New Documentary Focuses on Artist George Anthony Morton’s Journey Toward Healing After Prison
ARTnews, March 14, 2022: New Documentary Focuses on Artist George Anthony Morton’s Journey Toward Healing After Prison
“The contrast between light and dark has long been a central concern for artist George Anthony Morton, both in his art and his life. ‘The concept of duality—this dark and light thing—it’s applicable to my artistic process, my struggles,’ Morton says in a new documentary about his life, titled Master of Light. ‘You see the oneness of it all.’ Those contrasts manifest between Morton growing up poor in Kansas City, addiction problems in his family, and the 11 years he spent in federal prison, and his more recent success as a painter, his incredible love for his family, and his commitment to healing. As a devotee of Rembrandt, the play between shadow and light is the focus of his painting, both technically and personally.
“Directed by Rosa Ruth Boesten, Master of Light, which premiered at the SXSW festival in Austin on Saturday, follows Morton, now based in Atlanta, as he seeks to heal his relationship with his mother and understand his past during repeated trips to Kansas City to paint family members. One narrative that has followed Morton since his release from prison has been his journey ‘from inmate to artist.’ Whether it’s a cable news feature in Kansas City, made shortly after his release in 2012, or a 2017 New York Times article about heading to Italy to further his art education, his triumph over difficult circumstances often overshadows the work itself. Boesten’s task in making a feature-length documentary about Morton’s life, then, would be to go deeper, focusing on his art as opposed to mining the exploitative catharsis of reveling in Morton’s wounds.”
Additional reading:
One Story Up Productions: Master of Light
The Moveable Feast, March 18, 2022: SXSW 2022 Interview: Rosa Ruth Boesten and George Anthony Morton on Painting Oneself out of a Corner in “Master of Light”
Filmmaker Magazine, March 12, 2022: “It’s About the Emotion, the Performance, the Rhythm and the Space in Between the Words”: Rosa Ruth Boesten on Her SXSW-Debuting doc Master of Light
