A Short Introduction

I am British artist, writer, and former university lecturer. I live near the DMZ, the heavily fortified border between North and South Korea. This blog contains some of my reflections about and because I live in such a place.

I am the author of Modern Painting. A Concise History (published September 2023 by Thames & Hudson), By Any Other Name. A Cultural History of the Rose (Oneworld, 2021), The Simple Truth. The Monochrome in Modern Art (Reaktion Books, 2020), and Writing on the Wall. Word and Image in Modern Art (Thames & Hudson, 2001). I am also editor of The Sublime. Documents in Modern Art (Whitechapel Art Gallery/MIT Press, 2010).. 

My artworks, mostly paintings, have been exhibited internationally. 

A Longer Introduction

Welcome to my blog. My name is Simon Morley, and I’m a British artist and writer. I live most of the time near the infamous Demilitarized Zone (DMZ) in Korea - on the ‘edge’ of the known world. In this blog I will be posting from this unusual location about art, culture, Korea, and the things I’m currently interested in and writing books and essays about.

My latest books are Modern Painting. A Concise History (published September 2023), By Any Other Name. A Cultural History of the Rose (Oneworld, 2021), The Simple Truth. The Monochrome in Modern Art (Reaktion Books, 2020), and Writing on the Wall. Word and Image in Modern Art (Thames & Hudson, 2001). I am also editor of The Sublime. Documents in Modern Art (Whitechapel Art Gallery/MIT Press, 2010). During the 1990s and early 2000s I published reviews and essays in magazines and newspapers such as the TLS, The Burlington Magazine, Art Monthly, Modern Painters, Tate Magazine, The Art Newspaper, Contemporary Art and the Independent of Sunday. Nowadays, I write catalogue essays and more academic texts for such journals as Third Text, World Art, and the Journal of Visual Art Practice, some of which you can read on my academia.edu website listed below.

My artworks have been exhibited internationally, including solo exhibitions at the Musée des Beaux-Arts, Dijon, France, and groups exhibitions including at the Poznan Mediations Biennial, Seoul Museum of Art, and Tate Britain. You can see examples on my artist’s website listed below.

This blog is mostly focused on my thoughts about living in South Korea, but I also roam freely to explore all the kinds of things that interest me - from roses to religion.

I was born in Eastbourne, United Kingdom.  I graduated from Oxford University with a BA in Modern History and Goldsmith’s College, University of London with a MA in Fine Art, and hold a PhD from the University of Southampton. After living in Italy, France, and the United States, I settled in London in 1987. In 2005 I moved to central France. In 2010 I moved to the Republic of Korea, and nowadays move between there and France (with stop-offs in the UK).

I welcome hearing from you, so please leave a message in the space provided.

CONTACTS

Contact Agent: Clare Grist Taylor. claregristtaylor@hotmail.com

Contact Publicity for ‘By Any Other Name’: In the UK: Kate Bland at Oneworld. kbland@oneworld-publications.com. In the USA: Katelynn Dreyer at Kaye Publicity. katelynn@kayepublicity.com.

Contact Publicity for ’The Simple Truth. The Monochrome in Modern Art’: Maria Klicoyne at Reaktion Books. maria@reaktionbooks.co.uk

Facebook Author page: simon morley author

Instagram: morleypsimon

Artist’s website: www.simonmorley.com

Academic website: https://dankook.academia.edu/simonmorley