About
Established Cape Town based artist Brett Murray returns with a new body of satirical work that continues his acerbic attacks on abuses of power, corruption and political dumbness. Whereas his last show, Crocodile Tears, sought to parody Mbeki’s still-born African Renaissance, Hail to the Thief uses the populist imagery and language currently in vogue with the present powers that be , to mock and goad. Murray’s bronzes, etchings, paintings and silk-screens form part of a vitriolic and succinct censure of bad governance and are his attempts to humorously expose the paucity of morals and greed within the ruling elite.
Brett Murray studied at the University of Cape Town where he was awarded his Master’s of Fine Arts degree in 1989. He has exhibited extensively in South Africa and abroad. From 1991 to 1994 he established the sculpture department at the University of Stellenbosch, where he curated the show Thirty Sculptors from the Western Cape in 1992. In 1995 he curated, with Kevin Brand, Scurvy, at the Castle of Good Hope in Cape Town. That year he co-curated Junge Kunst Aus Zud Afrika for the Hänel Gallery in Frankfurt, Germany.
His solo shows include: White Boy Sings the Blues at the Rembrandt Gallery in Johannesburg in 1996, I love Africa at the Bell-Roberts Gallery in Cape Town in 2000, Us and Them at the Axis Gallery in New York in 2003, Sleep Sleep and Crocodile Tears at the Goodman Galleries in Johannesburg and Cape Town. Murray was included on the Cuban Biennial of 1994, and subsequently his works were exhibited at the Ludwig Museum of Contemporary Art in Germany. Brett was included on the group show, Springtime in Chile at the Museum of Contemporary Art in Santiago, Chile. He was also part of the travelling show Liberated Voices, Contemporary Art From South Africa which opened at the Museum for African Art in New York in 1998. His work formed part of the shows Min(d)fields at the Kunsthaus in Baselland, Switzerland in 2004 and The Geopolitics of Animation at the Centro Andaluz de Arte Contemporaneo in Seville in Spain in 2007.
He won the Cape Town Urban Art competition in 1998 that resulted in the public work Africa, a 3.5 metre bronze sculpture, being erected in Cape Town’s city centre. He won, with Stefaans Samcuia, the commission to produce an 8 × 30 metre wall sculpture for the foyer of the Cape Town International Convention Centre in 2003. He was nominated as the Standard Bank Young Artist in 2002.
Murray’s work is housed in numerous South African and international collections including Iziko, South African National Gallery, Cape Town, Johannesburg Art Gallery; Durban Art Gallery Tatham Art Gallery, Pietermaritzburg, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, University of Cape Town, University of South Africa, Pretoria, Sandton Municipality, Johannesburg, BHP Billiton Collection, Johannesburg, MTN Collection, Johannesburg, Sasol Collection, Johannesburg, South African Breweries, Johannesburg, South African Broadcasting Corporation, Johannesburg, The South African Reserve Bank, Johannesburg, Vodacom Collection, Cape Town, Collection of Mikki and Stanley Weithorn, USA.
Murray is a full-time artist who works in Cape Town, South Africa, where he lives with his wife Sanell Aggenbach and their daughter Lola.
