The New Arrival 1960

Desmond Morris made "The New Arrival" with paint on canvas, though when exactly, remains a mystery. Look at the surface, it is built up from thin layers of color that blend into one another. The whole composition feels grounded in process, like a sketch that’s been given space to evolve on the canvas. Take that central figure, almost like a big insect. With its spindly legs and simplified form it has a playful quality, as if Morris has tried to capture it from multiple angles at once. The color palette is restricted, but the red dots stand out, like little explosions. Morris embraces ambiguity and multiple interpretations. It puts me in mind of Miró, or maybe even Klee, in the way the biomorphic forms are rendered with such a simple, child-like approach.