Photos by Mick Jeffries
Bob Morgan’s friends and fans like to bring him stuff. It’s not unusual for the Lexington artist to come home to find on his doorstep a box of old telephones, toys, utensils or bottlecaps – items that, once destined for the landfill, will potentially have a new life as elements of his iconic, brightly painted mixed-media sculptures. At this point, Morgan says he has enough objects and materials to make his creations, which have been described by University of Kentucky Art Museum director Stuart Horodner as “ecstatic assemblages,” for years to come.
To that end, the self-proclaimed “hoarder” admits that his house, which also serves as a storage space and studio, can feel a bit crowded. His home workspace extends outside to his yard during the warmer months, with certain rooms and a backyard shed that he built crammed full of all manner of found objects, unusual materials, works-in-progress and completed artworks. The house itself feels a bit like an installation, every room brimming with art and objects from Morgan’s life and work.
“In my mind, it’s organized,” he said, “but if I get up in the night, I’m probably going to trip over goat skulls.”
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Lexington artist Bob Morgan. Photo by Mick Jeffries
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Lexington artist Bob Morgan. Photo by Mick Jeffries
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Lexington artist Bob Morgan. Photo by Mick Jeffries
Morgan’s creative process usually finds him working on the construction of several assemblages at a time, sifting through materials and adding and subtracting to a piece until he is satisfied with the result. His three-dimensional sculptures beg to be seen from all angles, so viewers don’t miss a detail. Each piece tells its own individual story, with layers that reference the very human struggles of dealing with alcohol, addiction and LBGTQ alienation, along with imagery evoking history, myth and legend. The artist also manages to infuse his work with a certain whimsical nature and humor. You run the emotional gamut with Morgan’s work, and he likes it that way.
“Life is complicated,” he said. “That is told to me over and over when I document the stories of people I have met.”
Morgan credits his mother, who was also a self-taught artist, with instilling in him a passionate connection to creative expression from an early age.
“We were poor, so our activities had to be free,” said Morgan. Growing up in Lexington, he says he and his four siblings made art every day. He recalled being drawn to making small constructions as a child, noting an obvious connection between that early work and the work he does now.
Looking back to early experiences surrounding both art and self-identity, Morgan recalled an incident in third grade when he and his classmates were to introduce themselves, and he stood up and said, “I’m Bobby Morgan and I’m an artist.” Everyone laughed, including the teacher.
“I was devastated,” he remembered, and while the incident was a “sock in the gut” at the time, he says it was also an excellent lesson.
“I learned you have to not be afraid to put yourself out there,” he said. “An artist sticks their neck out every time they show work – you have to develop the attitude that not everyone will like who you are or what you do, but you don’t let that stop you.”
As a teenager, Morgan fell into a friendship with Lexington artist Henry Faulkner that would change his life. Their friendship lasted until Faulkner’s death in 1981, with the legendary artist serving as a mentor for Morgan, teaching him both about art and life. Faulkner remains an enduring part of Morgan’s life, through the Faulkner Morgan Archive, created by Morgan and historian Jonathan Coleman to preserve Faulkner’s photographs and papers that Morgan inherited. The archive has now grown into a collection of over 15,000 items from many people and hundreds of hours of recorded interviews, spanning 200 years of the history of Central Kentucky’s LGBTQ community. In addition to contributing a unique voice to Lexington’s art scene, Horodner noted that Morgan plays a crucial role as an archivist in Lexington, helping to memorialize LGBTQ histories and mobilize people to support those in need.
A long time LGBTQ activist, Morgan was a founder of the performance group the Pagan Babies, later documented in the film “The Last Gospel of the Pagan Babies.” Forty years later, some of the Pagan Babies are still telling and living their story, and the film is often shown on local movie screens. A book is in the works with the help of a grant from the Louisville- and New Orleans-based John Burton Harter Foundation.
Morgan has long been a familiar face in Lexington’s art scene and a favorite artist of many Lexington art lovers. His work is represented in many collections, including the permanent collection of the University of Kentucky’s Art Museum and a number of private collections, and is exhibited in the University of Kentucky’s Student Center, at Morehead State University’s Kentucky Folk Art Museum and at the Kinsey Institute in Indiana. He was recently commissioned to create work as the featured artist in an upcoming exhibition, slated to open in November 2021, for Lexington’s 21c Museum Hotel.
