Today we’d like to introduce you to Joel Murray.
Every artist has a unique story. Can you briefly walk us through yours?
At 6 or 7 years old, I remember walking with my father in an industrial area of downtown Denver. We were on our way to visit an artist friend of my father’s. As we walked, my father described his friend and the paintings he made. Embellishing already loose facts, my father described his friend as a spindly vampire that only painted at night with various human fluids as his medium.
I was trying to process both fear and excitement as we arrived at the storefront where the artist worked. We peered through a large glass window at a single painting on an easel. The room had nothing in it with the exception of the painting and a thin layer of drywall dust covering the concrete floor. I had nightmares featuring the painting and its creator for weeks after this experience. I am forever appreciative of this memory and my father’s bullshit story, because both showed me the power held by an image and the potential for it to create a story for the viewer. I continue to be attracted to various visual forms of storytelling in my work, balancing the absurdities of my imagination with current social issues.
Please tell us about your art.
I make figurative drawings, paintings and small sculptural works in order to understand critical social issues. I try to use humor to invite the viewer to dissect and think about otherwise depressing or confusing sociopolitical topics. My work is narrative; where people such as Al Sharpton, Jesus H. Christ, and many other known and unknown protagonists/antagonists engage in absurd and pointed scenes. While I draw, I have one foot loosely dipped in reality. The other foot is wearing an interesting sock and is firmly planted in some abstruse and continuous landscape where I try to make sense of complex and topical goings on. I need to use drawing to understand the culture I am a contributor to.
As an artist, how do you define success and what quality or characteristic do you feel is essential to success as an artist?
My version of success as a maker is to create work that people can discuss, laugh at and enjoy even after I die. More importantly, I want to help the students I teach flourish as artists and people. I want to help educate young people about the value of visual art and add to my community as an artist and educator. Art has the ability to bring people together and I want to be able to usher in people of all sorts to experience the intrinsic value art has to offer. This is why I am a Museum Educator at Dallas Contemporary and teach college students studio art.
How or where can people see your work? How can people support your work?
I have a website, which is https://joelmurrayart.weebly.com/ . My email address is joelmurray26@yahoo.com. I am working in a studio located in the Cedars Union (Cedars area of Dallas) and I am available for studio visits upon request. You can schedule an appointment with me by email to see and discuss my work with me. Please do!!
Contact Info:
- Website: https://joelmurrayart.weebly.com/
- Phone: 7204365783
- Email: joelmurray26@yahoo.com
- Instagram: joel_s_murray
Image Credit:
Ben Hines
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