Wil Murray
P|M, Toronto and VITRINE, London, present a solo booth of Canadian artist Wil Murray. Murray’s practice centres around the production of materials and paint strokes used in his large-scale three-dimensional planar paintings, multiple exposure collages and more recent hand coloured photographic works; All a hybrid of painting and photography and united in this one solo presentation in Dialogues at London Art Fair.
The booth will comprise of one large installation ‘Painted Shut’, 2013-2015; two planar paintings and a selection of smaller collages and hand coloured photographic works. A solo presentation spanning a number of years and the entirety of Murray’s multifaceted practice.‘Painted Shut’ was first presented at VITRINE Bermondsey Square in the unique 16-meter long window. It continues Murray’s exploration of modular building, collage and sculpture as the relate and intersect with painting. The installation was built in the spirit of the assembly line: photos, paint strokes, paint skins, bits of wood and fabric were manufactured and composed on the wall in Murray’s Canadian studio. They were then taken down and brought to London and reinstalled with slight alterations. In the booth, the work will be reinstalled with new alterations and taking on a revised form, again responding to the space.
Flanking the installation, on the two outside walls, 'Why Are You Looking Up Here The Yoke Is In Your Hand?’(2013) and ‘Not Not Trite Quotes Not Not Empty Politics Not Not Evangelism: It's Just Not Not Not The Not And Cold Running Death Not Not The Vanity Of The Morning's Casual Mourners’(2012). These two pieces were made immediately before and after the installation and share paint strokes, collage elements and construction. ‘Not Not…’s’ blue, nearly emancipated paint strokes created as skins on glass and mounted to board led to Painted Shut's paint stroke factory. 'Painted Shut' led to ‘Why Are...'s mixing of paint strokes and their photographic double, the whole painting was painted "off the canvas" and collaged together.The small works function as unique individual pieces. They concurrently participate as quick experiments, as a source of imagery and as small compositions for the larger work. Murray explains, “Some things can only happen on a small scale due to material concerns and the size of my hand”. In his recent ‘Adieu Vielle Europe’ series found images of landscapes and interiors are retraced through paint.