Barcelona Cathedral as a Blood Red Orange 1986

Editor: Whoa! It’s almost violent, but… somehow ecstatic. Like a city dissolving in sunset sherbet. Curator: We're looking at Malcolm Morley's "Barcelona Cathedral as a Blood Red Orange," an acrylic on canvas he created in 1986. Morley was a significant figure in Neo-Expressionism, an art movement deeply entwined with exploring psychological states. Editor: Definitely getting some twisted fairy tale vibes, maybe a Grimm’s cityscape? The cathedral itself is jagged, alive, almost screaming. I like how the colours refuse to be neat. It’s chaotic, yes, but deliberately so. Curator: It’s worthwhile considering the socio-political undercurrents during this period. Post-dictatorship Spain was grappling with rapid modernization, a struggle reflected here. Morley, through his vibrant colour palette and frenetic brushwork, presents Barcelona not as a picturesque postcard, but as a site of dynamic tension and maybe even a bit of historical trauma. Editor: You know, that breakdown almost works as pure abstraction. The brushstrokes and drips build to this crazed vision. He builds recognizable shapes only to tear them down with colour and movement. Almost like he’s saying "memory isn’t clean." Curator: The Neo-Expressionist movement embraced a return to figuration but did so with an awareness of the twentieth century's traumas, moving against the slick detachment that marked much of postmodernism. Artists were now free to investigate subjects considered ‘ugly,’ such as conflicted national identity. Editor: “Ugly” is a loaded term. It has energy, it grabs you, unlike some of that detached stuff we’re talking about. Looking closer you catch those details in the Cathedral... but his method gives it the sense of something being remembered imperfectly. Curator: The subjective, personal is vital. Through the exploration of architectural forms, the canvas functions as a repository of contested narratives about Spain’s recent past. A fresh wound struggling to close, rendered in acrylic. Editor: Well, however fraught with history, I’m still getting an intense hit of wild, visual pleasure from this painting. Curator: Indeed, Morley manages to convey an enduring sense of vibrancy amidst the turbulence. It’s an intense experience to consider that even buildings and cities carry their histories etched in their structures and colours.