James Austin Murray: Distant Stars

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Jam es A u sti n Murra y Distant Stars

bruno david gallery

James Austin Murray Distant Stars

April 13 - June 2, 2018 Bruno David Gallery 7513 Forsyth Boulevard Saint Louis, Missouri 63105, U.S.A. info@brunodavidgallery.com www.brunodavidgallery.com Owner/Director: Bruno L. David This catalogue was published in conjunction with the exhibition “James Austin Murray: Distant Stars” at Bruno David Gallery.

Editor: Bruno L. David Catalogue Designer: Lauren R. Mann Designer Assistant: Claudia R. David Printed in USA All works courtesy of James Austin Murray and Bruno David Gallery Photographs by Bruno David Gallery Cover image: Imprisoned Lighning, (detail) 2018 Oil on canvas on panel 72 x 72 inches (182.88 x 182.88 cm) First Edition Copyright © 2018 Bruno David Gallery All Rights Reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form without the written permission of Bruno David Gallery

CONTENTS

DISTANT STARS

BY JAMES AUSTIN MURRAY AFTERWORD

BY BRUNO L. DAVID CHECKLIST AND IMAGES OF THE EXHIBITION BIOGRAPHY

DISTANT STARS

BY JAMES AUSTIN MURRAY

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The most distant stars from here on Earth, they cannot be seen with the naked eye. Those that can be seen are sending light that left its home star thousands and even millions of years ago. This, of course, is fairly common knowledge. Still, it makes one think about the nature of light itself.

If you stop yourself once or twice a day, close your eyes and listen. You’ll hear sounds you may not have been fully conscious of. The sounds you’ll suddenly discern are no longer in the background: birds singing, motors running, people talking, airplanes flying, wind in the trees. There will be sounds you may not have realized are there. Our brains are trained to filter out unimportant background noise, yet we can focus and hear it all if we listen.

In these paintings my intention is that the viewer might see in the same way we listen with our eyes closed. When you’re looking at these paintings, what is it you are really looking at?

Look at the light and how it relates to your point of view, and how that changes as your move around the painting.

It is rarely static and it’s not something we often notice unless it’s very specific and remarkable.

These paintings are made with the intention of being interactive in this way. Unlike a landscape or portrait, where the best spot to see a painting is directly in front of it, these beg you to move and see how light travels across their surfaces. It’s something people seem to do without any prompting.

If they leave the gallery and spend a few moments later thinking about what they experienced, then I feel I’ve been successful with that individual viewer.

This text is one in a series of the gallery’s exhibitions written by fellow gallery artists and friends.

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AFTERWORD

BY BRUNO L. DAVID

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I am pleased to present an exhibition titled “Distant Stars” by New York-based artist James Austin Murray at the Bruno David Gallery. This is the artist’s first solo exhibition with the gallery.

James Austin Murray’s black paintings, created with ivory black oil paint, are little like searching in a dark room with a flashlight that only brightens the few inches in front of it. Feeling our way along the walls, trying to identify the furniture and layout of the place we found ourselves in. The paintings look like a landscape you could walk right into. It is a visual place that is both disconcerting and overpoweringly seductive.

As a NYC firefighter during the 9/11 attack in New York City, Murray paints because it is how he justifies his life following this atrocious day. Nothing else seems to hold up. He loves paint – loves the smell of oil paint and the warm buttery consistency it has while it is being pushed along by the brush. His current work is both about the paint and the light that reflects on and in it. If you spend time with one of his paintings you might find yourself thinking about the light in the room, with you and that painting. Murray says, “Sometimes the dark is where you find the best surprises.”

Support for the creation of significant new works of art has been the core to the mission and program of the Bruno David Gallery since its founding in 2005. I would like to express my sincere thanks to James Austin Murray for a very thoughtful essay. I am deeply grateful to Lauren R. Mann, who gave much time, talent, and expertise to the production of this catalogue. Invaluable gallery staff support for the exhibition was provided by Ruoyi Gan, Helen Fox, Haleigh Givens, Christina Lu, Lauren R. Mann, Thomas Fruhauf, Peter Finley, and Jin Xia.

