Melissa Murray

melissamurray.com | @melissamurrayny

Fire as psyche and symbol: Melissa Murray anthropomorphizes her home in a mirrored dreamscape.

Melissa Murray Artist Statement:

We breathe in, We breathe out is a new series of works on paper realized through two separate lines of inquiry; large paintings that represent consecutive moments in a timeline and a series of small works that capture singular moments throughout the day. The work is about making new spaces where there is no room, facing death while creating life, losing yourself through transformation. They are about fear and the unknown.

We breathe in, We breathe out presents deeply personal, metaphorical environments that represent moments in my life. Domestic interiors and exteriors create an imagined space that anthropomorphizes its content. In this way, I produce narratives that are more self-portrait than still life. I model my work as a literary outline, presenting an overlying theme that gradually dissects into smaller moments creating an environment of emotional effect. Maggie Nelson’s essays of bulleted yet fluid observations on her life or the thoughtful remembrance by Mary Oliver of a place and its inhabitants, inanimate or living, inspire my work. The emotional heavings of an Anne Sexton poem and the way she was torn between domesisity and her life as an individual deeply influences my practice.

The structure and surrounding land in the series of paintings stem from my small black cottage in the Catskill Mountains. The house represents a living breathing entity in my life where I store emotionally charged objects; old memories are activated when I visit and upon leaving, their stories are paused in the interim. Pulling narratives from this experience, the work expresses a gratitude for the richness time affords us. The “black house” serves as my Charles Burchfield's cabin, a vessel of devotion for a crescent moon to shine on. Sally Mann’s adoration for her Farm parallels my sentiments for this land. I watch my child grow and flourish here and consider the fragile, fleeting nature of time and the loss that will inevitably follow. We breathe in, We breathe out portrays an homage to the symbolism of Vanitas, they are a collection of coded observations and a tribute to bonded relationships.

Checklist:

You with the matches, me with the kindling, acrylic on paper, 60” x 40”, 2019, $6000