Utopian Formats: Simon Morley’s “Lost Horizon” (2014)

Abstract

In “Lost Horizon”, a 2014 ekphrasis, Simon Morley summons up not just one artpiece but several that have all in common to deal with utopia: a fifteenth century traditional Korean handscroll painting by artist Ahn Gyeon entitled A Dream Journey to the Peach Blossom Paradise (1447); René Daumal’s uncompleted surrealist novel Mount Analogue: A Novel of Symbolically Authentic Non-Euclidean Adventures in Mountain Climbing (1952); James Hilton’s best-selling novel Lost Horizon (1932) and its Hollywood black and white adaptation by Frank Capra (1938), not to mention philosophical texts by Proudhon or Thomas More. Splicing together Western and Eastern traditions, high and popular culture, Morley engages in a clever and subtle play on formats in his exhibition and exhibition catalogue. He reproduces images but changes their orientation, proportion or framing, zooming in or out on details; he scatters words on a variety of media, changing their size, orientation or typography; he practices various techniques of graphic production, including traditional Asian formats, but always taking some liberties with the canonical techniques and formats or introducing a personal twist. The materiality of his creations is thus constantly highlighted, as is his appropriation of works and traditions.But “Lost Horizon” fails to fully capture, reproduce and reveal the works that inspire the artist. They are a vanishing point in Morley’s creation, which is all the more relevant (or ironic) as they are themselves woven of absence insofar as they aim to represent a “u-topia” – that is, literally a “place that does not exist”, a presence-absence.This paper therefore aims to show how, by playing with multiple formats, Morley addresses and problematizes the conundrum of utopia while shedding thought-provoking light on the ekphrastic practice.