Ikon presents a major solo exhibition by British artist Mali Morris. Calling includes nearly 30 works from the last 25 years and documents a notable change in Morris’ artistic practice from the late 1990s when she considered new painterly directions. Morris’s first solo exhibition was held at Ikon Gallery, John Bright Street, in 1979 and she now returns to Ikon, Brindleyplace, in 2023 to transform the gallery’s spaces into fields of colour and light.

Mali Morris has been exploring the possibilities of abstract painting for over 50 years. Her recent paintings create visual arenas, where colour moves through space and space moves through colour. Glowing circles call to each other through painted structures that are both fluid and geometric. Opacity and translucency are important, as are the ways the touch of a brush or other implements can open up a painting’s virtual depth. Freedom, ease, pleasure and wit co-exist with rigour and decisiveness.

In 2022 Mali Morris was commissioned to design a group of thirty-three banners to hang above London’s Bond Street. Morris has donated a number of these Banners to Ikon, to display on the front exterior of the gallery during her exhibition and off-site at regional art schools to raise awareness of art education. The motif explored in Morris’ banners relate to her painting on canvas, Rain In Durango II (2015), included in Ikon’s exhibition.

Calling is curated by independent curator and writer Sam Cornish, author of the monograph Mali Morris: Painting. Published by the Royal Academy (2019), with a foreword by Mel Gooding, art critic, writer and curator. Available at Ikon Shop and online.

The launch for Mali Morris’ exhibition is supported by Ergo Real Estate