Classical Façade

In 1969 Michael Morris and Vincent Trasov co-founded Image Bank, an art collective and conceptual vehicle for Mail Art projects that was active until 1974. The inclusion of a postcard motif in Morris' "Classical Façade" foreshadows the influence this artist would have with his Mail Art works on contemporary art in Vancouver. This motif references Morris' previous work with grids, and is an interesting way of mechanically reproducing a painting, taking it from a single "high-art" object to one of popular culture. "Image" is half of a large poster created for the choreographer Helen Goodwin with assistance from other Intermedia artists, whose names were listed in the missing half. The poster was commissioned by Douglas Christmas of the Douglas Gallery (later renamed ACE Gallery when it relocated from Vancouver to Los Angeles). Morris is one of this year's laureates for the Governor General’s Awards in Visual and Media Arts.