“I would rather my pieces were seen as color than anything else. Perhaps because I began as a painter rather than a sculptor, I still tend to think of my sculpture, not as three-dimensional paintings, but as three-dimensional color…”– Robert Murray
Join us for a fascinating insider’s look into the world of sculpture with renowned artist Robert Murray in dialogue with author and publisher, Jonathan D. Lippincott. Murray’s bright yellow abstract sculpture, Hillary, is a beloved and joyous work in the Grounds For Sculpture collection. Hillary was recently restored by the masterful team at The Seward Johnson Atelier.
The evening will begin with light refreshments, followed by presentation and conversation with these two fascinating creatives. Lippincott’s most recent publication is the first-ever monograph on sculptor Robert Murray and is a fascinating retrospective of the artist’s 60-year career. Both he and Murray will be available for a book signing following the event.
ABOUT THE PRESENTERS
Robert Murray grew up in western Canada and moved to New York City in 1960. Quickly established as an important young artist, he took part in the renaissance of modern sculpture and public art that unfolded over the following decades alongside Mark di Suvero, Donald Judd, and Ellsworth Kelly. Murray was innovative in his use of industrial fabrication methods to create his pieces and in his deep investigation of landscape as inspiration for abstract sculpture. His work is part of museum collections throughout the United States and Canada, including the Storm King Art Center, the Whitney Museum of American Art, and the National Gallery of Canada. He was awarded the Order of Canada in 2000 and received the Barnett and Annalee Newman Foundation Grant Award for Lifetime Achievement in 2018.
Jonathan D. Lippincott is the author of two books, the newly published monograph Robert Murray: Sculpture, and Large Scale: Fabricating Sculpture in the 1960s and 1970s. He has written about art for The Paris Review Daily, On-Verge, and Tether: A Journal of Art, Literature, and Culture. He has curated shows including Chromatic Space, the eightieth-anniversary exhibition for American Abstract Artists, at the Shirley Fiterman Art Center in New York City, and Celestial and Terrestrial, at the New Arts Program in Kutztown, PA. Lippincott is the associate director of the non-profit publisher Library of American Landscape History, the leading publisher of books that advance the study and practice of American landscape architecture.