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CHECKLIST & IMAGES OF THE EXHIBITION

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The Big Star 2017 oil on canvas 72 x 72 inches (182.88 x 182.88 cm)

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Imprisoned Lightning 2017 oil on canvas 72 x 72 inches (182.88 x 182.88 cm)

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Time Space Convergence 2018 oil on canvas 60 x 60 inches (152.4 x 152.4 cm)

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Fundamental Constant 2018 oil on canvas 72 x 72 inches (182.88 x 182.88 cm)

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Johnny told me 2017 oil on canvas 48 x 48 inches (121.92 x 121.92 cm)

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Loud as Forever 2017 oil on canvas 72 x 72 inches (182.88 x 182.88 cm)

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Microvette (detail)

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Microvette 2017 oil on canvas 60 x 60 inches (152.4 x 152.4 cm)

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Sound of that Sound (detail)

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Sound of that Sound 2017 oil on canvas 72 x 72 inches (182.88 x 182.88 cm)

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Silver Machine 2018 oil on canvas 72 x 72 inches (182.88 x 182.88 cm)

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Kinks and Twists 2018 oil on canvas 72 x 72 inches (182.88 x 182.88 cm)

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Staring at the Sun 2017 oil on canvas 72 x 72 inches (182.88 x 182.88 cm)

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Solvent 2017 oil on canvas 72 x 72 inches (182.88 x 182.88 cm)

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Deep Sky (detail)

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Deep Sky 2017 oil on canvas 36 x 36 inches (91.44 x 91.44 cm)

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Specific Gravity (detail)

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Specific Gravity 2017 oil on canvas 48 x 48 inches (121.92 x 121.92 cm)

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I remember who I am 2017 oil on canvas 72 x 72 inches (182.88 x 182.88 cm)

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The Big Brother 2016 oil on canvas 72 x 72 inches (183 x 183 cm)

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A Moving Horizon (detail)

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A Moving Horizon 2017 oil on canvas 36 x 36 inches (91.44 x 91.44 cm)

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Slow Machine (detail)

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Slow Machine 2017 oil on canvas 36 x 36 inches (91.44 x 91.44 cm)

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At Center (detail)

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At Center 2017 oil on canvas 36 x 36 inches (91.44 x 91.44 cm)

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All the Stars in the Sky 2018 oil on canvas 60 x 60 inches (152.4 x 152.4 cm)

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Always Happening 2018 oil on canvas 60 x 0 inches (152.4 x 152.4 cm)

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Horse Feathers 2017 oil on canvas 60 x 60 inches (152.4 x 152.4 cm)

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Little Sister 2017 oil on canvas 72 x 72 inches (182.88 x 182.88 cm)

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Untitled 2017 oil on canvas 48 x 48 inches (121.92 x 121.92 cm)

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James Austin Murray: Distant Stars (installation view)

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James Austin Murray: Distant Stars (installation view)

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James Austin Murray: Distant Stars (installation view)

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James Austin Murray: Distant Stars (installation view)

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James Austin Murray: Distant Stars (installation view)

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JAMES AUSTIN MURRAY Lives and works in New York City, NY EDUCATION Parson School of Design, B.F.A.

SOLO EXHIBITIONS 2018

2017

2016 2015 2014

2007

2004 2001

Bruno David Gallery, “Distant stars”, St. Louis, MO, May (catalogue) Lyons Wier, “Future Proof”, New York, NY REDSEA Gallery, “Convergent Evolution”, Singapore Madison Gallery, “Light on Black’, La Jolla, CA Gilman Contemporary, “No Vacancy”, Ketchum, ID Lyons Wier Gallery, Scope New York, New York, NY Lyons Wier Gallery, “Super Massive Black Hole”, New York, NY Asia Contemporary Art Show, Hong Kong, China Art Market Hamptons, Bridgehampton, NY (Lyons Wier Gallery, NY) Lyons Wier Gallery, “Mystery of Light”, New York, NY Asia Contemporary Art Show, Hong Kong, China Narthex Gallery at St. Peters, “Ides of March”, New York, NY Tree’s Whisper, Dam-Stuhltrager, Brooklyn, NY Dam-Stuhltrager, “Over-On”, Brooklyn, NY International Gallery of Contemporary Art, Anchorage, AK L.I.C.K. Ltd. Fine Art, “On and Off White”, Long Island City, NY

