Mmmmmurray!!!
Mmmmmm. . . the universal sound and sense of deep down, marrow–of–the–bones satisfaction is the atmosphere that lives this week inside Public Sale’s once–upon–a–time Oldsmobile showroom–turned Chinese restaurant–now “Angular View” gallery.
Mmm. Modernism. Minimalism. Monochrome. This mellifluous triad unites the artistic work of Clark Murray (1937-2022), LA–to NYC–to Rhinebeck multi–medium maestro, 90 of whose paintings, sculptures and drawings grace our gallery this week.
A pervading feeling that much recent reductive geometric work echoes the spirit of arbitrary adventure found in post-Cubist developments of thirty to fifty years ago is reinforced by Murray’s less-than-tenuous links with Malevich’s Suprematism. Murray’s paintings – sprayed a single color of automotive lacquer – are shaped canvas substitutes. Large, dominating the wall, the oblique quadrilaterals are angled diagonally like a remarkable accent or exclamation point. The premise that a painting is an object is fully accepted, the requirements fulfilled. The basic shape is reversed and repositioned upon various corners to achieve the five variations. These positions are arbitrary and subject to change. With the widest dimension and visual weight at the top they float or hover against the wall. They soar upwards like a wing, and/or downwards like a thrusting blade. There occurs a most sophisticated maintenance of equalized tensions all across the plane. [See #s 111; 112; 154; 176; 182]
Each are individualized by a differing color identity; orange, metallic red, metallic purple, gold, and silver. Elusively romantic and atmospheric colors hover indefinitely beneath layers of clear lacquer. The lighting causes a variation in shine and density and thus the surfaces seem gently to bow as well.
They are self-conscious, theatrical, metamorphosing. [185–188]
“Mmm” is an undeniably soft sound, but hard edges are vibrantly alive in Murray’s wedge–shaped wall sculptures of rolled steel, varying from approximately eight to ten feet in length, monochromed with red, blue, green, or black sprayed paint. [497–500]
Then again, in both his tubular sculptures [199; 350–359] and torsos [342–348] Murray welds (melds?!) to wonderful effect ultra–hard material with soft curvaceous lines.
In Murray’s work geometric properties and the un-arithmetical factor of color open up an incredible number of possibilities. The complexity of one’s progressive apprehension of each piece is in fact so overwhelming, despite their total lack of superficial detail, that one cannot possibly think of them as belonging to the “reductionist” or “minimal” movement in sculpture. The multiplicity of these works lies not so much in their actuality as in their linear, angular and chromatic potential.
Meandering through our showroom this week, if you find yourself in a mild state of vertigo thanks to Clark Murray’s creations, seek out Lot # 360, his Rorschach–esque Pelican, the only figurative representation in this Angular View extravaganza. Christian symbol of Christ’s sacrifice and resurrection, the Pelican was the artist/sailor’s constant companion while he skimmed over the waters round the Catalina Islands or up the Hudson. Mmmmm. . .
By Kevin Dann