The images Morgan Motes (b. Florida 1997) creates are open ended—invitational—prompting their viewers to situate their interpretation in relation to their own experiences. With the goal of initiating conversation between work and viewer, Motes offers up memories that, for a time, the viewer may take on as their own. Though at times populated by figures, Motes never neglects the landscapes they inhabit: they are the feeling of a place, a sense of belonging, an echo. Motes has lived almost 30 years in Florida, up and down its coasts, and as a result has internalized the textures of its geographies. A ceaseless collector of reference images, his primary tool is a disposable camera used to capture candid moments which are then rendered, reimagined, and recontextualized in oil paint. The limitations of using consumer grade cameras with a finite exposure count and no digital display lend the developed photos a quality of dreamlike immediacy. By taking Florida as a muse, the contradictions of Motes’s native state begin to unfold — the political, human rights tension and small-town hospitality, economic disparity in penthouse shadow, and natural beauty carved away for rapacious development, in Motes’s work often amounting in weary despondence, a figure turned away from the viewer for a moment of respite.

In 2021, Motes obtained his BFA in Painting from the University Of North Florida. He is currently a practicing preparator at The Ringling Museum of Art. He creates things, and questions the sky daily.

Motes was fortunate to receive a full ride through Florida School of the Arts, through the Presidential scholarship. He has also received multiple scholarships from the Palatka Art League. In June 2019, he was awarded a scholarship from Radius Workshop to fund a study abroad trip to Croatia. In 2020, Motes was awarded a grant by the Cultural Council of Greater Jacksonville’s Fill the Void: Artist Relief Funding Campaign. His artwork has been shown in numerous exhibitions throughout Florida since 2013, including MOCA Jacksonville, and has been collected across and outside of the state. His artwork has appeared in Cleaver Magazine, The Talon Review, and RadX Magazine. His poetry has appeared in The West Trade Review. His Music has appeared in Folio Weekly and Americana Highways.

On Music:

Morgan Motes began making music in 2015, releasing under the name We Will Get There Eventually. His music is reflective of his own experience — raw folk songs fused with elements of emo, indie-rock, and bedroom-pop. In 2018, he began also releasing music under the name Big Best Friend, an alt-country side-project. His music can be found online at wewillgetthereeventually.bandcamp.com and bigbestfriend.bandcamp.com, mostly releasing through the record label BLADE RECORDS, of Laredo, Texas. As of 2025, he has released 15 albums.