In conversation with Jim Murray

“I enjoy reactive painting, not too measured or thought out so a feeling becomes the goal to paint.”

 - Jim Murray

Jim Murray. Image credit Emma Miller.

Jim Murray is an actor, director, conservationist and artist known for Masters of Air (2024) and The Crown (2016). Murray first came to prominence as an artist in 2023 with his acclaimed inaugural exhibition In Flow, where his dynamic abstract paintings were hung in conversation with John Constable’s The Dark Side. Murray draws huge inspiration from the rivers and oceans he is fiercely passionate about, and as such his paintings are full of drama, energy and movement. To be in a state of 'flow' in which people are so involved in an activity that nothing else seems to matter, is where Murray believes all artists, performers and athletes strive to be. Painting offers him an elastic mental space where time becomes so stretched and distorted that it no longer matters. 'Action' painting or 'gestural abstraction' is a focus on the physical act of painting itself, and for Murray, is as vital to the piece as the finished image. He describes the process - with its constant movement, where the image can change wildly and dramatically minute to minute - as wholly compelling and utterly absorbing.

How did your journey into the world of art begin?

The 19th century watercolour artist Howard Knee is a distant relative so we had works of his on the wall growing up. The practical side began with a fascination with screen printing for my Art GCSE!

Did you grow up in a creative environment?

Not especially at home. But my school peers all happened to be rebellious ‘drop out’ creatives who preferred music and painting to sport and academia so that helped.

What themes and subjects influence your creative process?

Definitely music. All genres. Beyond the aural, rivers and oceans are a big part of my life so inevitably seep into my psyche and then on to the canvas. I enjoy reactive painting, not too measured or thought out so a feeling becomes the goal to paint. This probably comes from my day job as an actor. Being instinctive with your expression, and trusting its execution.

Your latest exhibition, Creatures of Light, will open at the Royal Society of Watercolours in November. Can you tell us how the exhibition came together?

Last summer I was enjoying the embers of my In Flow exhibition with John Constable’s work and was exploring fresh ideas. I was looking for  a direct collaboration with nature, with the rivers but was unsure as to the how. Do I wade out and work on a canvas whilst stood in the river? Do I use its water as paint? Sinking canvases in rivers to soak up their essence was one of those 4.12am epiphanies. And then everything else followed on from that. The winter salmon spawning season seemed a natural epoch as for the rest of the year the rivers are open to anglers and snagging a sunken canvas probably wouldn’t have gone down well with the paying fisherman. Like the natural flow of a river everything else just developed from there really. I very much surrendered to trusting ‘whatever happens next’ with this project. It’s about the narrative as much as it is about the finished pieces, and in that sense the story of Creatures of Light very much writes itself. My job is to merely facilitate its telling.

The Test. Jim Murray.

What experience do you hope visitors will have when engaging with your artwork?

My hope is that an audience will feel a genuine connection to the rivers. What’s on the canvas was shaped by 2 months underwater in salmon rivers the length and breadth of the UK, and like all art the goal is to provoke thought and feeling with the viewer. With Creatures of Light the hope is viewers will also learn more about the plight of the now endangered Atlantic salmon and the current state of their rivers.  

Looking back on your artistic journey, what has been the most rewarding moment for you?

Lifting these canvases from the river bed after 2 months of ‘stewing’ and seeing what the rivers had given me. Huge relief even to still find them (mostly) intact after a winter beset with heavy storms and flooding!

What important lessons have you learned about yourself and your abilities throughout your career?

Surrender as much as you can. It sometimes seems counterintuitive to relinquish creative control when working on an artistic endeavour (acting, painting, writing music etc etc) but this is where the work is. Loosening the reins is thrilling and if you hold on, it will probably get you where you need to go

FHORSA, Jim Murray.

The [Quick] #FLODown:

Best life advice?

Try everything!
Last song you listened to?

Maggot brain by Funkadelic. 
Last book you read?

Scattered minds by Gabor Maté.
Can't live without...?

Dogs. 
What should the art world be more of and less of?

More collaborative.  

Instagram: @thejimmurray

Website: jimmurray.art