Claire Morgan’s fragile hanging installations reflect her interest in natural processes and organic materials. In her works, the young artist (b. 1980 in Belfast, Northern Ireland) engages with the elemental conditions of man in his habitat and reveals the impossibility of grasping the complexity of life and death: “Exploring the physicality of animals, death, and illusions of permanence in the work is my way of trying to come to terms with these things myself.” Elegance and beauty, but also senselessness and horror, are present in her installations and drawings. Simultaneously poetic and vexing, they express the ambivalence of life.
Claire Morgan has had solo exhibitions in Belfast, London and Paris and has taken part in numerous international group exhibitions, including in 2009 at the Palais de Tokyo in Paris and in 2010 at the Museum of Arts and Design in New York. In 2004 she received the Annual Bursary Award from the British Society of Sculptors and the Royal British Society’s Roy Noakes Award, and in 2006 she was awarded the Premio Fondazione Amaldo Pomodoro by the Fondazione Pomodoro in Milan. In 2007 she won the Wooda Arts Award from Cornwall UK and in 2019 the Prix de Dessin 2019 of the Fondation Daniel et Florence Guerlain in France. Claire Morgan lives and works in Newcastle, England.
Claire Morgan in her studio in April 2020
© Claire Morgan and Galerie Karsten Greve
Publications
Exhibitions
Horniman Museum, London, UK
Galerie Karsten Greve AG, St. Moritz, Switzerland
La Maison Deyrolle, Paris, France
Galerie Karsten Greve, Cologne, Germany
Emsdettener Kunstverein, Emsdetten, Germany
Galerie Karsten Greve, Paris, France
Foundation Francès, Senlis, France
FRIST Center for the Visual Arts, Nashville, Tennessee, USA
Het Noordbrabants Museum, ‘s-Hertogenbosch, Netherlands
Musée Jean-Lurçat, Angers, France
Galerie Angela Berney Fine Arts, Basel, Switzerland, in collaboration with Galerie Karsten Greve AG, St. Moritz, Switzerland, and Galerie Meyer, Paris, France
Musée de la Chasse et de la Nature, Paris, France
Kunst-Station St. Peter, Cologne, Germany (in-situ-installation)
Osthaus Museum, Hagen, Germany; travelled to: Kunstsammlung Jena, Germany; Fondation Fernet Branca, Saint-Louis, France
Galerie Karsten Greve, Cologne, Germany
Musée Joseph-Denais, Beaufort-en-Vallée, France
Nässjö Konsthall, Sweden
Växjö Konsthall, Sweden
Helmshore Mills Textile Museum, Lancashire, UK
MAC - The Metropolitan Arts Centre, Belfast, Northern Ireland
Galerie Karsten Greve, Paris, France
Galerie Karsten Greve, Cologne, Germany
National Centre for Craft and Design, Sleaford, UK
Kunstverein Münsterland, Coesfeld, Germany
Centre for Recent Drawing, London, UK
Galerie Karsten Greve, Paris, France
The East Rooms, London, UK
ROLLO Contemporary Art (Gallery), London, UK
Selfridges, London, UK
Great Run Cultural Programm, The Laing Gallery, Newcastle, UK
James Hockey and Foyer Galleries, UCA – University for the Creative Arts, Surrey, UK
The Hospital Club, London, UK
Wooda Farm, Cornwall, UK
Persistence Work Studios – Yorkshire Artspace, Sheffield, UK
OMAC - Old Museum Arts Centre, Belfast, Northern Ireland
Grosvenor Chapel, Mayfair, London, UK
Lagan Lookout Visitors Centre, Belfast, Northern Ireland
Museum Schloss Moyland, Bedburg-Hau, Germany
Fondation Villa Datris, L'Isle-sur-la-Sorgue, France
Nice, France
Galerie Karsten Greve, Paris, France
Fondation Villa Datris, L’Isle-sur-la-Sorgue, France
Museum Sinclair-Haus, Bad Homburg, Germany
Galerie Karsten Greve, Paris, France
Château de Monbazillac, Monbazillac, France
MoCA Busan, Busan, South Korea
Artloft Gallery, Brussels, Belgium
Villa Bernasconi, Lancy, Switzerland
Galerie Karsten Greve, Paris, France
