b. 1988, lives & works in Brighton UK.
James William Murray is an artist, researcher, and educator. He received an MA in photography from the University of Brighton in 2015 and has exhibited in the UK and internationally. His work is in the collection of the Hellenic Centre For Photography, The British Library, and private collections throughout Australia, Belgium, France, Greece, Iceland, Italy, Netherlands, UK, USA.
In 2017 Murray co-founded the project space Niagara Falls Projects in Brighton UK. In 2018 he was selected for the Sussex Open Commission Award to produce new work. In 2019 he was artist-in-residence at Towner Gallery Eastbourne UK. In 2021 he will be artist in residence at RULE Gallery, Marfa Texas USA. His work is represented by Stephane Simoens Contemporary Fine Art in Belgium.
Extract from the essay The Drawing Stone by Bryony Bodimeade...
There’s a sense, in this body of work, of the artist
having found in the subtle changeability and environmental
sensitivity of the graphite and brass a way for things to
be which has the right feel. A way for things to be which
is affected by conditions and space and the presence of
others. Which takes on, extends, and reflects. As if these
are articulated states of being-in-relation. Networks of
relationships are established and at times these emerge as
dualities, where one thing becomes understood in relation
to a particular other thing: brass and graphite, material and
body, self and other. But rather than these being portrayed as
distinct binaries an attentiveness to interrelation, touching,
process and cross pollination creates an attunement instead to
intimate details of the differences within, of the overlaps, and
of the becoming of each other.
In places the brass and graphite physically touch one
another. In these small but intense interactions - in the soft
glow of gold in the grey-sheened weave, as in the calling
out to another’s name, as in the methods of joining, as in the
schemes of connecting - there is something like a critical
intimacy, which ripples the unbroken surfaces of the objects
with subjectivities, which considers the ways that attachments
are created to and between ideas and things and people.
Solo & Two-Person Exhibitions
2018
Lingering (two person exhibition with Philip Van Isacker) Stephane Simoens Contemporary Fine Art, Knokke BE
2018
ideal-i (two person exhibition with Alexander Glass) Niagara Falls Projects, Brighton UK
2017
Ain’t Nothing Like The Real Thing (solo exhibition) Stephane Simoens Contemporary Fine Art, Knokke BE
2017
Desire Works (solo exhibition)
Project 78, St Leonard’s by Sea UL
Selected Group Shows
2020
Between The Lines, Stephane Simoens Contemporary Fine Art, Knokke BE (with Richard Artschwager, Raoul de Keyser, Ross Hansen, Robert Mangold, Richard Serra, Dan Van Severen, Masaaki Yamada
2020
When Net Becomes Form, virtual group show hosted by artetcetcetc
2020
Great Small Works, Stephane Simoens Contemporary Fine Art, Knokke BE
(with Philip Akkerman, Anonymous, Laurenz Berges, Udona Boerema, Michael Canning, Walter Dahn, Laurent Da Sylva, Raoul De Keyser, Matilde Duus, Ivan Liovik Ebel, Damien Flood, Albrecht Fuchs, Tobias Hantmann, Niek Hendrix, Diango Hernandez, Klara Hosnedlova, Brad Kahlhammer, Natasja Mabesoone, Jesper Skov Madsen, Sally Mann, Lars Morell, David Murphy, James William Murray, Frank Nitsche, Johan Nobell, Jan Schoonhoven, Maximilian Schubert, Robin Seir, Berend Strik, Kei Takemura, Luc Vandervelde, Keke Vilabelda, Masaaki Yamada)
2019
Grounded, RULE Gallery, Denver CO USA (with Adam Fowler, M Benjamin Herndon, Jill O’Bryan),
2019
Salon, University of Brighton UK (curated by Haley Moyse-Fenning, with Sean Birnie, Joshua Legallienne, Jess Dadds, Ridder Levitt, Rachel Maloney, Simon Sandys, Matt Page, Kirsty Thomas, Thomas Truscott and John Williams)
2019
On The Stretcher, Stephane Simoens Contemporary Fine Art, Knokke BE (with Jesper Skov Madsen, Maximilian Schubert, Luc Vandevelde),
2018
Marks Make Meaning: Drawing across the disciplines, University of Brighton UK (curated by: Philippa Lyon & Duncan Bullen, with: Duncan Bullen, Antony Gormley, Irvin Pascal, Rachel Whiteread, Mark Wright)
2017
Old 16 / New 17 , Stephane Simoens Contemporary Fine Art, Knokke BE (with Ross Hansen, Berend Strik, Laurent Da Sylva)
2016
Screened, Ardesia Projects. Brighton Photo Fringe UK
2016
NYC Art Book Fair, presentation by Daily Life Storage MoMA PS1. New York, USA
2016
Athens Photo Festival, Benaki Museum (Pireos Annexe), Athens GR
2015
Buzzed, Phillips Auctioneers, London UK
2015 - After Desire: MA Graduate Show, University of Brighton UK
2013
London Art Fair, Axis project stand, Business Design Centre, London UK
2012
200 Faces Kingston House, Birmingham & Quayside Tower, Swindon UK
2012
Bread & Roses Motorcade Flashparade - Part of the Bristol Biennale, Bristol UK
2012
Miles Km Bussey Building, Peckham, London UK
2012
Basement, The Regency Town House, Brighton UK
?
