About
Established Cape Town based artist Brett Murray returns to Goodman Gallery Johannesburg with Hail to the Thief II. This body of satirical work continues his acerbic attacks on abuses of power, corruption and political dumbness seen in his 2010 Cape Town show Hail to the Thief. In this sequel show, 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. He was included on the group show Springtime in Chile at the Museum of Contemporary Art in Santiago, Chile. He was also part of the traveling 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, University of the Witwatersrand, University of Cape Town, University of South Africa, Sandton Municipality, BHP Billiton Collection, MTN Collection, Sasol Collection, South African Breweries, South African Broadcasting Corporation, The South African Reserve Bank, Vodacom Collection, 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 and son Kai.
|
-
Brett Murray Manifesto (Promises Promises Promises), 2012 Metal, paint and gold leaf Edition of 3
-
Brett Murray Forward Comrades, 2012 Wood and plastic
-
Brett Murray Mine, 2012 Metal, paint, gold leaf, aluminium and resin 128 x 148 x 15cm
-
Brett Murray The Skeptic, 2012 Wood and plastic 112 x 71 x 4cm
-
Brett Murray Little Prince, 2012 Bronze 670 x 510 x 410cm Edition of 6
-
Brett Murray Monopoly, 2012 Wood and plastic 119.5 x 189.5 x 4cm
-
Brett Murray Polish, 2012 Wood and plastic 91 x 69 x 4cm
-
Brett Murray Chain of Fools (Ubuntu), 2012 Metal, gold leaf, aluminium and resin 96 x 237 x 11.5 cm
-
Brett Murray Rot, 2012 Wood and plastic 120 x 120 x 4cm
-
Brett Murray Enough?, 2012 Metal, paint and gold leaf 145 x 236 cm Edition of 3
-
Brett Murray Forward Comrades, 2012 Silkscreen on cotton rag Image size: 38 x 30cm Edition of 25
-
Brett Murray Tribal Elder, 2010 Metal, gold and silver leaf, paint 132.5 x 115.5 x 9.5cm
-
Brett Murray The Wives: Mrs Viva-Viva, 2010 Aluminium, paint, resin 45 x 29cm Edition of 5
-
Brett Murray The Wives: Mrs Kickback, 2010 Aluminium, paint, resin 45 x 29cm Edition of 5
-
Brett Murray The Wives: Mrs Comrade, 2010 Aluminium, paint, resin 45 x 29cm Edition of 5
-
Brett Murray The Wives: Mrs Amandla (sold as a set of 4), 2010 Aluminium, paint, resin 45 x 29cm Edition of 5
-
Brett Murray Chief, 2010 Metal, paint, aluminium, resin, gold leaf 122 x 118 x 8cm
-
Brett Murray Amandla, 2010 Silkscreen 100 x 70cm Edition of 22
-
Brett Murray Cash is King, 2010 Silkscreen 100 x 70cm Edition of 25
-
Brett Murray Hail to the Thief, 2010 Etching 66 x 67cm Edition of 10
-
Brett Murray Glory, 2010 Etching 43 x 43cm Edition of 10
-
Brett Murray President, 2010 Silkscreen 100 x 70cm Edition of 22
-
Brett Murray The Struggle, 2010 Silkscreen 100 x 70cm Edition of 22
-
Brett Murray Persuasion, 2011 Gold Plated Bronze and Enamel Two units: 113 x 65 x 18 mm each Edition of 5
-
Brett Murray Power and Control, 2011 Wood and plastic 2 elements, each 75 x 75 x 4cm
-
Brett Murray The Chosen Few, 2011 Metal, gold leaf and paint 140 x 120 x 8cm
-
Brett Murray The Untouchables, 2011 Wood and plastic 200 x 150 x 4cm
-
Brett Murray Tender Party, 2011 Metal, paint and gold leaf 158 x 151 x 14cm
-
Brett Murray At the Trough, 2011 Bronze 52 x 24 x 32 cm Edition of 6
-
Brett Murray Sold, 2011 Newsprint 58 x 41cm Edition of 0
-
Brett Murray As Usual, 2011 Wood and plastic 120 x 90 x 5cm
-
Brett Murray Pop! Go the Populists, 2011 Wood and plastic 3 elements, each 87.5 x 69 x 4cm
-
Brett Murray Portrait and Self-Portrait (set of 2), 2010 Plastic and wood 23 x 24.5 x 3cm (each) Edition of 5
-
Brett Murray Umshini Wam (Diptych), 2010 Acrylic and gold leaf on canvas 86 x 63.5cm & 86 x 50.5cm
-
Brett Murray He's Got Balls, 2010 Aluminium, paint, resin 49 x 25.5cm Edition of 8
-
Brett Murray One Party State, 2010 Bronze 52 x 53 x 57cm Edition of 6
-
Brett Murray The Party vs. The People, 2010 Bronze 59 x 54 x 81cm Edition of 6
-
Brett Murray Militant Youth, 2010 Plastic, wood, paint 170 x 100cm
-
Brett Murray President and Sons, 2010 Stainless steel 4.5 x 99.5 x 4.5cm Edition of 5
-
Brett Murray Legacy, 2010 Metal, gold and silver leaf 119 x 66 x 8cm
-
Brett Murray Crown Jewels, 2010 Metal, gold leaf 157 x 148 x 5cm
-
Brett Murray Hail to the Thief, 2010 Metal, gold leaf, resin, aluminium 104 x 119 x 5cm
-
Brett Murray Freedom Charter: Houses and Security, 2010 Wood, wood veneer 92 x 66cm
-
Brett Murray Freedom Charter: Law, 2010 Wood, wood veneer 92 x 66cm
-
Brett Murray Freedom Charter: Peace and Friendship, 2010 Wood, wood veneer 92 x 66cm
-
Brett Murray Myth, Cash, Cult (set of 3), 2010 Aluminium, paint, resin 50 x 27cm (each) Edition of 5
-
Brett Murray Tender, 2010 Plastic, wood, silver leaf 110 x 38.5cm Edition of 3
-
Brett Murray Corporate Identity, 2010 Stainless steel 75 x 66cm Edition of 5
-
Brett Murray Killed Twice, 2010 Plastic, wood, paint 120 x 120cm
-
Installation picture [Brett Murray / Hail to the Thief II / 2012]
|
