About (6ft)
Bio
Morgan Bird, known as mvkpaints, is an artist, from Central St Martins, who currently works in Shrewsbury. A serious artist & painter making non-serious art, he blends Old Master techniques with pop culture and art history to make paintings not pictures. Also educated in philosophy, he focuses on portraiture, using oil, charcoal, and collage to create playful, imagined characters that celebrate the history of artistic practice.
Inspired by Caravaggio & Rembrandt and then later, Peter Howson, especially in terms of colour & contrast. Focusing on portraiture in particular, his paintings seek to bring a playfulness to imagined characters. Drawing on the artificial realism of George Condo; the eerie but innocent pop portraits of Yoshitomo Nara; & neo-expressionism of Philip Guston, no subject is off limits and ideas come from everywhere.
Statement
As an artist, I aim to strike a balance between playful and serious, creating a tension between my visual style & what I am trying to communicate. My work & process are rooted in deep respect for the traditions of art: its techniques, materials, and history. Yet I approach each project with a sense of humour, curiosity, experimentation, and play. Through exploration across various mediums, including oil paint, pastels, pencil, ink & charcoal, alongside combining various mediums before applying them to a surface, I hope to pay homage to those before me, whilst offering something distinct & new.
The subject matter in much of my work is largely irrelevant & chosen to remove cognitive load in the creative process-I have been committed to imagined figures from the Wild West for a few years now-allowing more time & energy to consider composition, texture, technique & colour amongst other fundamental aspects of visual arts. On occasion, the aesthetic & imagery provide a parallel subplot, inviting attention to broader themes that matter personally or socially. Whether the theme is incidental or intentional, my approach remains consistent in thought & tradition.
Aesthetically, my work tends to be unified by its primitive but bold execution, which is refined & reduced as far as possible. I favour composition pared down to essentials & and am drawn to simplicity not as limitation, but as a way to communicate with precision, honesty & efficiency. Across different works, certain motifs recur: reflected light to give form & depth; complementary colours to delight the senses; & glazes that increase the intensity & drama, rewarding the conscientious viewer. Similarly, pigments like Burnt Sienna, Prussian Blue & a number of earth tones are mainstays in my palette not simply for their versatility but their historical significance too.
In the end, my art is as much about honouring the past as it is about disrupting it with a wink.
CV
Exhibitions:
2025 - Gateway Gallery - Salopian Open - Shrewsbury
2025 - Fronteer Gallery - Postcards - Sheffield
2024 - Fox Yard Studio - Small Works - Stowmarket
2024 - Mrs Jones Art Shop & Gallery - Love Letters to the Future - Online
2024 - Circular ArtSpace - 11th Community Exhibition - Bristol
2024 - Mrs Jones Art Shop & Gallery - Spring Open Exhibition - Shrewsbury
2023 - Mrs Jones Art Shop & Gallery - Open Exhibition - Shrewsbury
2023 - Soden Collection - Secret Artist Sale - Shrewsbury
2022 - Shrewsbury Museum & Art Gallery - Summer Exhibition - Shrewsbury
2022 - Soden Collection - Secret Artist Sale - Shrewsbury
2022 - Belle Vue Arts Festival - Shrewsbury
Featured:
2023 - My Shrewsbury Magazine
2021 - My Shrewsbury Magazine
Inspired by artists everywhere, especially when they say cool stuff like this:
“Give me some mud... and I will paint you a luminous picture”
— John Ruskin
“What am I working with? It's only coloured dirt.”
— Philip Guston
“It's like Rembrandt painting Bugs Bunny.”
— George Condo
“Love an earth pigment, traditional, versatile and cheap!”
— Morgan Bird