Summer session John Murray classes week of June 30, 2014

Next week I will set up a still life for you to work from.

The Whitney has a Jeff Koons Retrospective: big, shiny, sexy, vulgar, commercial, Postmodern
collectibles for the very rich and ambitious.
Has our life within the grid become so desperate and mindless that this work has come to reflect our retinal
cognition?
Yes, I'm afraid so.
Given that depressing and existential reality, and the realization that humanity is an infestation on a fertile rock in space, I must say that I enjoy this stuff in a perverse way.
How can one be moralistic at a moment like late June 2014.
Suck it up and enjoy the bullshit and flash of Jeff and his big-money kitsch!



As my favorite reviewer/critic, Roberta Smith says;
"The erotic and, to some extent, the scatological are never far beneath the surface in Mr. Koons’s art. Exhibit A is “Play-Doh,” a new, almost certain masterpiece whose sculptural enlargement of a rainbow pile of radiant chunks captures exactly the matte textures of the real thing, but also evokes paint, dessert and psychedelic poop."
Aah Jeff, we hardly knew ye.
See you next week, John.

Summer session John Murray classes week of June 23, 2014

Summer Solstice is here! 

Next week try expressing the pleasures and heat of Summer.
Matisse was magnificent with his Moroccan and Southern France paintings, as well of course,
as his Oceanic paper cutouts.
To my mind the best work that somehow expresses Summer and the mystery of it all is Picasso's
"Night Fishing at Antibes"

See you next week, John.

John Murray classes June 16-23, 2014

Supercharged Painting Instructor: John Murray June 16 - 20 This course begins with the notion that Jackson Pollock liberated painting and takes off from there. Students will investigate various painting media including acrylic, glazes, pigments, and collage. Both figurative and abstract approaches are encouraged in this energetic class with an emphasis on Post Modern plasticity and visual language.

Visit our website or contact us at ce@montserrat.edu or 978 921 4242 x 1202 to learn more.

Next week I will be in Beverly Mass. teaching an immersive painting workshop.
There is still room in the class if you are interested.

See you soon, John

John Murray classes week of June 9, 2014

Last week of class!
Please bring any work that you would like me to review next week.
I have enjoyed and been inspired in my own work by working with you this term at NAC.
The week of June 16 I will be doing a workshop at Montserrat College of Art in Beverly MA.
The rest of the summer I will be teaching at NAC every Monday and Wednesday 4:30-8:30 pm.

See you next week, John