RUTH MURRAY: GOOD MORNING, MIDNIGHT
Elysium Gallery, Swansea. Fri 12 Apr-Sat 11 May
The title of British painter Ruth Murray’s latest exhibition Good Morning, Midnight is inspired by the Emily Dickinson poem and the Jean Rhys novel of the same name. The latter work follows Sasha Jensen, a lonely and depressed alcoholic, as she wanders through a series of Parisian cafes, bars and hotel rooms. The plight of this solitary protagonist, and her unusual and often contradictory behavior, influenced Murray in the creation of the melancholy female characters that often inhabit her own portraits. Her paintings are often about the experiences of women, and the hidden thoughts and psychologies of the situations in which they find themselves.
Murray’s work is characterised by a preoccupation with patterns and the vibrant colouring of light, which form vivid yet sensitive portraits of disenchanted teens with a story behind their enigmatic eyes. Alienation, adolescence and paranoia are the themes that come to mind when looking at Murray’s pictures, emerging out of suspicious glares and slight gestures. Brightly coloured and playful, but also mysterious and suggestive, her paintings sometimes depict cryptic, ritualistic scenes, laden with dark humour. This solo exhibition at Swansea’s Elysium Gallery heralds the arrival of a striking new vision in contemporary British painting.
Admission: free. Info: 07980 925449 / www.elysiumgallery.com
words Sam Pryce