David Murray is a Whanganui based glass artist and spouse to artist Emma Camden. He comes from a background in slip-cast ceramics, which brought him to specialising in cast-glass, creating sculptures that reference the primordial. He is most known for his works “Hunter”, “Gatherer", “Cradle” and “Territory”, which he has won major awards for.
Murray’s simple, yet extremely powerful approach to cast-glass making epitomizes the intense symbioses and contradictory nature between strength and fragility. This is what makes Murray’s cast-glass so mesmerizing, with each piece carefully constructed to subtly reflect the natural landscape. He regularly experiments with texture, form and colour, refining the act of creating high polished curvature abruptly being met with ridges and curves.
Murray’s spectacular glass vessels bring together the traditions of glass making from over a two thousand year period, creating works which mirror those old forms, referencing the colours and clear glass works of the ancient world.
Murray explains "My work uses simple ambiguous shapes and the qualities of the glass to create a sense of these fundamental stimuli. They are neither tool nor weapon but describe a feeling of intent make simple minimal forms without embellishment. These are large solid pieces and I am trying to achieve a silent presence in the work."
Murray graduated from the School of Art, Otago Polytechnic, in the late 1980s. He also attended many cast glass workshops over the years, some of which were instructed by world renowned New Zealand cast glass artist, Ann Robinson. In 2003 he was awarded the premier award in the Ranamok Prize for contemporary glass. The Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa purchased work by David for the National Collection, and his work is represented in many of New Zealand's international embassies. The National Business Review recently listed David Murray as one of the names to consider when investing in the applied arts