Chris B. Murray Brings Mountain Man To 1xRUN

1xRUN  Thru Interview
Mountain Man by Chris B. Murray

1xRUN: Tell us a little bit about the original piece, when was it drawn and what materials was it created with?
Chris B. Murray: The original is painted in acrylics on 300 lb water color paper.  This piece will be among several paintings & drawings I will be showing next June, 2013 at Rotofugi Gallery in Chicago. It was created in September of 2012.

1xRun: Tell us how the idea and execution came about?    
Chris B. Murray:  With this new body of work, I’ll be digging deep from my roots & growing up in the rural Upstate NY surroundings.  Expect more works similar to the Mountain Man piece. With these new pieces I’ll be using elements from being raised in Upstate NY near the Adirondack Mountains.  I was surrounded by cold weather, hunters, beer drinkers and mountain like animals.

1xRun: How long did the piece take?    
Chris B. Murray:   1 Week from start to finish, trying to work quicker these days.

1xRun: What is unique about this piece?     
Chris B. Murray:  It’s the first piece for my new body of work and it is the beginning of a series of rural / outdoorsy paintings & drawings for the new year.

1xRun: Describe the print in one gut reaction word.     
Chris B. Murray:  Rugged. & Raw.

1xRun: When did you first start making art? What was your first piece?      
Chris B. Murray:  Since I was young, 1st – 2nd grade probably.  In second grade I drew a 2′ x 4′ poster of Tim Burton’s Batman for my teacher.  She was attractive! My first piece was a self portrait of myself…I’m self involved, what can you do?  Or probably some Ninja Turtle / X-Men figures.

1xRun: What artists inspired you early on?  What artists inspire you now? 
Chris B. Murray:   Early on Norman Rockwell and various comic artists. There are far too many crucial ones to name.  There are so many now strewn across the internet I try to not look at so much of it.  Mainly revert to books I have or magazines for new inspiration.

1xRun: If you could collaborate with any living artist who would it be and why? If you could collaborate with any deceased artists who would it be and why?      
Chris B. Murray:  Hmmm there are so many, can never answer this question accurately.  I love the illustration work of Stuntkid & McBess and the paintings of Nathan Ota & Herakut (all members of the Maclaim crew)…any of those word be nice.  Leyendecker or Frazetta, to get some proper schooling.

1xRun: Do you listen to music while you work? If so what? If not then what is your environment like when you work?
Chris B. Murray:  Yes, I play hip hop / instrumentals / electronic / some indie rock here n’ there.  Hip hop music was a huge influence on my growing up…even in such a rural environment.  I used to spend my summers as a kid designing mixtape covers for friends.  Movies & podcasts are also being played while I work.  It gets lonely in the studio I need some sort of human interaction going on or I start talking to myself in different personalities like Golem.

1xRun: What was the first piece of art that you bought? Do you still have it? What was the last piece of art that you bought?      
Chris B. Murray:   Several art books / graphic novels. Yes, I still have them. Still saving up for original art.  The last piece was a print from a friend.

1xRun: What else have you been up to? What do you have in the works?   
Chris B. Murray:  I was recently in several group shows including Spoke Art’s “Bad Dads” show. Aside from the Rotofugi show, I’m part of an amazing lineup of artists for the group show “The Moleskin 2 Project” at Spoke Art Gallery in December.  I haven’t taken on many other shows because I’m pretty tied up with this new body of paintings & commercial work.  I have several illustration projects in motion and hope to start illustrating some short stories very soon, but they keep getting put on the back burner.  Teaching / mentoring is something I’ve been giving some thought lately as well, but I’m waiting till I have more space to operate…hopefully in the latter part of 2013.  Other than that, I’d like to get in on some merchandise / custom art related projects for my online store…t-shirts, toys, zines etc.  I’m a one man army so getting to that has been tricky.

1xRun: Where else do can people find you?
Chris B. Murray:  WebsiteFacebookTumblrTwitter

-1xRUN