Curated Projects
2019
Evil Rises, Niagara Falls, Niagara Falls Projects Brighton UK (with: Ashley Beachey, Sean Birnie, Richard Jed Butler, Bob Visser
2019
New Alchemy, Niagara Falls Projects Brighton UK (with: Jure Kastelic)
2019
Not the Dead Spit, Niagara Falls Projects Brighton UK (with: Sophie Barber & Georgia Hayes)
2018
Celestial Body, Spiritual Earth Niagara Falls Projects Brighton UK (with: Joseph Long)
2018
Is this wet p*$$¥ remix no get enemy, nothing like this love that I’m feeling, Niagara Falls Projects Brighton UK, (with:Irvin Pascal)
2017
E2 - E4, Niagara Falls Projects Brighton UK, (with: Jacob Clayton)
2017
She, Niagara Falls Projects Brighton UK, (with: Melissa Campbell)
Features/Reviews
2019 - Axis web ‘artist of the month’ interview
2019 - Review of Grounded by Adrianna Speer
2019 - Art Verge - interview
2018 - Review of ideal-i by Geoff Hands
2017 - Supplément à La Libre Belgique - N°25
2017 - Photoworks online showcase
2017 - Miniclick - Interview
2017 - Photography & issue #1
?2016 - YET Magazine issue #10 Studying Photography by Joanna Lowry
2016 - Self Publish Be Happy - online feature
2016 - Mull It Over - Interview
2016 - Ardesia Projects - online feature
2016 - Ardesia Projects Annual - Essay by Benedetta Casagrande
2015 - Art Can’t Change The World - collaboration with Dionysis Livanis
2015 - Photoworks MA graduates Showcase
2015 - Source Photographic Review
2015 - An Impossible Task: On James William Murray’s Beheld by Seán Padriac Birnie
2015 - After Desire: essay by Joanna Lowry
?Talks & Teaching
2020
Live reading of ‘Specific Objects’ by Donald Judd, Instagram, live
2020
Live reading of ‘Some Notes on the phenomenology of making’ by Robert Morris, Instagram, live
2019
Writing as artistic expression wor kshop, Towner Gallery, Eastbourne UK
2019
Abstract drawing workshop, Towner Gallery, Eastbourne UK
2019
Visiting lecturer on Fine Art BA, Hastings University Centre UK
2018
Visiting lecturer on Fine Art BA, Hastings University Centre UK
2017
Visiting lecturer on Fine Art BA, Hastings University Centre UK
2017
After School Club artist talk, University of Brighton UK
2017
Miniclick Photo Talks, Brighton UK
2016
Alternative Perspectives artist talk, Towner Gallery, Eastbourne UK
2015 - 2016
Coordinator of Unit 8 peer crit sessions, Brighton UK
Collections
Private collections Australia, Belgium, France, Greece, Iceland, Italy, Netherlands, UK, USA
Hellenic Centre for Photography GR
SPBH artist book collection UK
Awards / Residencies
2021
Artist in Residence RULE Gallery, Marfa Texas USA (upcoming)
2019
Artist in Residence Towner Gallery, Eastbourne UK
2018
Sussex Open 18 Commission
2013
Eye Witness photography award, The independent
Membership of Professional bodies
Axis web
Artists’ Collecting Society (A.C.A)
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