BIOGRAPHY

America, b.1969

My work as an artist is about searching and it’s a little like searching in a dark room with a flashlight that will only brighten a few inches in front of it. We artists feel our way along the walls and try to identify the furniture and layout of the place that we find ourselves in. We use the tools we have and each of us arrive with slightly different tools. Each of us learn to build different tools to help us plod on in the dark.

Sometimes the dark is where you find the best surprises. Almost a decade ago, I moved from figurative work to working on small canvases, limiting myself to black oil paint. Forcing this parameter on myself was unpredictably liberating. Over the years I’ve expanded and contracted on my limiting parameters. I spent several years building shaped canvases which were a jumping off point for the paint that followed. Nearly a year and a half ago, I decided to go back to a single shape, the square. I wasn’t sure how far I could take it before I hit a wall and needed to reconsider the next step.

To my surprise, I found this even tighter parameter offered more of the unexpected. Every time I felt myself inching up to that wall, I found a way past it. Like martial arts, there was a type of repetition involved and I knew that if I ever got to the point where I could only repeat myself, I would be done with it. The surprise I am talking about is the increments of improvement in the technique and subject. I gathered more control and became more demanding of the work and more and more of the paintings would get scrapped because they just weren’t as good as I came to expect. In truth, I keep expecting to hit the wall but somehow I keep getting past it.

SOLO EXHIBITIONS

2020

L’Eloge du Noir, Macadam Gallery, Belgium

Chrysalistasis, Lyons Wier Gallery, New York, NY

Fusing Time, Bruno David Gallery, St. Louis, MO

2019

Curved Lines,with Benoit Lemercier, Opera Gallery, Monaco

In Tandem, with Mark Zimmermann, Lyons Wier Gallery, New York, NY

Black Desert, with Mareo Rodrigues, Madison Gallery, Solana Beach, CA

2018

Distant Stars, Bruno David Gallery, St.Louis, MO

Future Proof, Lyons Wier Gallery, NY, NY

2017

Light On Black, Madison Gallery, La Jolla, CA
James Austin Murray – New Paintings, Gilman Contemporary, Ketchum, ID

2016

Super Massive Black Hole, Lyons Wier Gallery, New York, NY

2015

Asia Contemporary Art Show, Hong Kong, China

2014

Art Market Hamptons with Lyons Wier Gallery, East Hampton, NY
Mystery of Light, Lyons Wier Gallery, New York, NY
Asia Contemporary Art Show, Hong Kong, China

2013

Ides of March, Narthex Gallery at St. Peters, New York, NY

2007

Tree’s Whisper, Dam-Stuhltrager Gallery, Brooklyn, NY

2005

Over-On, Dam-Stuhltrager Gallery, Brooklyn, NY

2004

Visiting Artist, International Gallery of Contemporary Art, Anchorage, AK

2001

On and Off White, L.I.C.K. Ltd, Fine Art, Long Island City, NY

GROUP EXHIBITIONS

2019

 All Black and White. Contemporary Art from the Frederick R. Weisman Art Foundation, 

Frederick R. Weisman Museum of Art, Pepperdine University

New York Centric, Curated by James Little, The Art Student’s League, New York, NY 

A short suervey of contemporary abstraction, Sandy Bennett Art Gallery,  Englewood NJ, NY

2018

Autumnal Group Exhibition, Lyons Wier Gallery, New York, NY

2017

Summer Wrap Up, Lyons Wier Gallery, New York, NY
Stroke of Genius: James Austin Murray, Michael Boroniec, Rodger Stevens, Lyons Wier Gallery, New York, NY
Luminance, Lyons Wier Gallery, New York, NY

2016

(upcoming) Walking Slow, Brooklyn Workshop Gallery, Brooklyn, NY Fourthought (four person show), Lyons Wier Gallery, New York, NY

2015

Lost Cat, Cape Cod Museum of Art, Dennis, MA Governors Island Art Fair, New York, NY
Unlimited Potential, Lyons Wier Gallery, New York, NY Pulse New York with Lyons Wier Gallery, New York, NY

2014

Art Miami, Lyons Wier Gallery, Miami FL
Downtown Art Fair, Lyons Wier Gallery, New York, NY MIA in MIA, Lyons Wier Gallery, New York, NY

2013

Aqua Art Miami, Lyons Wier Gallery, NY
1st Dibs, New York Design Center via Alisa Contemporary, New York, NY

2012

Governors Island Art Fair, New York, NY

2011

Highline Open Studio Preview Exhibition, New York, NY
Dia:Beacon Staff Exhibition, Marion Royael Gallery, Beacon, NY

2008

American Lifescape, DBA256, Pomona, CA
NYU Small works show, 80 WSE, New York, NY
Panorama Project 3, Jonathan LeVine Gallery, New York, NY

2006

Scope Miami, Dam-Stuhltrager, Miami, FL

2005

Scope Miami, Dam-Stuhltrager, Miami, FL
New Artist Show, Bettcher Gallery, Miami, FL Le Papier, Gescheidle Gallery, Chicago, Illinois Group Show, Soho Myriad, Atlanta, GA
Scope NY, Lyons-Wier Gallery, New York, NY

2002

The Panorama Project, The Front Room Brooklyn, NY)

2001

The Exquisite Day Project, Plus Ultra, Brooklyn, NY

2000

Flowers and Configurations, Angel International Art, EastHampton, NY

1999

Sex Death and Religion, Gershwin Hotel Gallery, New York, NY
Size Matters, Gale Gates et al. Brooklyn, NY

1996

Places People, 313 Gallery, New York, NY

1992

Human Condition, 313 Gallery, New York, NY

AWARDS & RESIDENCES

2012

Bemis Center for Contemporary Art

2011

Dedalus Foundation Fellowship Award for residency at VSC
Residency at The Vermont Studio Center
Artist in Residence at The Woodstock Byrdcliffe Guild

PUBLIC COLLECTIONS

Sofitel, Philadelphia, PA
Hotel Palomar, Philadelphia, PA
Four Seasons Hotel, Washington D.C.
Omni Hotel, Nashville, TN
Tom Ford, Designer