Martin McMurray: Muttering Jargon

Martin McMurray: Muttering Jargon October 5 - December 1, 2012 As part of his ambitious Disputed Episodes exhibition at Gallery 16, Martin McMurray presented over 170 works on paper. These were displayed in a large salon style presentation and titled Muttering Jargon. This collection of McMurray’s paintings on paper reveal the artist’s dexterity as a painter and present many of the traits and themes regularly associated with his work. These pieces however possess a more abstract, gestural, and experimental quality than is found in his larger paintings.

He approaches these paper pieces with freer, more relaxed paint handling and loose, sometimes ambiguous compositions. His execution is quick and efficient often resulting in succinctly abridged forms. The quantity of the works on paper is stunning but very much in keeping with McMurray’s ritual of painting in serialized form; he often paints an initial composition and then creates several more from memory.

Martin’s narrative scenarios frequently deal with the history and tragedy of human mistakes and his work is charged with the complexity of life’s daily routines, rituals, and anxieties. He often paints a single scenario in a serialized trio of paintings each offering a slight variation on the narrative. These suites reflect on the chance and fragility of our possible futures.

Disputed Episodes represents the largest survey of McMurray’s idiosyncratic paintings and handpainted books to date. The Detroit native has developed an international following for his work that is often likened to Jim Nutt, Jockum Nordstrom, H.C. Westermann and Philip Guston.

Martin McMurray’s work has been featured in Historical Consciousness: the 2006 California Biennale at the Orange County Museum of Art in Newport Beach. He is a recipient of a 2009 Eureka Fellowship from the Fleishhacker Foundation. McMurray lives and works in Berkeley, California.