James Austin Murray & Mareo Rodriguez: Black Desert

Venue: 320 S Cedros, Solana Beach, CA 92075
Opening Reception: Saturday, January 19th
Opening Reception Hours: 6-9 pm
Contact us: 858-523-9155, info@madisongalleries.com

Solana Beach, California – Madison Gallery presents Black Desert, a group exhibition featuring the work of James Austin Murray and Mareo Rodriguez. These two artists find inspiration in light as the most important source of energy and life.

Known for his large-scale, monochromatic black oil paintings, James Austin Murray’s work invites the viewer to look beyond the black canvas and see infinite colors and forms. His gestural brushstrokes create wave patterns, which reflect light from the surface and provide a layered and wondrous landscape that is captivating and ever mysterious. The black paint becomes a beacon of light in each composition.

James Austin Murray is a graduate of Parsons School of Design, New York, NY (1992). He has exhibited throughout New York, Brooklyn, Chicago, Atlanta, Miami and East Hampton, NY. He is a recipient of the Dedalus Foundation Fellowship Award for residency at The Vermont Studio Center, VT and has completed residencies at The Woodstock Byrdcliffe Guild in Woodstock, NY and Bermis Center for Contemporary Art in Omaha, NE. Murray’s work is found in public collections such as Sofitel (Philadelphia, PA), Hotel Palomar (Philadelphia, PA), Four Seasons Hotel (Washington, D.C.), Omni Hotel (Nashville, TN) and Tom Ford (Designer). James Austin Murray lives and works in New York City.

Barcelona based and Colombian bred sculptor, painter and architect Mareo Rodriguez’s work is filled with the grittiness of natural territory: mountains, rocks, waveforms and lava. Nature, the ever-changing topography of the mountains and the condensation of light and its process of transformation and expansion of energy over time are his biggest inspiration. He says: ’Matter is light condensed.’ Referring to matter as a process of transformation and expansion of energy over time. His work is constantly moving like a tectonic plate and depicts beautiful earth forces. ‘I seek to cover different scales within my artistic approach.’ Mareo has previously exhibited internationally in Spain, Italy, France, Canada and England, among others. This will be his first exhibition on the West Coast.

Founded in 2001, Madison Gallery is committed to representing mid-career and established international artists whom work in a range of media. Inspired by an earnest dedication and passion for art, the gallery consistently exhibits a high standard of contemporary art. Madison Gallery works closely in building private, corporate and public collections thus placing it amongst the leading contemporary galleries in California. Blouin Modern Painters Magazine has recognized our program for the fifth year in a row as one of the Top 500 galleries worldwide.