Meet Lorin Morgan-Richards

We were lucky to catch up with Lorin Morgan-Richards recently and have shared our conversation below.

Lorin, so good to have you with us today. We’ve always been impressed with folks who have a very clear sense of purpose and so maybe we can jump right in and talk about how you found your purpose?

Let me begin by saying what an honor it is to be featured in your periodical again. The Bold Journey Series is an excellent endeavor. I can only imagine… wait, one second, a house guest interrupted me to hand me a note. They would like to say something about the subject, and I’m afraid they don’t often speak, but what a treat when they want to share something. Their name is Marcil d’Hirson Garron. An artist of Imperfectualism. You may have heard of it or some other copied iteration. An imperfectualist looks to slow automation through their art. The artist Marcil coined the phrase back in 2020. Let me read their note to include it in the interview. At least to gain more insight into Marcil’s enigmatic work and offer a point-counterpoint.

(Lorin and Marcil sit in the cactus garden of the author’s home in Studio City. Marcil is thin as if not eaten, freckled, and chewing on the end of a pencil. Marcil’s Beret covers a mop of hair stringed in the back with a ponytail. A shoulder bag of instruments and the note paper before them are caressed between Marcil’s crossed legs on the ground. Lorin sits in a rocking chair beside Marcil, looking out into the distance. He wears a black fisherman’s cap, cowboy boots, and tucked-in jeans. His cat, Sushi N. Banshee, sits quietly in his lap.)

Art justifies life. But life does not always justify art.

Thank you, Marcil. Friedrich Nietzsche said art is the highest expression of life. Now, speaking for myself, art should always be in the hands of those grounded in dirt. If art is an extension of the self, we expel every inch of our environment that we absorb. It’s exhaling. Art is healing, and the human touch offers a glimmer of hope to the viewer breathing it in. That is the purpose of art.

(Marcil scribbles and hands another note) Marcil says art has no purpose, which is why it is. For purpose is a rock to sit on, a table to rest one’s elbows. Art is emotion. Art is in the air and cannot be captured.

True Marcil. It is a survivalist instinct. We are not simply computations and algorithms. We are swinging pendulums affected by the ever-so-slight smile, look, flower, or weed on our path. It is not the narrow channel we are being force-fed by those in power.

Thanks, so before we move on maybe you can share a bit more about yourself?

My mother was a student of art. She taught me many artistic filters, but what stuck was illustrating. I struggled in school with dyslexic, and even today can’t get that darn word right. But having a class away from class shaped me. While it was hard to make friends, leaving me to doodle and resort to being the class clown, I was socially inept. But this awkwardness brought me closer to being an artist and seeing the world differently. I cared little about following my peers or what was happening in mainstream society. Nonsense authors like Lewis Carroll and Edward Lear gave me a path forward to study writing and put words into my art.

(Marcil finishes writing and presents it to Lorin; the note is crumpled up in one corner) Interestingly, Marcil, let me share this with the readers. You wrote: I actively disconnect from my past to purposefully rid myself of symbolism and mental inheritance.

I disagree. My great-grandfather was an Amish Mennonite. I do not consider myself that religiously, nor am I any other exact part of my ancestry. Still, I identify and acknowledge that some of my Amish, Welsh, and different beliefs and traditions did trickle down. I have to respect where I came from while also having a responsibility to understand it. I believe in centering yourself in the present, as the past and future are knotted together with it like a strand of DNA.

(Marcil mumbles) I agree, Marcil. Humans, you know, we still need to tap into our potential. I feel like there was a time when we were close. Before contact with the “savages,” and I mean the explorers were the savages – traditional Indigenous people carried vast knowledge, lived into old age, grew medicine, ate healthily, were interconnected on many levels, and mostly kept their environment unpolluted. We are only starting to examine full circle in certain areas. But there is a constant tilt for power we would indeed have to overcome. Past, Present, and Future. As you can see, it is all intertwined.

(Marcil whispers to Lorin) True, Marcil, it will not come with machines. Every machine has a human hiding behind it, and the consumer is kept from the true intention. Like the Wizard of Oz behind the curtain.

(Marcil writes and rips out the last note) Marcil would like us all to know they are continuing to produce art for a second book on Imperfectualism. I’m working on several projects. Finishing up writing and animating season 3 of ‘The Goodbye Family: The Animated Series.’ This is a delightfully grim comedy about undertakers living in an Old Weird West. It has a superb cast including Nick Gligor (Lou Steed, Tumbleweed, Cousin Kook), Nana Grace (Lee Minor, Tammy Fae Helios), Elijah Shaffer (Rowe Barrow, Mayor Big Jo), Timo Standing Buffalo Cano (Jay), Richard-Lael Lillard (as himself), and stars the Goodbyes (Otis: myself, Pyridine: Valerie Stoneking, Orphie: Berlin Richards). I have an outstanding comedic editor in Jessica Rose-Felix, and a stellar soundtrack by Heathen Apostles. The series was rated in the top ten of animated shows by Vulture/New York Magazine.

Additionally, I’m drafting my novel, ‘Hollis Sorrow and the Great Mountain,’ book three in the YA Great Mountain series about two spirits, one named Hollis, who tries to find his happy place by escaping his inner turmoil. Lastly, I’m working on a short animated film called ‘Poor, Poor Eldon.’ It is similar to the dark comedy short stories I have written in the past, about odd people doing odd things (i.e. Simon Snootle, who lived in a well with cats). ‘Poor, Poor Eldon,’ on the other hand, is about a crumbling life in a war-torn region during 1918, leaving what’s left comically tragic.

(Marcil points to the dirt) No, I can’t say if it reflects on recent events. Nor is the state Eldon is in, necessarily outside of himself. That is up to how the viewer perceives it all. It is really nowhere and everywhere at the same time. Past, Present, and Future.

If you had to pick three qualities that are most important to develop, which three would you say matter most?

1. Don’t always trust the man behind the curtain.
2. Be at the center of your past and future.
3. When needed – send in the clowns. There is medicine in laughter.

Alright so to wrap up, who deserves credit for helping you overcome challenges or build some of the essential skills you’ve needed?

(Marcil sits quietly, drawing on the backs of pages already ruffled and used.) It is in building a community of like-minded people. It starts at home and spreads to friends, acquaintances, etc. But you have to start with a vision and build your dream with whatever means possible. At first, realize that you may be alone, and at times you are alone, but you keep at it; there is no right or wrong way, when you see art as a growing process.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.lorinrichards.com
• Instagram: (@lorin_morgan_richards)
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/lorinmorganrichards
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCBj97hhUqp7NgMYsf3Gnr5Q
• Other: The Goodbye Family: The Animated Series on Tubi: https://tubitv.com/series/300009609/the-goodbye-family-the-animated-series

Image Credits

Photo credits: Lorin Morgan-Richards/A Raven Above Press