Born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, in 1958, Leo Morrissey earned an MFA from Rutgers University in 1985 and a BFA from the University of Florida in 1983. Raised in a large working-class family in a Philadelphia row-home neighborhood with limited exposure to the arts, he initially pursued Petroleum Engineering at Marietta College in 1976 before redirecting his focus to art.
Morrissey’s practice is conceptually driven, exploring seriality and the documentation of time and place through personal notation. His work delves into the evolving meanings that emerge from the repeated use of imagery, reflecting the complexity found in the seemingly mundane elements of daily life encountered during long walks.
His work has been exhibited internationally at institutions including the Taiwan Museum of Art, Taipei, Taiwan; Monash Gallery, Melbourne, Australia; Glassmuseet Ebeltoft, Denmark; Musée du Pays et Val-de-Charmey, Switzerland; the Southeastern Center for Contemporary Art (SECCA); the Hanes Gallery at Wake Forest University, Winston-Salem, NC; the 10th International Artist’s Book Triennial, Vilnius, Lithuania; Free Manifesta, Manifesta 4, Frankfurt, Germany; and Galleria del Carbone, Ferrara, Italy. Additionally, his work has been featured in the Pierogi Flatfiles in Brooklyn, NY, for over two decades.
Morrissey’s work is held in numerous permanent collections, including the Taiwan Museum of Art, ROC, Taiwan; the Museum of Modern Art’s Silverman Fluxus Collection, New York, NY; the Museum of Modern Art/Franklin Furnace Artist Book Collection, New York, NY; the Jane Voorhees Zimmerli Museum, New Brunswick, NJ; the Exit Art Archive, New York, NY; and the Appleton Museum of Art, Lakeland, FL, among others.
He has received notable awards, including a Pollock-Krasner Foundation Grant and a Hauberg Fellowship from the Pilchuck Glass School. His projects have spanned Europe, Asia, Africa, and the Americas. Morrissey currently works and lives works in Jersey City, NJ; Sea Isle City, NJ; Melbourne Beach, FL; and wherever his journeys take him.
