Abelardo Morell: Playing
Curated by Allie Tepper

Abelardo Morell: Playing presents a selection of old and recent works by the Havana-born photographer, and former resident of the Upper West Side, Abelardo Morell. The exhibition celebrates the artist’s magical explorations of the film camera, which he has used to observe, and enliven, primary materials and scenes of everyday life. Many of Morell’s photographs, including those in Playing, were created within the confined space of the artists’ home: a dreamlike interior, where his personal and creative lives collide. The exhibition includes early black-and-white images, produced in the late ’80s and early ’90s, when the artist had recently become a father. While caring for his two children, Morell’s images were imbued with intimacy and emotion, marking a pivotal shift in the artist’s perception. The artist began positioning his camera on the ground, and looking closely at rooms and objects through the vantage points of his children. Blocks of toys hovered suddenly like a tower, an open dictionary shapeshifted into an undulating wave. Continuing in this spirit, Morell’s later works energize the classical genre of the still life. By experimenting with camera exposure times, and with light, motion, color, and scale, Morell envisions—and records—emergent realities. In the artist’s eye, materials such as books, money, vessels, and wooden blocks, become objects of enchantment and play.

ABOUT THE ARTIST

Abelardo Morell was born in Havana, Cuba in 1948. He immigrated as an exile to the United States with his parents and sister in 1962, finally settling in New York City.  

Morell received an undergraduate degree from Bowdoin College and an MFA from The Yale University School of Art.

He has received a number of awards and grants, which include a Guggenheim fellowship in 1994 an Infinity Award in Art from ICP in 2011 and in 2017, a Lucie Award for achievement in fine art. He has also received Honorary Degrees from Bowdoin College and Lesley University

He was professor of Art at the Massachusetts College of Art in Boston from 1983 to 2010.

His work has been collected and shown in many galleries, institutions and museums in the US and Abroad including the Museum of Modern Art, The Whitney Museum of American Art, the Metropolitan Art Museum in New York, The Chicago Art Institute Institute, The San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, The Victoria and Albert Museum in London and others

A retrospective of his work was organized jointly by the Art Institute of Chicago, The Getty in Los Angeles and The High Museum in Atlanta closing in May 2014. Most recently, his work was included in the traveling exhibition Ansel Adams in Our Time, organized by the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston.

He is married to Lisa McElaney, a filmmaker and therapist. Their son, Brady Morell, is a screenwriter and their daughter, Laura Morell is a video editor.