Darren Murray's paintings are imaginary constructions of real places taken from calendars and travel brochures whose function it could be argued is to promote their exploitation. Murray works with a restricted palette, almost exclusively composed of primary and secondary colours. Working on a uniform, flat and homogeneous pictorial background Murray traces the base elements of the composition without any use of chiaroscuro. Only a few details closest to us are portrayed naturally, in this series detailed ornithological studies of familiar garden birds are illustrated.

In Murray's paintings nature is portrayed as a benevolent paradise where the commonplace is depicted as exotic and where irony is tempered by melancholy.

Darren Murray was born in Antrim in 1977. He lives and works in Belfast. His work has been exhibited widely with solo and group exhibitions in Ireland, Italy, Spain, Belgium and the USA.

His work is held in private and public collections including; The Arts Council of Northern Ireland, Nissan Ireland, CIPFA Northern Ireland, Northern Ireland Civil Service and the Office of Public Works, Dublin.

For information please contact; Hugh Mulholland on 0044 (0) 2890 237757 or
hugh@thethirdspacegallery.com