BRETT MURRAY, WEALTH MANAGEMENT, 2024
ENGRAVED PLASTIC AND ALUMINIUM, 23 1/2 x 11 3/4 x 1 3/8 in. (60 x 30 x 3.5 cm)
AC53053
BRETT MURRAY, BOILING FROG: PROTECTION, 2020
SPANISH MARQUINIA & FRENCH RED MARBLE, (68 x 47 x 39 cm)
BRETT MURRAY, BOILINGS FROGS, 2020
PLASTIC AND WOOD, 70 3/4 x 50 3/8 x 2 in. (180 x 128 x 5 cm)
AC50650
BRETT MURRAY, IN THE HEADLIGHTS, 2020
PLASTIC AND WOOD, 53 7/8 x 53 7/8 in. (137 x 137 cm)
AC50654
BRETT MURRAY, NAVAL GAZING AND ITS PERILS, 2020
ACRYLIC ON CANVAS, 63 3/4 x 63 3/4 in. (162 x 162 cm)
AC50657
BRETT MURRAY, RAINBOW, 2020
GREY MARBLE AND GOLD LEAF, 22 x 43 1/4 x 1 1/2 in. (56 x 110 x 4 cm)
AC50664
BRETT MURRAY, THE PSYCHOLOGY OF PLACE, 2020
PLASTIC, WOOD AND GOLD LEAF, 52 x 52 3/4 x 2 in. (132 x 134 x 5 cm)
AC50660
BRETT MURRAY, BOILING FROGS: PROTECTION, 2019-2020
SPANISH MARQUINIA & FRENCH RED MARBLE, 26 3/4 x 18 x 15 1/4 in. (68 x 46 x 39 cm)
AC49808
BRETT MURRAY, REFUGE, 2019-2020
GREY MARBLE, 23 1/2 x 11 3/4 x 15 5/8 in. (60 x 30 x 40 cm)
AC49639
BRETT MURRAY, SHAME, 2019-2020
GREY BARDIGLIO IMPERIALE MARBLE, 29 7/8 x 11 3/4 x 11 3/4 in. (76 x 30 x 30 cm)
AC49638
BRETT MURRAY, PORTRAIT, 2019
WHITE CARRARA MARBLE, 49 1/8 x 34 3/8 x 26 1/2 in. (125 x 87 x 67 cm)
AC48901
BRETT MURRAY, PREMONITION, 2019
BRONZE, 23 1/2 x 23 1/2 x 17 5/8 in. (60 x 60 x 45 cm)
AC49580
BRETT MURRAY, ECHO CHAMBER, 2018
BRONZE, 11 x 20 3/8 x 20 3/8 in. (28 x 52 x 52 cm)
WAC20585
BRETT MURRAY, HIDE, 2018
Polished bronze, 29 1/2 x 19 5/8 x 18 7/8 in. (75 x 50 x 48 cm)
WAC21132
BRETT MURRAY, POPULIST COCK, 2018
BRONZE, 16 1/2 x 6 7/8 x 12 1/2 in. (42 x 17 x 32 cm)
AC50619
BRETT MURRAY, PORTRAIT 2/6, 2018
BRONZE, 39 1/4 x 20 3/4 x 27 1/8 in. (100 x 53 x 69 cm)
WAC21748
BRETT MURRAY, SELF PORTRAIT, 2018
BRONZE, 21 1/4 x 15 5/8 x 22 3/8 in. (54 x 40 x 57 cm)
AC49694
BRETT MURRAY, SURRENDER, 2018
METAL AND GOLD LEAF, 76 3/4 x 128 5/8 x 4 1/4 in. (195 x 327 x 11 cm)
WAC21569
BRETT MURRAY, THE PERILS OF NAVAL GAZING, 2018
PLASTIC, WOOD AND PAINT, 39 1/8 x 39 1/8 in. (99 x 99 cm)
WAC21558
BRETT MURRAY, THE PROBLEM WITH XENOPHOBIA / FUNDAMENTALISM / OTHERING / THE VICTIMS OF THE VICTIMS, 2018
PLASTIC, WOOD, PAINT AND GOLD LEAF, 31 3/8 x 59 in. (80 x 150 cm)
WAC21563
BRETT MURRAY, TSEK, 2018
METAL AND PAINT, 19 5/8 x 82 5/8 x 4 1/4 in. (50 x 210 x 11 cm)
WAC21568
BRETT MURRAY, MY FAVOURITE POLITICIAN IS A DEAD POLITICIAN (CANARY), Ed. 1/6, 2017
BRONZE, (30 x 13 x 7 cm)
BRETT MURRAY, NEVER AGAIN AGAIN 2/3, 2017
METAL,PAINT,GOLD LEAF, 43 5/8 x 32 1/4 in. (111 x 82 cm)
CONT SA
AC46331
BRETT MURRAY, POTENTATE II, 2017
METAL,PAINT, RESIN BALLS AND GOLD LEAF, 53 7/8 x 47 5/8 x 3 1/8 in. (137 x 121 x 8 cm)
CONT SA
AC46336
BRETT MURRAY, TRUMP, 2017
METAL,PAINT, RESIN BALLS AND GOLD LEAF, 48 3/8 x 37 3/8 x 5 in. (123 x 95 x 13 cm)
CONT SA
AC46335
BRETT MURRAY, AGAIN AGAIN (MONUMENTAL), 2016
BRONZE, 98 3/8 in. (250 cm)
CONT SA:SCULPT
AC45435
Everard Read and CIRCA Johannesburg are delighted to present a solo presentation AGAIN AGAIN by Brett Murray, the artist’s first exhibition with the gallery. Opening on the 2nd of March this conclusive body of works from 2015 to 2017 will occupy both Everard Read and CIRCA galleries in Johannesburg. Murray utilises the full breadth of both gallery spaces and expands upon the 2015 Cape Town exhibition of the same name. This includes the new monumental Again Again bronze (two stylized bulls back to back and weighing 1.5 tonnes) installed in the CIRCA main space. The Everard Read galleries include the full selection of Again Again examples first seen in 2015 alongside freshly conceived artworks from the last 2 years: bronze sculptures, paintings, wall based panels and video.
