeming impossibility of each work which appears to balance in defiance of gravity. The patina of each work is integral: ‘For me it’s really all about the surface,’ explains Morris (A. Morris quoted in D. Trigg, ‘Annie Morris—interview’, Studio International, 28 September 2021). Seeking to maintain the vibrancy of raw pigment used in her foam sculptures, for cast bronze works such as the present Morris has devised a careful process of colour application which involves burning natural sulphates and nitrates onto the surface of each sculpture. Like an enchanted, prismatic forest, dozens of ‘Stacks’ fill the artist’s studio, their moulded contours and gentle tilts forwards and backwards imbuing each sculpture with an animate, totemic presence.
Morris began working on this series in 2014, during a period of intense grief following the stillbirth of her first child. Despite these sombre origins they are hopeful, defiant works. In their radiance they assert humanity’s essential strength and anticipate the joy which will ultimately—one day—follow loss. With its striking vertical structure, Bronze Stack 9, Copper Blue appears ever on the verge of toppling, yet is held in perpetual balance, evocative of the intrinsic precarity of life, and the tenuous line between joy and grief which underlies all human experience. ‘Everybody experiences tragedy at some point in their life and for me these Stack pieces are all about what happens afterwards,’ says Morris; ‘they have a hopeful quality to them I think, that’s what I want them to have’ (A. Morris, ibid). With shimmering chromatic brilliance, Bronze Stack 9, Copper Blue captures the breadth and depth of human emotion and reminds us of life’s ultimate beauty.