Galerie Robespierre, Grande-Synthe, France
Galerie Karsten Greve AG, St Moritz, Switzerland
Galerie Karsten Greve, Paris, France
Centre d’art contemporain de Meymac, France
Maison Guerlain, Paris, France
Biggs Museum of American Art, Dover, DE, USA
Boghossian Foundation, Villa Empain, Brussels, Belgium
Galerie Karsten Greve AG, St. Moritz, Switzerland
Galerie Karsten Greve, Cologne, Germany
Museum Schloss Homburg, Nümbrecht, Germany
Galerie Karsten Greve AG, St. Moritz, Switzerland
Galerie Karsten Greve, Cologne, Germany
The National Centre for Craft & Design, Lincolnshire, UK
National Biennale of Contemporary Sculpture, Trois-Rivières, Québec, Canada
Galerie Karsten Greve AG, St. Moritz, Switzerland
Verket Museum, Avesta, Sweden
Venus Energie AG, OÖ Kulturquartier, Linz, Switzerland
Galerie Karsten Greve AG, St. Moritz, Switzerland
ERES Stiftung, Munich, Germany
Fondazione Ghisla, Locarno, Switzerland
Fellbrigg Hall, Norwich, Norfolk, UK
Galerie Karsten Greve AG, St. Moritz, Switzerland
Galerie Karsten Greve, Cologne, Germany
Hall Place, Bourne Road, Bexley, Kent, UK
Château de Rue, Fribourg, Switzerland
Galerie Karsten Greve AG, St. Moritz, Switzerland
Tripostal, Lille, France
MONA – Museum of Old and New Art, Hobart, Tasmania, Australia
Hyatt Regency London – The Churchill, London, UK
Museum Sinclair-Haus, Bad Homburg, Germany
Musée des Années 30, Boulogne-Billancourt, France
The Last Tuesday Society, London, UK
Villa Olmo, Como, Italy
Ormeau Baths Gallery, Belfast, Northern Ireland
Golden Thread Gallery, Belfast, Northern Ireland
EX3 Centro per l’Arte Contemporanea, Florence, Italy
Towner Gallery, Eastbourne, UK
Château d'Oiron, Oiron, France
MONA – Museum of Old and New Art, Hobart, Tasmania, Australia
Rivera and Rivera Gallery, West Hollywood, Los Angeles, CA, USA
Galerie Karsten Greve, Paris, France
Osthaus Museum, Hagen, Germany
La Conciergerie, Paris, France
Museum of Arts and Design, New York, USA
La Casa Encendida, Madrid, Spain
SW1 Gallery, London, UK
21 Hoxton Square, London, UK
Fondation Francès, Senlis, France
Espace d’Art Contemporain La Tôlerie, Clermont Ferrand, France
Town Hall Hotel, London, UK
Portobello Wall, London, UK
The Big Chill Festival 2009, Herefordshire, UK
Assembly Square, Cardiff Bay, UK
Palais de Tokyo, Paris, France
Gallery North, Newcastle upon Tyne, UK
ROLLO Contemporary Art, London, UK
Ormeau Bath Gallery, Belfast, Northern Ireland
Royal British Society of Sculptors, London, UK
Galerie Karsten Greve, Paris, France
Ierimonti Gallery, Milan, Italy
Sheffield Millennium Galleries, Sheffield, UK
HLC, Telford, UK
The Gallery @ Adventure Ecology, London, UK
Cardiff University Optometry Department, Cardiff, Wales, UK
Jerwood Space, London, UK
Church of San Francesco, Arte & Arte, Como, Italy
Pia Getty, London, UK
Glasgow’s International Festival of Light, Glasgow, Scotland
The Guardian Gallery in association with Saatchi Gallery, London, UK
Shrewsbury Museum and Art Gallery, Shropshire, UK
National Trust, Northumberland, UK
Prize for Young Sculptors, Fondazione Pomodoro, Milan, Italy
Temporary Address, Blyth, Northumberland, UK
Bristol Broadmeads, UK
Tynemouth Station, Tyne and Wear, UK
Whitstable Harbour, Canterbury Council, Whitstable, UK
Bolwick Hall, Norfolk, UK
Hardcastle Crags, Yorkshire, UK
Sainsbury Centre for Visual Arts, Norwich, UK
RBS Gallery, 108 Centre, London, UK
Hatton Gallery, Newcastle upon Tyne, UK
Shrewsbury Advisory Service for Climate Change, UK
Westonbirt Festival of the Garden 2004, UK
Grainger Market, Art in the Market, Newcastle upon Tyne, UK
University Gallery, Newcastle upon Tyne, UK
Shrewsbury Art Gallery, Shropshire, UK
Kloster Bentlage, Rheine, Germany