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SELECTED GROUP EXHIBITIONS 2018 2017

2016

2015

2014

2013

2012 2011

2008

2006 2005

2002 2001 2000 1999

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OVERVIEW_2018, Bruno David Gallery, St. Louis, MO Chromatopia, Tacit Gallery, Abbotsford, Vic, Australia Luminance, Lyons Wier Gallery, New York, NY Stroke of Genius, Lyons Wier Annex, New York, NY Walking Slow, Brooklyn Workshop Gallery, Brooklyn, NY Palms Springs Fine Art Fair, Palm Springs, CA (Lyons Wier Gallery, NY) Forethought, Lyons Wier Gallery, New York, NY Lost Cat, Art in the Age of Social Media, The Cape Cod Museum of Art, Dennis, MA Pulse NY, Lyons Wier Gallery, New York, NY Governors Island Art Fair, New York, NY Unlimited Potential, (curator), Lyons Wier Gallery, New York, NY Market Art + Design, Bridgehampton, NY, Lyons Wier Gallery, New York, NY Art Miami, Lyons Wier Gallery, Miami, FL Downtown Art Fair, New York, Lyons Wier Gallery, New York, NY MIA in MIA, Lyons Wier Gallery, New York, NY The New Artist Preview, Melissa Morgan Fine Art, Desert Springs, CA Aqua Art Miami, Lyons Wier Gallery, New York, NY 1stDibs, New York Design Center, New York, NY Governors Island Art Fair, New York, NY Highline Open Studio Preview Exhibition, New York, NY Dia: Beacon Staff Exhibition, Marion Royale Gallery, Beacon, NY American Lifescape, DBA256, Pomona, CA NYU Small Works Show, 80 WSE, New York, NY Panorama Project 3, Jonathan LeVine Gallery, New York, NY Scope Miami, Dam-Stuhltrager, Miami, FL Scope Miami, Dam-Stuhltrager, Miami, FL New Artist Show, Bettcher Gallery, Miami, FL Le Papier, Gescheidle Gallery, Chicago, Illinois Soho Myriad, Atlanta, GA Scope New York, Lyons Wier Gallery, New York, NY The Panorama Project, The Front Room, Brooklyn, NY The Exquisite Day Project, Plus Ultra, Brooklyn, NY Flowers and Configurations, Angel International Art, East Hampton, NY Sex, Death, and Religion, Gershwin Hotel Gallery, New York, NY

1999 1996 1992

Size Matters, Gale Gates et al., Brooklyn, NY Places People, 313 Gallery, New York, NY Human Condition, 313 Gallery, New York, NY

Awards and Residencies 2011 2012 2011

Nominee, United States Artist Grant Bemis Center for Contemporary Art Dedalus Foundation Fellowship Award for residency at VSC Residency at The Vermont Studio Center Artist in Residence at The Woodstock Byrdcliffe Guild

Selected Public Collections Tom Ford, Designer Four Seasons Hotel, Washington D.C. Omni Hotel, Nashville, TN Sofitel, Philadelphia, PA Hotel Palomar, Philadelphia, PA

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ARTISTS Laura Beard Heather Bennett Lisa K. Blatt Michael Byron Bunny Burson Judy Child Carmon Colangelo Alex Couwenberg Jill Downen Yvette Drury Dubinsky Damon Freed Douglass Freed

Michael Jantzen Kelley Johnson Howard Jones (Estate) Chris Kahler Xizi Liu James Austin Murray Bill Kohn (Estate) Leslie Laskey Yvonne Osei Patricia Olynyk Gary Passanise Judy Pfaff

Charles P. Reay Daniel Raedeke Tom Reed Frank Schwaiger Charles Schwall Christina Shmigel Thomas Sleet Shane Simmons Buzz Spector Cindy Tower Ann Wimsatt Monika Wulfers

Ellen Jantzen

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