James William Murray | Brighton, UK

I am an artist living and working in the coastal city of Brighton, England. After I completed an MA in photography in 2015 my studio practice quickly expanded to include drawing, painting, printmaking and sculpture, and I now work across these media. I also make limited-edition print publications as an alternate means to distribute my work, and I recently published my third book, ‘Realia’ (2022).

I would like to introduce my practice with an example of a foundational work. ‘Touched i’ (2016) is a black-and-white photographic print depicting my hand covered with graphite powder. The photograph is float-mounted in an oak box frame, which has been burnished by hand with graphite to a reflective sheen. This piece exemplifies the way I implicate the agency of my body within processes of making, and build relationships between images, objects, materials, technical applications, and means of display.

I am currently working on a new series of body-contact prints made with copper grease – a material used in mechanical engineering. I start by drawing an 8:10 grid on a sheet of glass. After covering my hands with the copper grease, I place them onto the surface of the glass and perform a series of predetermined gestures using the grid as a guide. I then lay a sheet of paper on the glass, allowing the copper grease to penetrate the fibres of the paper. This results in strange residue images of human presence in motion.

I have shown my work in the UK, Europe, and the USA. Selected 2021–22 exhibitions include: ‘New Idea’ (group exhibition) at Rule Gallery, Denver, USA; ‘Many Splendored Things (two-person exhibition with Garth Gratrix) at Abingdon Studios, Blackpool, UK; ‘Realia’ (solo project) at Brighton Centre for Contemporary Arts, UK; ‘Material Curing’ (group exhibition) at Thames-side Studios Gallery, London, UK; and ‘Turn Your Face Towards My Face’ (solo exhibition) at Stephane Simoens Contemporary Fine Art, Knokke-Heist, Belgium.

A portfolio of work can be viewed on my website: www.jameswilliammurray.com 

I post images of my studio and working process on Instagram, please follow me at @jameswilliammurray