Rebecca Morgan's 'In The Pines' Exhibition at Asya Geisberg Gallery Features Appalachian-Inspired Art

Rebecca Morgan's exhibition 'In The Pines' at Asya Geisberg Gallery in New York ran from September 10 to October 29, 2016, featuring recent paintings, ceramics, and works on paper. The show presented hyper-detailed, humorous, and grotesque depictions of stereotypical Appalachian Americans, with imagery including pimples, cinnamon rolls, and a nude mountain man painting. Ceramic works, such as the raku sculpture 'Pajama Jug' from 2015, expanded on Morgan's earlier 2014 gallery exhibition, featuring figurative jugs with anthropomorphic traits like splayed teeth and bulging eyes. Influences cited include R. Crumb, Francisco Goya, MAD Magazine, and Dutch artists like Pieter Brueghel, Hans Memling, and the Van Eycks. Specific pieces like 'Family Reunion' (2016) depicted country folk indulging in snacks, while 'After Work Sunset' (2016) showed a stoned young man with sunglasses. In a 2015 interview with The Huffington Post, Morgan described her characters as blissfully unaware and untamed. Works such as 'Wandering Smoker' (2016), a graphite drawing of a man with strabismus smoking a corncob pipe, offered a tamer contrast to the bright paintings. The exhibition raised questions about potential stereotyping of rural citizens, with images like 'Plan B on Easter Sunday' (2016) showing a woman taking a birth control tablet and 'Creeper in the Grass' (2016) depicting a voyeuristic man. Despite critiques, Morgan's art was noted for its skillful execution and engaging characters.