NEW YORK, NY.- Gallery nine 5 is presenting Tiers of Light, a solo exhibition of new works by British-born artist Tatyana Murray from March 17–May 1, 2016.
Murray’s work investigates the human condition by visualizing our opposing inner contrasts. Her wide range of media discusses the very throes of human existence and our desire to balance our own duality. Murray’s work embodies our struggles: strength versus fragility, order versus chaos, and complexity versus opposition. These forces, when reconciled, can create harmony.
Tiers of Light exhibits two series, Ghost Series and Industrial Nature, each comprised of a mystical light and energy that characterizes Murray’s oeuvre. While the two series seem aesthetically disparate at first glance, upon further exploration, the artworks actually use a similar visual vocabulary to shed light on the human condition.
Murray has found inspiration in a wide range of sources, including the 19th century landscape painter J. M. W. Turner. His impressionistic use of light as brushstroke is apparent in Murray’s bursts of color and illumination found in both Tiers of Light series. Additionally, Murray has used Turner’s animated and circular compositions as influence for the dynamic forms and shapes in Ghost Series and Industrial Nature, which upset traditional orientation and replace it with a whimsical, fantasy landscape.
Ghost Series is made up of illuminated, sublime scenes that envelop the viewer and transport them into a mythical world. Each artwork from Ghost Series is a three-dimensional landscape floating into space, using layered transparent sheets and light aspects further the illusion of depth. Reaching Genesis, places the audience in dialogue with a sea of ethereal ribbons, rays, and florets. Thus, the viewer is presented with not only the strikingly physical presence of the engraved glass, but also its transient images. We can see echoes of Turner’s orbicular compositions in the way Reaching Genesis draws the viewer into its sweeping transversals.
While Ghost Series harnesses light to refract and contour compositions, Murray’s Industrial Nature work plays with the absence of visible light to call attention to luminous forms. By integrating cragged, found objects from urban environments with more classical and refined materials, Murray reaches a realization of the ever-changing nature of life. Flash on My Dark Night, for example, uses concrete materials like abandoned cardboard and wasted paper to recreate honeycomb shapes. Although the elements seem random and contradictory, Murray weaves these unassociated materials into romantic compositions, creating a perfect balance between order and disorder. Where Reaching Genesis has beaded halos carved into the surface, illuminated from behind, Flash on My Dark Night creates these same shapes using golden thread. Motifs like this pervade Murray’s work and create continuity between the two series in Tiers of Light.
As art critic Robert C. Morgan wrote about Murray’s artwork, “It offered a brilliant rhythmic glow produced entirely by light.” Indeed, her use of material and illumination creates a conversation of both literal and metaphoric layers. Her two series radiate energy of both continuity and abruptness, rhythm and stagnation. Each of the artist’s series perfectly marries opposing forces into fantastical compositions.
Murray has exhibited extensively in London, Paris and New York earning her widespread recognition in several publications such as the New York Times, ArtNews and Huffington Post. Group exhibitions include “Concepts for New Sculptures” at the Guggenheim in Venice, Italy. Her works are in numerous private collections in New York, London, Barcelona, and Dubai.
