PRESS RELEASE
John Murray | Solo Exhibition
Mar 14 – Apr 16, 2025
JOHN MURRAY
14 March - 16 April 2025
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John Murray moves between representational and nonrepresentational forms, finding significance in the contrasting states between the tangible and the imperceptible, playfulness and seriousness.
Working in oil on canvas, as well as collage and bricolage, the images used in Murray’s compositions are often interpretations of found objects and photographs. Some of these images have specific cultural, historical or political significance, while others are ephemera collected from the artist’s everyday surroundings. These composite images prompt viewer-specific responses and associations, while the juxtaposition of images act as triggers or catalysts for meaning. “I think my work illustrates my fractured way of looking at things,” notes Murray. “I like the idea of sifting through various objects, shards and images in search of something tangible, but unlike the archaeologist, my work doesn’t reach a conclusion.”
More recently, Murray’s work has tilted towards abstraction, not in its purest sense but rendered in a way that hints at representational forms beneath the surface. These works, originally inspired by the different colours that accumulate on the artist’s palette, allude to structures that are in the process of forming, or perhaps simultaneously disintegrating. “For me these paintings function in a space of disorientation, falling short of being fully representational or coherent,” says Murray.
This body of work was created over the past year while the artist was on a month-long residency off the coast of Croatia and following his return to his Cape Town studio. “I see a certain value in the slow process often required to produce a painting or a body of work,” notes Murray. For me it is almost like a performance piece, produced in the solitary confines of the studio, that counters our fast way of living. I think one of the enigmas of certain artworks is the ability to transcend time and trends.”
This is John Murray’s first solo exhibition with Everard Read London.