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Morgan built a shed in his backyard to house the bins, bags and boxes of fodder for his potential artwork. Photo by Mick Jeffries
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Morgan built a shed in his backyard to house the bins, bags and boxes of fodder for his potential artwork. Photo by Mick Jeffries
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Morgan built a shed in his backyard to house the bins, bags and boxes of fodder for his potential artwork. Photo by Mick Jeffries
Bob Morgan recently sat for a chat with Smiley Pete writer Celeste Lewis.
How long have you lived in Lexington? My family arrived in Lexington in 1792. My family goes back to the early pioneers of Central Kentucky and the mountains of Appalachia, but I was raised in Lexington in Meadowthorpe.
What is your art training and how did you discover art in your life? I learned from both my mother and later from Henry Faulkner. I began collecting found objects and trinkets as a child and arranged them into small bedside altars. This process still remains the basis for my iconic sculpture today. My mother, Elizabeth, a self-taught artist, was from the Troublesome Creek community of Breathitt County, Kentucky. Years later I was taken in by artist Henry Faulkner as a queer teen and taught the older generation’s survival skills as well as art.
Tell me about your process. It comes in visions and dreams. I work on eight to 10 pieces at once. I sift and arrange and rearrange until I get it right. I am inspired by religious iconography – Catholic, Byzantine, Hindu and Egyptian – all the deities and personalities. The Pantheons of gods tell stories that relate to the human experience – divorces, affairs and addictions. I document stories and myths told to me by people I have met, many who are queer young people struggling with addictions and alcohol. I document their stories; my vocabulary is objects.
What are some of the things that inspire you or may get an art piece started in your head? I was shaped by my Catholic childhood, Haight- Ashbury in the 60s and the AIDS epidemic of the ’90s. Many of my current pieces tell the stories of marginalized young queer youth and addicts and their struggles and their forgotten deaths in our community. Now in my 70s, I have been an LGBTQ activist since before the Stonewall Uprising in 1969.
Tell me about the colors you choose for each piece? I love acid tone colors and clashing combinations.
Tell me about your workspace. I’m a hoarder and work in piles of junk. I mainly construct work outside when the weather is nice. I’m like a farmer – I close down in winter. That’s when I archive, organize and collect materials. I get materials from people, dumpsters, pieces off cars and broken toys. Sometimes I’ll go to Dollar Tree and buy all of something if I think I can use it in art.
Tell me about the stories connected to your artwork – the mythology and history. My pieces tell new stories and ancient ones, stories of love and loss, stories of birth, death and rebirth. My work is as decorative as it is symbolic. I spent years on the road living the life of a gypsy vagabond in my youth; I chronicle those journeys and queer experiences in my assemblages.
What’s something you own you can’t live without? My voodoo art collection from Haiti.
How did you come to be involved in ‘The Last Gospel of the Pagan Babies’ film? I was one of the founders of the Pagan Babies, a queer performance group. The film that was made was loosely based on our group. There was to be a book, and now, after 40 years it is finally going to be completed [due to] a grant awarded by the John Burton Harter Foundation to make it happen.
Tell me how you met and became friends with Henry Faulkner. How do you see his place in Kentucky’s art history? When I was a teenager, I encountered Henry Faulkner painting on a street corner. Within minutes we discovered we were born only minutes apart, January 8 and 9 in different years, and he declared us Capricorn brothers. He sincerely told me we were bonded together spiritually and, well, minutes turned to years. I worked for him, watched him work and learned a lot from him. Henry Faulkner’s role is much bigger than as an artist; he was also a role model for the LGBTQ community. He will be remembered as a great leader.
What is a favorite place of yours in Lexington? The Lexington Cemetery.
What’s a favorite way you like to spend the day? I enjoy watching documentaries. I watch documentaries every day. I love that stuff.
What’s a quality you look for in others? Honesty.
What is something about you we’d be surprised to know? I’m 34 years clean and sober from alcoholism and drug addiction.
What is the best compliment or review you ever received about your art? Actually, I’m amused by people who hate my art. You can learn a lot from people who may not like your art. You can learn where you can be stronger; and if you only hear compliments, you start thinking you don’t need to push boundaries.
Morgan collects all manner of kitsch, such as this plastic holiday angel, to incorporate into his scuplture work. Photo by Mick Jeffries