Castaic Lake State Recreation Area is one of California’s largest state water reservoirs and is also a great local recreational escape for families. The commissioned artist Aaron Morse created a large painting for the main welcoming center. The artwork is installed on a preexisting screen is a painting titled Cloud World (Castaic), a canvas that depicts an expansive sky floating over Castaic Lake. Recreational boating and jet-skis share the landscape with birds and a rocky shoreline. Amid the rocks are remnants of the geological past. The vibrant blue colors of the sky and water reflect the artist's inspiration from the lake's natural beauty. With Cloud World (Castaic), Morse shows a glimpse of a larger world where many things happen simultaneously: human and animal life, environmental dynamics, and the passage of time.

Aaron Morse was born in 1974 in Tucson, Arizona, and lives and works in Los Angeles. He received his BFA in 1996 from the University of Arizona, Tucson, and MFA in 1998 from the University of Cincinnati, OH. His work is included in the collections of the Los Angeles County Museum of Art; and the Museum of Modern Art, New York and the Whitney Museum of American Art, New York; among others. Solo exhibitions include those at ACME., Los Angeles (2003, 2005, 2007, 2009, 2011, 2014 and 2016); Guild and Greyshkul, New York (2006, 2008); and the Hammer Museum of Art, University of California, Los Angeles (2008). Morse’s work has also been included in group exhibitions at the Santa Barbara Museum of Art (2010 and 2016); the Contemporary Arts Museum, Houston (2008); the Berkeley Art Museum, Berkeley, California (2004); the Weatherspoon Art Museum, University of North Carolina, Greensboro (2004 and 2012); and the Hammer Museum of Art, University of California, Los Angeles (2003). Morse is as influenced by the geography, history, and mythology of the Southwest as he is by the language of advertising, collage, and comics. His compositions combine all these elements in colorful and complex layered artworks akin to epic illustrations and surreal, alternate worlds where time is often ambiguous. To learn more, visit: https://www.aaronmorse.com/