Leon Morrocco RSA RGI : Après-midi
'…it's the perfect title. Après-midi feels just right. Not pretentious. Just French. A bit romantic, wee bit Debussy-delightful, very slightly elegiac, these new works of yours, somehow? Even the most high-toned and exuberantly colourful ones…..for with you it always starts with the drawing. Could be something monumental that grabs you, or mere crumblings and flakings, stains and graffiti on walls, the zing and jazz of juxtaposition. Every single thing you do has to begin with a response to something that delights your glad eye. The real work starts when you respond further to your own initial response. To the abstract, or formal, qualities of the shapes and marks you are beginning to make. With paint. On canvas…'
Liz Lochhead, 2021
An extract from her introduction to Leon Morrocco RSA RGI, Après-midi
A large-scale exhibition in conjunction with Edinburgh Art Festival Après-midi celebrates Leon Morrocco’s outstanding draughtsmanship and passion for colour.
Morrocco’s practice has been consistently inspired by travel. Born in Edinburgh in 1942, Leon Morrocco RSA RGI is the first son of the Scottish-Italian artist Alberto Morrocco OBE. In 1968, after studying art in Dundee, London and Edinburgh, he was awarded a scholarship to study at the Accademia di Brera in Milan, Italy. His time spent living in Milan then in Melbourne, garnered a thirst for travel that would see him visit Morocco, India and Cuba.
The sketches produced on these journeys abroad are remarkable both in observation and skill. Back in his studio in London Leon works from these drawings to create canvases teeming with colour and essence of place, his written colour notes used as triggers to visualise memories and experiences, resulting in the distinctive and masterful paintings for which he is renowned.
Leon Morrocco RSA RGI has been an Royal Scottish Academician for nearly 50 years.
His work can be found in many notable public and private collections, including the Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art, H.R.H Princess Margaret, Leeds Art Gallery, The Nuffield Foundation, and Queensland Art Gallery. He is an internationally acclaimed artist whose work can be found in private collections around the world.
