Professional artist and Tufts senior Makai Murray’s newest show, “Reflection Before Progression,” will open at the Hunter Gallery of St. George’s School in Middletown, R.I. on Sept. 28 from 6–10 p.m.
Murray, who has been pursuing art professionally since the age of 18, spoke with the Daily ahead of his upcoming show.
His art hopes to bridge disparate communities while reflecting on his own experience.
“I feel like I am a vehicle between two worlds. I live in two worlds and I live in both worlds very well. That’s something that can’t be well explained to people who live in one world, and most of the people in this country live in one world and they have no exposure to the other,” Murray said. “I feel like my art serves as a vehicle for people to get some level of mobility between the worlds.”
Murray’s two worlds are his childhood community in Brockton, Mass., and the elite academic institutions he’s attended: St. George’s for high school and Tufts University for college. The median household income of Tufts University is $150,784 higher than Brockton. About 40% of Brockton residents are African American, compared to 7% of undergraduates in the School of Arts and Sciences at Tufts. The award-winning documentary “The Highest Standard,” which focused on the life of Murray and two other students, explored the difficulties of navigating these separate worlds that are core to Murray’s identity.
“My intention behind projects is in large part grounded in the fact that I’m aware of the fact that there are two worlds,” Murray said in an audio message to the Daily. “There’s always something in my work that hints at the fact that there are two worlds. Even if the project is not constructed in a way that makes it so people from both worlds can indulge in the series, the project is still about both of the worlds in one way shape or form.”
At the end of college and facing another transition in life, “Reflection Before Progression” centers on interrogating Murray’s identity as an artist.
“The reflection on myself as an artist is a lot less about my artistic practice itself, and more about why I do art,” Murray said in his audio message. “Over the last three years, I’ve spent a lot of time trying to build up this portfolio that aligns with how galleries do stuff, and this idea of what a professional artist is supposed to be. I’ve been trying to be that so bad that I forgot why I started doing art and my intention behind my first project.”
A way Murray will return to his original intention is by combining new works with old ones. One of the 17 pieces in the upcoming show will be his first project, “This is Not Okay.”
“‘This is Not Okay’ is a nine-piece project that encapsulates everything that made me feel like I could and couldn’t be an artist at the time,” Murray said. “That’s my most prized piece of work ever. I don’t even know how to speak well about that piece, but I’m very excited to show that.”
Grappling with the relationship between art and commerce contributes to Murray’s identity as an artist. His distribution model serves as a practical connector of his two worlds.
“I create a lot of bodies of work that aim to manipulate the way that pricing works in the art world. I’ll sell a $10 piece in the same series as a [more expensive] piece in hopes that the $10 piece gains intrinsic value because it’s associated with a more expensive piece,” Murray said.
Murray finds the legitimacy afforded by high-priced sales uncomfortable.
“The truth of the matter is I’ve been a professional artist since I was 18, and not because I’ve mastered artistry or because I’m an excellent artist, but because I sell art like a professional,” Murray said. “The fact that I’ve been a professional artist since I was 18 is a good conversation to be had, and what that means and what that stands for. And the distinction between an artist and a professional artist, and the fact that we really think that there is one because of monetary value or financial merit. It’s a flawed system.”
These lines between student and professional, past and future, and conflicting worlds all intersect in “Reflection Before Progression,” hosted by the gallery of Murray’s alma mater. Yet the last time Murray had work featured in the Hunter Gallery, it was as a student.
“I’ve had work in the Hunter Gallery before just when I was a student there. I know that they have student exhibitions,” Murray said. “There are exhibitions throughout the school year of different [professional] artists that are curated by Mike Hansel right now. He’s the director of the gallery, so he picks artists that he knows and feels can be of some level of impact or interest to the community.”
The medium of Murray’s work is mixed media that often repurposes common objects for his purpose. A trash bag might be incorporated into a highly priced piece, as an example.
“I do play a lot with things that could be seen as collage, but I would just say mixed media works,” Murray said. “A big portion of this show is welding in sculptural forms, but still paper is very important in this show.”
“I’ve been working on a lot of frames, so a lot of metal sculptural forms,” Murray said. “Actually, this is the first time I’m displaying as many sculptures as I am.
These sculptures will accompany paintings and mixed media pieces among others for the gallery.
Above all, Murray exudes confidence in his work and excitement to showcase his art to the community.
“I’m really doing this because this is my passion. … I can’t help but do art,” Murray said. “I’m constantly doing this, and not because I have assignments, and not because anybody’s holding me to some standard, but because I just hold myself to a standard where I want to create bodies of work and distribute them to the world.”
The show will be open to the public until Oct. 19.
