http://lookingaround.blogs.time.com/2007/08/17/more_on_murray_1/ Reflections on art and architecture by TIME critic Richard Lacayo. Tue, 08 Dec 2009 15:49:09 +0000 http://wordpress.com/ hourly 1 http://lookingaround.blogs.time.com/2007/08/17/more_on_murray_1/comment-page-1/#comment-101 Nilsa Garcia-Rey Mon, 27 Aug 2007 19:12:47 +0000 http://lookingaround.blogs.time.com/2007/08/17/more_on_murray_1/#comment-101 Elizabeth Murray died two weeks ago and I didn't hear about it. She died of lung cancer— a heavy smoker who used oil paints. I was not surprised, since she was diagnosed before her retrospective at MOMA in 2006. Another mentor, big sister artist is gone. I saw the anger in her work masked by goofy shapes and bright colors. That always bothered me, the cover-up that is, but I see now that it really wasn't a cover up after all. Those grating colors and broken sharp shapes, a kind of Disney hell, or how to paint contemporary angst without appearing nostalgic. I looked at her work with a mixture of admiration and avoidance because my own painting path was parallel to hers, a path I had discovered on my own. Her name always came up. We were female, modernist abstractionists with shared influences: Matisse, Phillip Guston, Frank Stella, grafitti art. What resulted was the elimination of the rectangle, shaped canvases with curves, but each with our own content and style. I pay homage to you Elizabeth by continuing to paint. Elizabeth Murray died two weeks ago and I didn't hear about it. She died of lung cancer— a heavy smoker who used oil paints. I was not surprised, since she was diagnosed before her retrospective at MOMA in 2006. Another mentor, big sister artist is gone. I saw the anger in her work masked by goofy shapes and bright colors. That always bothered me, the cover-up that is, but I see now that it really wasn't a cover up after all. Those grating colors and broken sharp shapes, a kind of Disney hell, or how to paint contemporary angst without appearing nostalgic. I looked at her work with a mixture of admiration and avoidance because my own painting path was parallel to hers, a path I had discovered on my own. Her name always came up. We were female, modernist abstractionists with shared influences: Matisse, Phillip Guston, Frank Stella, grafitti art. What resulted was the elimination of the rectangle, shaped canvases with curves, but each with our own content and style. I pay homage to you Elizabeth by continuing to paint.

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