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Artist Exhibitions:
SELECTED EXHIBITIONS
2006
* Young Contemporaries (Juried
by Kiki Smith), Boston
University, Boston, MA
* MFA Thesis Exhibition,
University Gallery, UMASS
Dartmouth, MA
* Watershed 20th Anniversary
Exhibition, Boston Society of
Crafts, Boston, MA
2005
* Clay: A Compelling
Expression, Jonathan Ferrara
Gallery, New Orleans, LA
(Invitational)
* Feats of Clay, Lincoln Art,
Lincoln, CA (...
Further Information
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Artist Galleries:
Coming Soon!
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Artist Reviews:
Coming Soon!
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Collections:
Coming Soon!
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Commissions:
Coming Soon!
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Artist Statement for Nathan Murrell
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A STORY ABOUT MAGIC
On my eighth birthday my grandmother gave me a Fisher-Price magic set. This set featured various plastic tricks, three sponge balls and a black box. The box had three doors, and behind them were traps
and false floors to cause whatever small object appear and disappear. I amazed myself for hours making things appear and disappear from my black box with its mysterious doors and traps. I put a crayon in the box, closed the door, and presto it turned into a plastic egg. As amazing as my box was, it would be the sponge balls, which would change my life, or certainly my perception of reality.
My favorite TV show at this time was Today’s Special. The show featured a mannequin named Dave who lived in a department store. He would come to life at night and help set up the displays when someone put on his magic hat and said the magic words: hocus pocus alamagocas. When I was watching one day I got the idea to try and make my sponge balls disappear without the aid of my black box. I put one ball on the counter and squeezed another in my hand. Concentrating on their transmutation, I said the magic words from the show: hocus pocus alamagocas. It worked. The ball from the counter vanished. Slowly I opened my hand to find it had joined its counterpart inside. I was startled but somehow not surprised; I expected it to happen and it did. Immediately I ran upstairs to show my parents but no matter how hard I tried it would never work again.
I often feel like I am still trying to make that ball disappear and many of my artistic interests and influences can be traced back to that singular moment and my attempt to re-create or understand it. Since I was a child I have been consciously or unconsciously seeking some connection to the transcendent. I have sought this connection by means of other cultures, magic, religion and now artwork. Currently I use imagery associated with popular culture, nautical and astrological exploration which is a metaphor for my personal search for meaning. My work is not only about search, but my anxiety, fear and disillusionment that this journey will have no end, or worse, be in vain.
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