In this monumental painting Morley plays with repetition, replication, and the personal and political economies of images. Born in London, Morley often spoke of experiencing the German Luftwaffe bombing campaign of Britain during World War II and making balsa wood models of planes and battleships. These childhood memories informed his adult work, much of which portrays airplanes and fighter pilots. Produced in massive scale, Rat Tat Tat replicates three World War I fighter-plane model kits, merchandise that encouraged children to reenact war as if it were a game. Aspects of the painting, such as its onomatopoeic title and flattened toy parts with colorful geometric patterns, speak to Morley’s interest in Pop art as well as to the commodification of war.
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Artwork Details
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Title:Rat Tat Tat
Artist:Malcolm Morley (American (born England) London 1931–2018 New York)
Date:2001
Medium:Oil on linen
Dimensions:94 × 197 in. (238.8 × 500.4 cm)
Classification:Paintings
Credit Line:Purchase, George A. Hearn Fund, Kathryn E. Hurd Fund, and Andrew and Christine Hall Gift, 2013
Object Number:2013.946
Inscription: Signed and dated (lower center): Malcolm Morley 2001
[Sperone Westwater, New York, 2001–13; sold to MMA]
London. Gagosian Gallery. "Malcolm Morley, Rat Tat Tat," June 18–July 28, 2001, no catalogue.
Raleigh. North Carolina Museum of Art. "Defying Gravity: Contemporary Art and Flight," November 2, 2003–March 7, 2004, unnumbered cat. (pp. 156–57).
Museum of Contemporary Art, North Miami. "Malcolm Morley: The Art of Painting," January 20–April 16, 2006, unnumbered cat. (pl. 27).
New York. Sperone Westwater. "Malcolm Morley: Rules of Engagement," March 31–April 30, 2011, unnumbered cat.
New Haven. Yale University Art Gallery. "Malcolm Morley in a Nutshell: The Fine Art of Painting, 1954–2012," January 31–March 31, 2012, unnumbered cat. (p. 58; lent by Sperone Westwater, New York).
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art [The Met Breuer]. "Home Is a Foreign Place: Recent Acquisitions in Context," April 9, 2019–March 12, 2020 [intended closing date June 21, 2020], no catalogue.
Richard Cork. "Wish you were here?" Times (London) (June 26, 2001), p. 15.
David Ebony. "London Calling." artnet.com. August 20, 2001, ill. (color).
John Brooks Adams. "More Than a Maverick." Art in America 89 (December 2001), pp. 68, 72–73, ill. (color).
Huston Paschal and Linda Johnson Dougherty. Defying Gravity: Contemporary Art and Flight. Exh. cat., North Carolina Museum of Art. Raleigh, N.C., 2003, pp. 155–57, 211, ill. (color).
Bonnie Clearwater. Malcolm Morley: The Art of Painting. Exh. cat., Museum of Contemporary Art, North Miami. North Miami, 2005, p. 26, colorpl. 27.
Brooks Adams. Malcolm Morley: Rules of Engagement. Exh. cat., Sperone Westwater. New York, 2011, unpaginated, ill. (color).
Eleanor Heartney. "Malcolm Morley: je suis un peintre abstrait." Artpress 382 (October 2011), p. 33, ill. (color).
Phong Bui. "In Conversation: Malcolm Morley." The Brooklyn Rail (March 2012), ill. p. 30 (color).
Emily Sun. "Decolonizing Western Narratives of Modern Art." hyperallergic.com. September 26, 2019, ill. (color, installation photo).
Malcolm Morley (American (born England) London 1931–2018 New York)
1982
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