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Talk Art
Jesse Murry: Lisa Yuskavage and Jarrett Earnest
We discover the world of an incredible artist JESSE MURRY who passed away in 1993 leaving an extraordinary legacy of artwork, poetry and writing. Fusing the Romantic painting tradition of John Constable and J. M. W. Turner with the quality of mind and imagination of Wallace Stevens’s poetry, Murry uniquely sought to create a “landscape” within the fiction of painting that could be “more than a place to dwell but a suitable space for dreams.”
We meet two special guests this week to remember Murry’s artwork and to explore his extraordinary thinking - the artists #LisaYuskavage @LisaYuskavageStudio and @JarrettEarnest - who together have united to curate an extraordinary new exhibition titled ‘Jesse Murry: Rising’, curated by Lisa Yuskavage and Jarrett Earnest, at #DavidZwirner’s 533 West 19th Street location in New York.
Painter and poet #JesseMurry (1948–1993) identified three significant approaches to landscape—'poetic,' 'dramatic,' and 'visionary,' which he aimed to synthesize into abstract paintings. Born in North Carolina, Jesse Murry studied art and philosophy at Sarah Lawrence College before moving to New York City in 1979. His essays on artists including Hans Hofmann and Howard Hodgkin appeared in a range of publications, including Arts Magazine. After two years of teaching art history and exhibiting at Hobart and William Smith Colleges, Murry enrolled in the Yale School of Art at the age of thirty-six.
‘Jesse Murry: Rising’ brings together paintings from the last five years of the artist's life. This work—made while confronting his impending mortality from AIDS-related illness—testifies to Murry's lifelong belief in the capacity of painting to hold the complexity of human meaning, at the meeting of a material fact and a location within the mind. Exhibition runs from 17 SEPTEMBER – 23 OCTOBER 2021. Learn more: https://www.davidzwirner.com/exhibitions/2021/more-life/jesse-murry
Forthcoming on September 28, 2021, and titled after a paper the artist wrote while at Yale, Painting Is a Supreme Fiction is an unprecedented collection of Murry’s writings. Edited and with an introduction by Jarrett Earnest and a foreword by Hilton Als, the book also includes transcriptions of two of the artist’s notebooks, in which the spatialization of the words across the page approaches the condition of thought. We strongly recommend buying this special book!!!
Thank you Lisa, Jarrett and the team at @DavidZwirner. #JesseMurry
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1. Introducing Talk Art
39:25||Season 1, Ep. 1Welcome to Talk Art! Actor Russell Tovey and gallerist Robert Diament discuss how they first became friends a decade ago, plus more recent adventures at Frieze Art Fair, the Turner Prize, South London Gallery and other exhibition highlights in London, as well as Robert's gallery relocating to the seaside town of Margate, Kent.2. Sir Michael Craig-Martin CBE
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01:00:02||Season 1, Ep. 3Russell & Robert talk with leading actor Pedro Pascal, star of Narcos, Game of Thrones and forthcoming Star Wars 'The Mandalorian'. They discuss his favourite artist, a classic painting on display at Museum of Modern Art that offered Pedro comfort when he moved to New York in the mid 1990s, as well as his more recent art experiences at Tate Modern and Frieze Art Fair whilst filming in London for his latest movie Wonder Woman 1984.4. Sarah Hadland and Laura Aikman
53:37||Season 1, Ep. 4We celebrate the holidays with two dear friends, the actresses Sarah Hadland and Laura Aikman (both stars of The Job Lot comedy sitcom with Russell). Topics include Olafur Eliasson’s melting ice installation highlighting climate change, Yayoi Kusama’s infinity mirrored room, the paintings of LS Lowry, Beryl Cook, Picasso and Ed Ruscha. Plus we discover which guest once pole danced for Madonna! Happy Christmas everyone. We will return in Spring 2019 with a weekly season. Love Russell and Robert X5. Louisa Buck
50:02||Season 1, Ep. 5Robert & Russell chat with leading British art critic and author Louisa Buck, columnist for the Art Newspaper and a judge of the Turner Prize in 2005. They explore how the art world has evolved since the 1980s and 90s, discover which artwork Grayson Perry made as a commission to commemorate the birth of Louisa's daughter as well as revealing the best, and very worst, interviews she's conducted. Happy International Women's Day!6. Martin Creed
01:00:57||Season 1, Ep. 6Robert & Russell meet legendary artist and ‘poet of the everyday’ Martin Creed (and his dog Jimmy). Find out why this Turner Prize winner doesn’t read reviews of his own work, who his favourite comedians are and how music has informed his art. We delve deep into Creed’s creative output spanning more than 30 years. From a giant kinetic sculpture with the word MOTHERS lit up in neon, a live performance where athletes run through the Tate as fast as they can, to a more recent handmade textile work: a multicoloured neck-warmer (worn by the artist during this very interview).7. Sadie Coles
46:12||Season 1, Ep. 7Robert & Russell meet gallerist Sadie Coles, one of the world’s most respected and successful art dealers. Discover why she set up her gallery in London after managing Jeff Koons’ studio in New York in the mid 1990s; how she first discovered the work of Sarah Lucas and John Currin; the skill of representing new artists on the primary market and the importance of taking a longterm view. We discuss feminism and equality in the workplace and why it's good to be collegiate. Finally we explore childhood trips to visit Tutankhamun at the British Museum, a memorable performance by mime artist/choreographer Lindsay Kemp and a pivotal Nancy Grossman exhibition.
8. Tracey Emin CBE
01:07:57||Season 1, Ep. 8Robert & Russell meet Tracey Emin CBE, one of the world’s most respected, successful and controversial artists. During an hour-long private tour of her current solo exhibition ‘A Fortnight of Tears’, we explore her mother’s recent death, grief, everlasting love, the supernatural, insomnia and abortion. Tracey reveals that nature is one of her biggest influences and how working in a small South of France studio enabled the artist to wholeheartedly and triumphantly return to painting. Learn more about her longterm connection to the work of Edvard Munch, her return to her childhood hometown of Margate and why, surprisingly, she doesn’t keep a diary. For images of all works discussed in this episode, visit our Instagram @TalkArt Please leave us a review and rating if you’ve enjoyed this episode!9. Ryan Gander OBE
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