xJAM13

contact

2008-06-01T06:25:00.001-07:00

email: jam@jamesaustinmurray.com

other work at: jamesaustinmurray.com

Upcoming show

2008-06-01T06:21:00.001-07:00

American Lifescape, at DBA256, curated by Andi Campognone

a few drawings

2008-05-31T23:15:00.000-07:00

I'm going to be in fluxus while moving for the next few months. The result will be small works, here are two very small works.

approximately 8" x 10"

approximately 11" x 2"

April Studio shots

2008-04-30T03:15:00.000-07:00

I've been wanting to get some shots of the new work but it's been like pulling teeth getting them done. I haven't worked over paintings like this in ages. I'm not sure where they are pointing me to, but for now I'll be happy to make work just like these. These works are much smaller than the other works of the last six months. Sometimes condensing the work down helps with composition ideas and the greater concepts as well. I'm particularly pleased with these three most recent completions. They speak to me, telling me I'm on the right track without having to forsake all the completed work of recent months. These pieces have taken more than two months to reach completion. Now that I've landed here I'm certain that the many others in process will be close behind. Gratifying.

I'm going to start using these smaller works as studies and build constructs after them. I haven't used studies in a few years. I've been plowing into the unknown and it's been rewarding but at the same time blinding. I think to see clearly I have to look at the work I'm pleased with and literally study what I've got and what is working. Right now it's the release of photo reference. It's liberating to be free of the photograph. I don't know how far I'm going to go with the imaginary treescape in this vein but it's right for right now. I'm reveling in the abstract.

April 2008

2008-04-05T17:12:00.000-07:00

newer work up at: http://picasaweb.google.com/jimsuperartist/StudioWork

older work up at: http://jamesaustinmurray.com

Meditation

2008-04-05T15:01:00.000-07:00

Studio Work

I've had a series of studio visits recently. It's sort of a funny time to do that as the work is at a precipice. Of course that could turn out to be only a minor step or a straight angled cliff to climb or jump off of.

I've been really working my surfaces trying to make each perfect. Funny thing happens when you labor over something. It looses clarity. I've been working and working the surface but by doing so each piece becomes harder to communicate with. When I was just diving in they were speaking clearly and made the work belch out of me like a pork bellied bullfrog nailing it's dinner. There were those pieces that were off mark. They just got recycled. In fact some of the works I'm focused on now is recycled.

The difference between recycling and working the surface is hard to explain since they both have some of the same elements of process and additions to a piece.

I've been hearing from some such as Richard Stewart "..to think about he Fire Paintings", then there's Mark Zimmermann who has recommended against exploring to focus on what is working. Both have known my work for nearly a decade and know it intimately and both have good points, but I'm not sure where the work will go ultimately.

Normally I would wait for the work to be in a safer more complete stage before showing it to people, but sometimes I just want to know what certain critics of my work will have to say about where I am. It's like a lamp in the jungle, giving me a sense of where my footing is. Sometimes it hits like a chord, other times it serves to confuse further.

ART FAIRS

Having spent some time at the art fairs last week was actually inspiring. Instead of seeing the same garbage that Chelsea keeps churning out there was some incredible work to witness. It was a surprise and led me to realize that though New York is the financial center of the universe it seems to corrupt the system of artist/gallery.

Oddly it reminded me of the LA art scene which is far more vibrant I think, partially because it's not as exclusive and partially because it's not so so so moneyed. Yet reading art magazines that focus on west coast and LA in particular nearly always have at least one article that compares in some way there to New York. It's a funny sense of insecurity it smells of, meanwhile the work there is far more exciting in general.

I'm not really sure of the cause, it seems it has more fluidity. Maybe that comes from being less about money. I'm well aware that it is not divorced from money but it feels more like the late 80's did when I was in college and there were less people in the art world.

Bo Bell who was a contemporary and friend of Cy Twombly during the early days in New York used to tell me how much smaller back in the fifties. I've heard other artists mention the same sentiment of how much more intimate New York used to be. I don't live there so don't know how small it is in that way but LA feels more intimate, in what I imagine New York to have been like back several decades ago.

So it was good to see the shows and know that there's good art being made all over the place. I was particularly surprised to see so much quality from galleries in the Midwest.

Back in the Studio

It is wonderful to get that jolt of inspiration, but ironically it actually stymies my thought process as to the current work. Do I want to wander and explore with my painting itself, the materials, or the concepts? Of course I do! Should I finish what I've started, maybe that -more difficult road for myself to go down, and hold back, and learn to say no to myself is the right thing to do.

I suppose it won't kill me to just keep certain bits in a sketch book and hope that one day I'll have the right moment for those thoughts. Knowing that if I do, they'll be in process while my mind is partially elsewhere on the next series of works.

New Works

2007-11-29T20:20:00.000-08:00

Just a note to all who might be stopping in, I've been working hard building the forms for the next body of work. They are similar to the works here, but most are of a more reasonable size, between 12" and 40". Many of those posted below are still available for show or sale. Those that are no longer available are: "Tree Portraits 2,5 and 9", "From Columbia" and "The Critic."

I'll post new images soon however I am working on more than ten that will most likely be finished around the same time.

The show at Dam-Stuhltrager went very well, and sold quite a bit. The gallery continues to show some of my favorite artists in New York and from elsewhere, keep an eye out.

-James Austin

Dam-Stuhltrager Gallery Exhibit

2007-05-24T10:13:00.000-07:00

Here are some new works in the current exhibition
Dam-Stuhltrager Gallery is located at 38 Marcy Avenue in Williamsburg, Brooklyn.

See more work at:
jamesaustinmurray.com
&
http://damstuhltrager.com/art_pages/james_austin_murray/jam_3.htm

Tree Portrait # 3,
acrylic and graphite on canvas mounted on polystyrene board
48"hx47"w approx.

Tree Portrait # 5,
acrylic and graphite on canvas mounted on polystyrene board
48"h x 57"w approx.

Tree Portrait # 7,
acrylic and graphite on canvas mounted on polystyrene board
53"h x 48"w approx.

Tree Portrait # 8,
acrylic and graphite on canvas mounted on polystyrene board
67"h x 48"w approx.

Tree Portrait # 9,
acrylic and graphite on canvas mounted on polystyrene board
30"h x 47"w approx.

Here is a selection of the current "Tree's Whisper" series, which will be a prominent part of the Dam Stuhltrager exhibition.