Murray returns with many of his archetypal, satirical ‘languages’. Smooth perfect bronze forms continue to be heavily imbued with symbolism: an elephant with a limp ‘trunk’, a Lying Pig with a Pinocchio nose (2015), a golden snail (Golden Revolution) (2016) and a monolithic gorilla sulking against the wall (The Visionary / Portrait/Self-portrait (2015)). There are other new creatures - a sharp toothed cartoon gremlin (The Predator (2016)) ominously engaging with the viewing public, a severed Predator Head (2016) on its side and a gold phallic form on legs ‘The Patriarch’. Murray’s use of satire as a sharpened ‘tool’ is exemplified in the witty titling and stylised cartoon-like forms. For the artist, languages and innuendo are a part of his arsenal to highlight the most complex messages often around the inevitability of political inertia, pomposity or posturing and to hold the powers that be to account. The inclusion of several wall mounted artworks, mostly involving text, serves directly to reinforce the theme of repetition, espousing a rather world-weary, yet canny view of, ‘here we go again’ or ‘we’ve seen this all before” . In Call and Response (2015) the artist gravitates from a school-like repetition of I must not make political art towards the statement on a partner panel demanding accountability- You are a corrupt fuck! Never Again Again (2014) too is a robust accusation, despite Mandela’s famous assertion, that we might well have to go through it all again, albeit in a different guise. Though Murray’s work is unequivocally rooted in his domestic experience in South Africa DARK DAYS (2017) says much about the pervasive prevailing global political climate: the swing towards populism, narrow introspection and xenophobic reactionary politics around the world. Indeed, Murray's messages, have graduated towards being global metaphors which readily translate to anywhere around the world. Murray’s video Triumph (which was also featured in 2015 as part of the South African Pavilion at the 56th Venice Biennale) refers heavily to Riefenstahl’s fascist propaganda film Triumph of the Will (Triumph des Willens, 1935). Here democracy slips further into oblivion and finally overrun by fascism grinds to a halt. Splitting the screen (with one white and one black protagonist who chant, ‘We are the chosen people!’) it has all the references of Hitler’s infamous 1934 Nuremberg Rally speech. Triumph by so eloquently exposing Nationalist rhetoric as dangerous in any hands, is in many ways Again Again’s coup de grace, demanding that we pay more attention to the language of politics, or else end up we here we started. Now, more than ever this place’s Brett Murray at the forefront of artistic activism well beyond the reach of the African Continent, demanding that we inform ourselves and challenge what is acceptable around us. This is perhaps Murray’s greatest skill: that the artworks are so seductive or assertive that we are drawn in instinctively to investigate further. We are entertained, we are impressed but ultimately we are forced to look and acknowledge what is really going on for the artist, as he challenges the upheavel in the world around us. The exhibition will run until the 2nd April 2017. A portfolio is available upon request.
