Christopher Murray

Christopher Murray was born in Troy, New York in 1972. He is primarily a mixed-media artist but includes a variety of traditional art-making processes in his practice. His long-running “Mountain” series is inspired by classical Asian landscape paintings. He utilizes paint, newspaper and digital photography collage. Chris tears apart and reassembles these newspapers and pictures of his gardens and favorite nature subjects to create the structure for his imaginative landscapes. Paint adds more form and color for representationalism and expression.

Chris has been awarded solo shows and been included in numerous group exhibitions, several resulting in best in show nods. His work can be found in private collections around the world. Murray lives in New York, USA.

Artist Statement

“I am greatly inspired by the immense history of Asian art, in particular landscape painting. The aesthetic qualities, craft, and purpose is very important, but it is the emanating spirit of this art that holds me. My goal is to develop this in my work.

My mountain paintings utilize processes that combine traditional, modern, and contemporary concepts, subjects, and art-making skills. I practice the multi-layered, glaze painting technique perfected by artists like Johannes Vermeer. Surrealist artist Max Ernst’s experiments with texture inform my production. Collage, decalcomania, scumbling, sgraffito, even digital photography and printing find their way into my methods.

As I develop these landscapes I find myself exploring the spaces and surfaces, climbing the peaks and diving into caverns with my eyes. I imagine myself there. I’d like the viewer of my work to imagine being there too, walking on a path or quietly sitting alone with their thoughts.”