ROBERT MORRIS PHOTOGRAPHY

Introduction

A Gift to the Goddess of the Golden Orb

This body of work consists of photomontages in which I create rather formal and fanciful scenes that take their themes from myths, dreams, works of historic literature and art, and my own fantasies. I photograph all of the individual elements myself and combine them digitally. My intentions with this work are to escape the contemporary world, promote the pursuit of pleasure and aesthetic beauty, revel in oddity, and flaunt my rejection of the oppressive new puritanism that has infected society and the arts. Among the subjects portrayed here are the adherents and ceremonies of an imaginary society called "The Mystical Order of the Golden Orb," which venerates the symbol of the sacred sphere and celebrates the liberation of the body.

I see no reason why photography must document reality. I believe in art that is an expression of the inner life of the artist and is unfettered either by current artistic fads or by socio-political concerns or causes. In my work I am inspired by symbolist and surrealist art and by this quote from Joseph Campbell: "Myth must be kept alive. The people who can keep it alive are artists of one kind or another. The function of the artist is the mythologization of the environment and the world."

Introduction​

Introduction