For The Pit’s next online viewing presentation we’re happy to take you on a tour of Florian Morlat’s studio, where he has been continuing a body of cardboard collage works inspired by his upbringing around German butcheries. Morlat’s cardboard works possess an unfinished quality alongside a snarky sense of humor. Pretzels, boar heads, and utensils hang in makeshift window scenes, creating a playful upending of the historical Trompe-l'œil narrative. 

These new works are an extension of a continued body of Morlat’s practice, created from collaged raw and found cardboard.  His previous solo exhibition at The Pit consisted of an environmental installation in which the walls of the gallery were covered in these cardboard compositions, creating a gothic, urban environment.  The new works have evolved in both aesthetics and iconography.  The surfaces of the past works were expressively painted with dark enamel with pops of neon colors.  These new pieces are all raw cardboard, the only mark making taking the form of the printed text and images that were printed on the cardboard boxes for shipping or retail labeling purposes.  

Morlat’s German heritage and experience of immigrating to the United States has long been a central focus in his work.  Earlier in his career pop culture iconography associated with garage bands of the British Invasion populated his works seemingly as if there was a kinship or association with this group of Europeans entering the US’s popular culture.  With his last solo exhibition, images of domestic scenes began to appear in the work which seemed to reflect more of the artist’s current family life.  

As has been the case with many artists during the Covid-19 pandemic, this time seems to have taken Morlats’ work to a new place of self reflection.  In the past his works focused on thoughts of the future (ie: coming to the United States), or ruminating on the present (family life and fatherhood), these new works take us to Morlat’s past.  

“I grew up in a small town in Bavaria close to Munich where my grandfather had a butcher shop.  I particularly remember a picture in my Mom’s photo album of her winning a cold cut and meat display contest. 

I love going to old Bavarian beer halls and restaurants. A lot of these old restaurants themselves have depictions of Bavarian food and drink folklore. The cardboard collages are reminiscent of woodcarvings depicting these scenes.”

The foundational compositional elements of these new works also act as metaphors for German beer halls as all of them are contained in vaulted arch life framed components, similar to the ceilings found in these German establishments.  Morlat says of the German beer halls, " They provide a space of shelter removed from the going ons of everyday life.

Some collages are featuring smoke shops and pipes. As a kid I was extremely intrigued by the window displays of the local tobacco store. The shapes and forms of  the pipes and the fleeting, vanishing and mysterious nature of smoke itself were fascinating to me. The tobacco store seemed like the door to a new world.”