Morgan Dowdall
Age: 26
Location: Cardiff
Education: Cardiff School of Art and Design (BA Hons Ceramics)
Biography
Morgan Dowdall is an artist born in South Wales and based in Cardiff. As a recent graduate of BA (hons) Ceramics at Cardiff School of Art & Design he predominantly works with clay, however Morgan’s artistic practice explores all facets of visual art, ranging from: sculpture, applied arts, surface design to installation. Through these, he explores queer aesthetics and the representation of the male body throughout art history. His work is often playful but is nevertheless serious in its attempt to subvert the traditions that come with portraying the naked male figure.
Submitted work
Title: Domestic Bodies
About the work
‘Domestic Bodies’: Through hand-building, clay mimics skin. Pinched, pressed and grafted together, the bodily qualities within Morgan’s sculptures are emphasised through the impressions left by his own hairs and fingerprints as well as the natural twisting, folding and buckling of the clay under its own weight. Placed in a domestic setting amongst ‘stage props’, they speak to the notion of intimacy - the interactions between bodies and objects, occasionally merging to form ‘body-objects’ such as hairy and bruised columns. The sculptures are informed by the conflicted feelings that come with inhabiting a body, exhibiting a jarring in-between of flesh and bone. Exquisite yet grotesque.
