I first came across the piece above a few months ago when trolling WordPress for fellow bloggers’ work. I saved the photo, but I neglected to note where I found it or the identity of the artist (or the blogger). Although it was lovely, because the figure was nude and kind of dishy, I assumed the rest of the artist’s work would not be to my liking. I expected something along the lines of adult-themed anime, and I thought that even if the execution was beautiful, it wasn’t right for the blog. Then months later, I stumbled across the image again when cleaning out my WordPress folder, and this time it stuck. I tried to ignore it, but I just couldn’t. I discovered the artist was John Morris, a Britain-born sculptor who grew up in Australia and worked as a graphic designer until he found sculpture as his true calling.

Okay, yes, there are a lot of naked ladies. And sure, they are all uniformly beautiful and their figures are, shall we say, unrealistic. While there are male subjects, too, they are rough and clodish and seem only partially formed. And nearly all the males appear broken-hearted (he calls the series “Hole Hearted”). In fact, they look disconcertingly like they’re from a different sculptor entirely. Viewed alone, the female figures seem idealistic and exotic, when taken alongside the male figures, it all starts to tell a very different story than I was expecting.

There’s just something about Morris’s work that won’t let me pass him by. Maybe it’s the way he uses negative space like I’ve never seen before. Maybe it’s his obvious issues with women and relationships that make his work so memorable. Or maybe the wings got me. Whatever it was, I’m glad I gave him another chance. I have to try and resist the urge to skip over artists whose work doesn’t strike exactly the right chord. Makes me worry about how many I may have skipped over.

All images are the property of John Morris.