Urban landscapes feature in new exhibition

A new exhibition by Birmingham-based painter Shaun Morris is set to open at the Herbert Art Gallery & Museum in Coventry.

Autofictions, which runs from 2 to 14 March 2026, brings together 15 oil paintings created over the past decade.

The works focus on empty and everyday spaces across the West Midlands, which are not typically visited as destinations but passed through, including truck stops, high streets, parks and motorway underpasses.

Morris, who grew up in the Black Country, said his paintings were based on direct observations of the community.

He said witnessing its deindustrialisation during the 70s and 80s, where factories disappeared, sites were abandoned and landscapes left unoccupied informed his work.

Across the exhibition are scenes that are often passed through rather than visited as destinations. Many are depicted at night, illuminated by streetlights or the glow from nearby buildings.

"These are the places I know," Morris said. "Things look so different at night, it's a different experience and I like the quietness, when things look more uncanny."

From his nocturnal photographs, he painted a series of five parked post office vans.

One of the featured works, A Minor Place (2016), shows stacks of crates positioned beneath a motorway flyover against a dark sky.

The artist's work draws inspiration from the book Edgelands by poets Paul Farley and Michael Symmons Roberts, which explores overlooked landscapes such as business parks and landfill sites.

In addition to urban scenes, the exhibition includes paintings set in parks, including The Others (2025), which shows caravans positioned on open land.

Another work features a group of people standing in a circle beneath trees.

Morris said he aimed to leave space for viewers to draw their own conclusions.

He said: "While social context bubbles beneath the surface, I leave space for the viewer to make up their own stories."

The exhibition is part of the Herbert's 2026 programme and will be open to the public during standard gallery hours.

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