Draft:Robert Morgan

Robert Morgan was an important member of the gay art movement in Kentucky.

Robert Morgan
Born	Taylor County, Kentucky, US
Occupation(s)	Activist, Artist
Known for	Activism
Spouse	Henry Faulkner (partner)

Early life

Robert Morgan was born in Campbellsville, Taylor County, Kentucky in 1950. Morgan’s mother was a self-taught artist who taught him and his four siblings how to create art out of common household items such as newspapers, paper bags, and rubber bands. When the Vietnam War began, Morgan joined a LSD study that provided him with a draft deferral as well as a grant which helped him pay for college. With this grant, he enrolled in the University of Kentucky visual art program in 1969. During his first exhibition at the University of Kentucky, the dean sent campus police to shut it down because the show’s poster contained the word “queer”.

Career

Robert Morgan began his art career by collecting items from the homes of gay men with AIDS, alcoholism, and drug abuse. He took these random objects that families had abandoned and turned them into works through adornment. His colorful sculptures used materials that were either found or recycled. His work included dolls and figurines, and was used as a way to comment on social issues. The pieces he created included some simple or mundane objects like measuring tape, children’s toys, trash etc. These objects by themselves seem unconnected, but when Morgan combined them in his sculptures, the objects were unified and tied together through color, proximity, and story.