Robert Murray: Models, Paintings and Sculpture

A pioneer of large-scale abstract metal sculpture
at Studio 21 Fine Art

Robert Murray, recipient of the Barnett and Annalee Newman Foundation Lifetime Achievement Award, and Studio 21 Director Deborah Carver have selected a group of models, watercolour paintings, metal wall work and one full scale sculpture (“Enigma”) for his first solo exhibition in Nova Scotia opening July 7, 2018 at the Halifax gallery.
Robert Murray is one of North America’s most eminent sculptors. His work is typically curved, twisted, folded and joined steel and aluminum, painted in high colours. He has just been awarded the prestigious 2018 Barnett and Annalee Newman Foundation Lifetime Achievement Award for his lifelong contribution to the arts and contemporary sculpture.
“I have been fortunate to see examples of Murray’s large painted sculptures situated outdoors. Murray has a strong understanding of landscape. He is a small aircraft pilot and he lives part of the year on Georgian Bay where the bedrock emerges from the lake as islands. The folded steel of his large sculptures can resemble topography, seen from flight. Alternatively, they may spring from the ground as man-made markers,” says Deborah Carver, Director, Studio 21 Fine Art. “It is an honour to show Robert Murray’s work at Studio 21. The models or maquettes allow us to see a variety of works without facing the challenge of moving and exhibiting full scale sculptures.”
Robert Murray has made some of the great public monuments of modern Canada…. Robert Fulford
A Canadian (b. Vancouver 1936) who resides in Pennsylvania and on Georgian Bay, Murray was part of the group of metal sculptors who fabricated large outdoor work at the Lippincott Foundry in North Haven Connecticut. The list of artists who produced work at Lippincott is a who’s who of 20th century sculpture – Lichtenstein, Oldenburg, Indiana, Judd, Newman – and Murray. A retrospective exhibition “Robert Murray, The Factory Studio” was mounted in 1999 by the National Gallery of Canada.
Robert Murray’s work is held in international collections including National Gallery of Canada, AGO, Montreal Museum of Fine Arts, University of Toronto Art Centre, Metropolitan Museum (NY), Whitney Museum (NY), Storm King and Walker Art Centre (Minneapolis).