BRETT MURRAY, DARK DAYS, 2016
WOOD,PLASTIC AND GOLD LEAF, 59 x 59 in. (150 x 150 cm)
CONT SA
AC46309
BRETT MURRAY, THE PATRIARCH, 2016
BRONZE, 11 3/4 x 5 7/8 x 3 7/8 in. (30 x 15 x 10 cm)
CONT SA
AC46346
BRETT MURRAY, THE QUEST FOR ECONOMIC FREEDOM III, 2016
WOOD,PLASTIC AND GOLD LEAF, 61 3/8 x 70 3/4 in. (156 x 180 cm)
CONT SA
AC46308
BRETT MURRAY, THE FUNDAMENTALISTS 1/6, 2015
BRONZE, 19 5/8 x 19 5/8 x 27 1/2 in. (50 x 50 x 70 cm)
CONT SA
AC45557
BRETT MURRAY, THE VISIONARY: PORTRAIT/ SELF PORTRAIT, 2015
BRONZE, 23 1/2 x 24 3/4 x 17 5/8 in. (60 x 63 x 45 cm)
CONT SA
AC45615
BRETT MURRAY, LYING PIG, 2014
BRONZE, 19 5/8 x 10 5/8 x 22 3/4 in. (50 x 27 x 58 cm)
CONT SA
AC45614
BRETT MURRAY, FORWARD COMRADES, 2012
SILKSCREEN ON COTTON RAGS, 14 3/4 x 11 3/4 in. (37 x 30 cm)
CONT SA
AC45554
BRETT MURRAY, CHIEF, 2010
METAL,PAINT, RESIN,ALLUMINIUM,GOLD LEAF, 48 x 46 3/8 x 3 1/8 in. (122 x 118 x 8 cm)
CONT SA
AC45551
BRETT MURRAY, CORPORATE IDENTITY, 2010
STAINLESS STEEL, 29 1/2 x 26 in. (75 x 66 cm)
CONT SA
AC45624
BRETT MURRAY, THE STRUGGLE 11/22, 2010
SILKSCREEN, 39 1/4 x 27 1/2 in. (100 x 70 cm)
CONT SA
AC45634
BRETT MURRAY, ROGUES GALLERY I 5/25, 2008
SILKSCREEN, 23 3/8 x 16 3/8 in. (59 x 41 cm)
CONT SA
AC45550
BRETT MURRAY, MANAGING DISSENT, 2005
METAL,PAINT,GOLD LEAF, 77 1/2 x 63 x 7 in. (197 x 160 x 18 cm)
CONT SA
AC45580
BRETT MURRAY, ADULTS
MARBLE AND GOLD LEAF, 19 5/8 x 32 5/8 x 1 1/2 in. (50 x 83 x 4 cm)
AC50661
BRETT MURRAY, BROOD
PERSPEX,WOOD AND GOLD, 28 1/4 x 28 1/4 x 1 1/2 in. (72 x 72 x 4 cm)
AC52701
BRETT MURRAY, CALL AND RESPONSE 2/3
ENGRAVED PLASTIC AND PAINT, 43 5/8 x 32 1/4 in. (111 x 82 cm)
CONT SA
AC46330
BRETT MURRAY, DEATH BY INNOCENCE
BRONZE, 11 3/4 x 8 1/4 x 9 3/4 in. (30 x 21 x 25 cm)
AC52467
BRETT MURRAY, DOUBT
METAL AND GOLD LEAF, 15 5/8 x 106 1/4 x 1 1/2 in. (40 x 270 x 4 cm)
AC50662
BRETT MURRAY, DWELL I
PERSPEX,WOOD AND GOLD, 47 1/8 x 35 3/8 x 1 1/2 in. (120 x 90 x 4 cm)
AC52693
BRETT MURRAY, DWELL II
PERSPEX,WOOD AND GOLD, 47 1/8 x 35 3/8 x 1 1/2 in. (120 x 90 x 4 cm)
AC52694
BRETT MURRAY, DWELL III
PERSPEX,WOOD AND GOLD, 47 1/8 x 35 3/8 x 1 1/2 in. (120 x 90 x 4 cm)
AC52695
BRETT MURRAY, EMPEROR
BRONZE, 39 1/4 x 30 1/4 x 25 1/2 in. (100 x 77 x 65 cm)
CONT SA
AC45574
BRETT MURRAY, FATHER (MONKEY)
BRONZE, 17 5/8 x 10 5/8 x 12 1/8 in. (45 x 27 x 31 cm)
AC52469
BRETT MURRAY, MIND
PERSPEX,WOOD AND GOLD, 36 1/2 x 26 3/4 x 1 1/2 in. (93 x 68 x 4 cm)
AC52699
BRETT MURRAY, SHELTER
PERSPEX,WOOD AND GOLD, 49 1/8 x 49 1/8 x 1 1/2 in. (125 x 125 x 4 cm)
AC52698
BRETT MURRAY, VIGIL
PERSPEX,WOOD AND GOLD, 28 1/4 x 28 1/4 x 1 1/2 in. (72 x 72 x 4 cm)
AC52700
Established in 1913, Everard Read is Africa's oldest commercial art gallery and presents modern and contemporary art from South Africa. Our Johannesburg galleries have a rigorously curated exhibition programme of South Africa's top artists.