Ivan Morison: The Reapers

What is the radical in the rural context? What radical shifts are needed in agriculture? 

The Reapers features five sculptures made from ferment local hay (or haylage, normally used as a high protein easily digestible cattle feed) and coppiced timber from the Orleans House Gallery woodlands. This matter has been shaped into deteriorated haystack-like forms. Standing over five metres high, these temporal sculptures will change in colour, transform, grow, decay, and eventually compost over time, challenging the conventional idea of permanence in sculpture.

“In gaming circles Reapers are a synthetic-organic alien race, connecting us to the fear we share of the mutant monsters sure to come from human techno meddling in plant biology. The literal meaning of ‘reapers’ is someone, usually a farmer, who harvests crops, apt for the material the works are made from, and as portraits of the punk spirit of the farmers I have met and drawn. These are portraits of revolutionary pioneers at the new frontier. And of course, ‘reapers’ also has a darker, religious and horror infused undertone, and these dark angels do loom somewhat in the landscape, reminding us of a future we hope to avoid.”

Ivan Morison

The Reapers were produced as part of the artist’s research residency ‘Towards the Weird Heart of Things’ with the Sainsbury Centre and Orleans House Gallery. The residency looked at the parallels between artists and farmers, searching out farmers operating at the radical edge of agriculture today. Engaging local farming communities, the works prompt a reassessment of our connection to the natural world. They cast light on the agricultural sector’s reliance on drugs and pesticides, inviting contemplation on sustainability and regenerative farming practices that nourish soil and spirit.

“For this commission I am thinking about the radical with regard to the rural context. The rural, as opposed to the urban, has a huge role to play with regards to climate change mitigation and habitat loss or restitution. I’m thinking of the future of agricultural practices and particularly how these need to change. This is a radical space, where traditions, communities, models of finance and individual behaviours will all need to shift, and the people who are doing this are the radicals, the real punks of today. I’m so pleased to have been able to meet and spend time with a few of these radicals as part of this larger project, all approaching this problem from different amazing, inspiring ways.

“I have been asked whether my work is radical – I don’t think so, I think it’s very old fashioned. I am looking for things to hand, trying to shorten the journey from material to artwork, trying to take out industrialised processes where possible. In this situation, with the Reapers series, making perhaps the most basic of sculptural forms – the pile or mound of stuff. And trying to do this in a joyful, shared way, like we used to do as kids playing and making in an unselfconscious way. Trying to create works that through their weird energies re-connect us to ourselves and our environment. That’s art at its most basic. Art as an action to be acted upon, not art as an unchanging object.”

Ivan Morison