Sarah Morris – Midtown – Viacom

Sarah Morris’ Midtown – Viacom (2007) is a bold screenprint that captures the visual rhythm of New York’s corporate architecture through a grid of vivid color blocks. With its sharp geometric forms and high-contrast palette of red, blue, green, and black, the work echoes the reflective surfaces and dynamic façades of Midtown skyscrapers. Part of a limited edition commissioned by the Stedelijk Museum, the print exemplifies Morris’s interest in the coded aesthetics of power and urban identity.

Sarah Morris, an abstract painter and filmmaker, explores the interconnectedness of her mediums, describing painting and filmmaking as “two sides of the same coin.” Her artworks, particularly noted for their geometric abstraction, delve into the complexities of modern urban life. Morris is renowned for her series of paintings and prints that draw inspiration from major cities like New York, Los Angeles, London, and Beijing. These works meticulously capture the architectural essence of each city through a distinctive grid technique, employing household gloss paint on square canvases. Her approach to abstract art involves the use of muted pastel tones, sharply delineated by white outlines, which she aligns with the unique history and character of each city. This method not only reflects the structural and cultural facets of these urban landscapes but also attempts to unveil their intrinsic identities. Sarah Morris’s artwork, which includes fine art prints, often resonates with viewers through their vivid portrayal of city dynamics, rendered through a lens of color and form that links directly to her filmmaking. This dual practice enriches her exploration of space and perception, making her a significant figure in contemporary art. Her artworks invite audiences to experience a visual language that captures and reinterprets the pulse and rhythm of urban environments through the medium of geometric abstraction. Solo exhibitions of Morris’s work have been held by the Philadelphia Museum of Art (2000) and Kunsthalle Zürich (2000), by Hamburger Bahnhof in Berlin (2001), by Wahington D.C.’s Hirshhorn Museum (2002), by the Whitechapel Gallery in London (2007), by the Fondation Louis Vuitton in Paris (2014),  Kunsthalle Wien (2016–17) and Deichtorhallen in Hamburg (2023). Sarah Morris was born 1967 in Kent (UK) and lives and works in London and New York.