About Ryan
Ryan Schmal Murray creates conceptually-driven artwork that combines digital and physical media. His work addresses the search for moments of meaning by turning pop-culture media/technology on itself and transforming everyday objects and experiences into subtle psychedelia.
Murray was born in Pittsburgh, PA. He received his BFA from Carnegie Mellon University and his MFA from the University of Illinois at Chicago. Murray’s artwork has been exhibited internationally… more
Space Helmet
Exhibitions:
Delaware Contemporary
EBC Art Center
Hood College
Globe, papier-mâché, box, antennae, plastic tubes, spray paint, plastic film, video monitor, 2 minute digital video loop
2014
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Space Helmetglobe, papier-mâché, box, antennae, plastic tubes, spray paint, plastic film, video monitor, 2 minute digital video loop, 2014
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Space Helmetstill from digital video loop
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Space Helmetstill from digital video loop
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Space Helmetstill from digital video loop
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Space Helmetglobe, papier-mâché, box, antennae, plastic tubes, spray paint, plastic film, video monitor, 2 minute digital video loop, 2014
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Space Helmetglobe, papier-mâché, box, antennae, plastic tubes, spray paint, plastic film, video monitor, 2 minute digital video loop, 2014
Every Feature Film On My Hard Drive, 3 Pixels Tall and Sped Up 7000%
footage experience of media hyperavailability. It has become so easy to amass personal, virtual libraries
of cultural artifacts, and by creating this piece I was thinking about how to use that enormous wealth of
material to generate new work. I conceived of this piece as painting with films. By compressing each
movie into a stripe of color and duration, and lining them all up together in a single frame, the whole
history of my film-watching is experienced as a single painterly composition.
Screenings:
The Festival of (In)Appropriation Tour (6 cities in the US, UK, and Canada)
CICA Museum
EBC Arts Center
University of Michigan
Antimatter [Media Art]
Videoholica
Basement Media Festival Tour (10 cities in the US and Canada)
Experimental Film Festival Portland
Digital video
3:29
2013
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Every Feature Film On My Hard Drive, 3 Pixels Tall and Sped Up 7000%still from digital video, 3:29, 2013
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Every Feature Film On My Hard Drive, 3 Pixels Tall and Sped Up 7000%still from digital video, 3:29, 2013
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Every Feature Film On My Hard Drive, 3 Pixels Tall and Sped Up 7000%still from digital video, 3:29, 2013
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Every Feature Film On My Hard Drive, 3 Pixels Tall and Sped Up 7000%digital video, 3:29, 2013
Picture Frame
images of family and friends. These devices occupy a wonderful “the-future-is-now” meets “sure to look
dated” cultural space, but in this work the frame itself becomes both canvas and subject. By recursively
displaying pictures of itself showing pictures of itself, the frame slowly creates a wormhole. This portal
suggests science fiction aesthetics, space travel in films from the psychedelic sixties, and minimalist film
and painting compositions. The magical-yet-kitschy nature of the object then recedes back until only the
blank frame is left once again.
Exhibitions:
Antimatter [Media Art]
Lease Agreement
Digital images, digital picture frame
2012
Potions series
Glass apothecary and laboratory bottles, acrylic and oil painting supplies
Science and magic, chemistry and alchemy, medicine and fantasy. The materials of painting are bottled as potions, elixirs, antidotes, reagents, and patent-medicines
Balsam of Life
Lava lamp, bottle opener, Turlington’s Balsam of Life bottle, pedestal, and shelf
The lava lamp, once an object that promised meditation, enlightenment, mind-expansion, and style, has become instead a kitschy knick-knack from your local mall. An attempt is made to redeem the power of the lava lamp by bottling its magical fluids as the Balsam of Life. Things get messy.
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Potions seriesglass apothecary and laboratory bottles, acrylic and oil painting supplies
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Potions seriesglass apothecary and laboratory bottles, acrylic and oil painting supplies
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Potions seriesglass apothecary and laboratory bottles, acrylic and oil painting supplies
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Potions seriesglass apothecary and laboratory bottles, acrylic and oil painting supplies (installation at Eastern Expansion, Chicago, IL)
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Potions seriesglass apothecary and laboratory bottles, acrylic and oil painting supplies
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Balsam of LifeBalsam of Life Lava lamp, bottle opener, Turlington’s Balsam of Life bottle, pedestal, and shelf
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Balsam of LifeBalsam of Life Lava lamp, bottle opener, Turlington’s Balsam of Life bottle, pedestal, and shelf
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Balsam of LifeBalsam of Life Lava lamp, bottle opener, Turlington’s Balsam of Life bottle, pedestal, and shelf
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Balsam of LifeBalsam of Life Lava lamp, bottle opener, Turlington’s Balsam of Life bottle, pedestal, and shelf
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Balsam of LifeBalsam of Life Lava lamp, bottle opener, Turlington’s Balsam of Life bottle, pedestal, and shelf