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Brett Murray The Wives: Mrs Viva-Viva, 2010 Aluminium, paint, resin 45 x 29cm Edition of 5
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Brett Murray The Wives: Mrs Kickback, 2010 Aluminium, paint, resin 45 x 29cm Edition of 5
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Brett Murray The Wives: Mrs Comrade, 2010 Aluminium, paint, resin 45 x 29cm Edition of 5
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Brett Murray The Wives: Mrs Amandla (sold as a set of 4), 2010 Aluminium, paint, resin 45 x 29cm Edition of 5
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Brett Murray Forward Comrades!, 2010 Aluminium, paint, resin 48 x 37.5cm Edition of 5
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Brett Murray Never a Dull Moment, 2010 Metal, paint, gold leaf 148 x 238 x 12cm
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Brett Murray Portrait and Self-Portrait (set of 2), 2010 Plastic and wood 23 x 24.5 x 3cm (each) Edition of 5
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Brett Murray Myth, Cash, Cult (set of 3), 2010 Aluminium, paint, resin 50 x 27cm (each) Edition of 5
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Brett Murray Tender, 2010 Plastic, wood, silver leaf 110 x 38.5cm Edition of 3
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Brett Murray Hello and Goodbye, 2010 Plastic, wood 78.5 x 50cm
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Brett Murray Killed Twice, 2010 Plastic, wood, paint 120 x 120cm
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Brett Murray Militant Youth, 2010 Plastic, wood, paint 170 x 100cm
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Brett Murray Progress, 2010 Plastic, wood 129 x 99.5cm
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Brett Murray Fuck All Politicians, 2010 Plastic, wood 117 x 55cm
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Brett Murray Now Playing At a Town Hall Near You, 2010 Plastic, wood 150 x 150cm
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Brett Murray Freedom Charter: Houses and Security, 2010 Wood, wood veneer 92 x 66cm
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Brett Murray Freedom Charter: Law, 2010 Wood, wood veneer 92 x 66cm
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Brett Murray Freedom Charter: Peace and Friendship, 2010 Wood, wood veneer 92 x 66cm
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Brett Murray Freedom Charter: Work and Security, 2010 Wood, wood veneer 92 x 66cm
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Brett Murray Chancellor House, 2010 Metal, gold and silver leaf, paint 133 x 103 x 7cm
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Brett Murray Morning Glory, 2010 Metal, silver and gold leaf, paint 78 x 154.5 x 5cm
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Brett Murray Hail to the Thief, 2010 Metal, gold leaf, resin, aluminium 104 x 119 x 5cm
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Brett Murray Traditional Weapon, 2010 Metal, gold and silver leaf 98.5 x 77 x 4cm
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Brett Murray Legacy, 2010 Metal, gold and silver leaf 119 x 66 x 8cm
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Brett Murray Tribal Elder, 2010 Metal, gold and silver leaf, paint 132.5 x 115.5 x 9.5cm
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Brett Murray Chief, 2010 Metal, paint, aluminium, resin, gold leaf 122 x 118 x 8cm
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Brett Murray Crown Jewels, 2010 Metal, gold leaf 157 x 148 x 5cm
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Brett Murray Amandla, 2010 Metal, gold and silver leaf 150 x 149 x 12cm
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Brett Murray Viva Viva, 2010 Metal, gold and silver leaf 149 x 147 x 13cm
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Brett Murray He's Got Balls, 2010 Aluminium, paint, resin 49 x 25.5cm Edition of 8
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Brett Murray Ubuntu, 2010 Metal, gold and silver leaf, resin, aluminium, paint 186 x 158 x 15cm
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Brett Murray President and Sons, 2010 Stainless steel 4.5 x 99.5 x 4.5cm Edition of 5
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Brett Murray Julius on Horseback, 2010 Metal, paint, gold and silver leaf 225 x 155 x 4cm
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Brett Murray Hail to the Thief, 2010 Metal, gold and silver leaf 207.5 x 207 x 11cm
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Brett Murray Hold My Hand, I'm a Stranger in Paradise, 2010 Plastic, wood, silver leaf 227 x 154cm
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Brett Murray Corporate Identity, 2010 Stainless steel 75 x 66cm Edition of 5
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Brett Murray Cash is King, 2010 Silkscreen 100 x 70cm Edition of 25
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Brett Murray Umshini Wam (Diptych), 2010 Acrylic and gold leaf on canvas 86 x 63.5cm & 86 x 50.5cm
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Brett Murray Hail to the Thief, 2010 Etching 66 x 67cm Edition of 10
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Brett Murray Glory, 2010 Etching 43 x 43cm Edition of 10
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Brett Murray The Party vs. The People, 2010 Bronze 59 x 54 x 81cm Edition of 6
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Brett Murray One Party State, 2010 Bronze 52 x 53 x 57cm Edition of 6
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Brett Murray President, 2010 Silkscreen 100 x 70cm Edition of 22
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Brett Murray Amandla, 2010 Silkscreen 100 x 70cm Edition of 22
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Brett Murray The Struggle, 2010 Silkscreen 100 x 70cm Edition of 22
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Brett Murray The Struggle, 2010 Wood and wood veneer 152 x 113 x 2cm
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