Joe Moorman: A Southern Visionary Risen from the Delta

Review of Joe Moorman’s artwork by Peter Wiley
in Gallery & Studio magazine September/October 2006.

"Cypress Bayou 2" contemporary figurative painting

“Cypress Bayou 2” contemporary figurative painting. acrylic on canvas. 18 in x 24 in.


The syrupy quality of the pigment itself evokes the sultry slowness of the marshlands, in Mississippi Delta artist Joe Moorman’s acrylic painting “Bayou.” It’s expressive distortions recalling the nature painting of Charles Burchfield, it’s hot hues akin to the Fauves, the entire composition is lit by an incandescent glow.

Most of the paintings on Moorman’s website (www.riversonfineart.com) are autobiographical, starting with a series about growing up Mormon, which interweaves the fiery  myths and prophecies of the sect’s founders with downhome memories of the artist’s childhood.  Moorman refers to these early narrative paintings as “some of my most naive works.” But while  they may be less vigorously brushed than later works such as “Starlight” and “Atlantis,” where  fragmented human animal figures merge mystically with the nocturnal landscape or watery flow,  Moorman’s memory paintings have an innate sophistication and a storytelling power akin to Jacob  Lawrence’s great “Migration” series.

The syrupy quality of the pigment itself evokes the sultry slowness of the marshlands, in Mississippi Delta artist Joe Moorman’s acrylic painting “Bayou.” It’s expressive distortions recalling the nature painting of Charles Burchfield, it’s hot hues akin to the Fauves, the entire composition is lit by an incandescent glow.

Most of the paintings on Moorman’s website (www.riversonfineart.com) are autobiographical, starting with a series about growing up Mormon, which interweaves the fiery  myths and prophecies of the sect’s founders with downhome memories of the artist’s childhood.  Moorman refers to these early narrative paintings as “some of my most naive works.” But while  they may be less vigorously brushed than later works such as “Starlight” and “Atlantis,” where  fragmented human animal figures merge mystically with the nocturnal landscape or watery flow,  Moorman’s memory paintings have an innate sophistication and a storytelling power akin to Jacob  Lawrence’s great “Migration” series.

-Peter Wiley, Gallery & Studio, September/October 2006, New York.