CLAIRE MURRAY

(b. 1970 Durham, UK)

Claire Murray's paintings often show contrasting tonal values, and varying soft and hard edges, textures and colours. The elements: water, earth, air and sky are present in almost all of the pieces, suggesting a natural order, balance, drama and the fragility of our environment. Her paintings are an attempt to understand the systems and natural order of our existence. She is inspired by the landscape, and a sense of place and space. Claire never works to represent a place, but instead to inhabit that space within a painting. Almost every piece contains some form of line contrasting with the paint, suggesting energy or perhaps a form of scarring the surface. Since University Claire Murray has been heavily influenced by the Abstract Expressionists, poet Ted Hughes, and artists Peter Lanyon and Graeme Sutherland. During her MA in Fine Art, she explored conceptual and mixed media forms, such as installation, photography and film, before returning to painting later.

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