Winston Wächter Fine Art, New York is excited to announce Twig, an imaginative exhibition of new works from the surreal mind of Ethan Murrow. These finely detailed drawings and paintings tell fanciful stories that muse on the essential role of trees in the story of humanity.
As in past series, Murrow creates endearing characters that draw on self-portrait and selfparody in order to explore cyclical themes of growth, decay, and the natural world. The pieces are based on photographs for which Murrow and his studio team construct props, wardrobe, and sets for performance. As the compositions take shape, these photographs are blended with imagery inspired by art and history, such as Hudson River School landscape painting, old photographs, and film. With these techniques, Murrow expertly generates a contrast between familiar landscapes and fantastical figures, resulting in a narrative that operates just outside of reality and with ambiguous outcomes.
Each figure engages with their own imaginary environment. In “The Alchemist,” a bouquetheaded man sits atop a stack of books in a wood-paneled room covered with printed works on paper. The figure holds a small branch high above his head, preferring the sapling over all other materials. In “The Orchardist,” a man canoes down a river among a majestic mountain scene, standing proudly atop a high pile of wooden pallets and lumber like captured treasure. Through Murrow’s masterful attention to detail and cultivation of complex settings, viewers are immersed into his works and taken along on each character’s journey.
Trees act as a driving element in this series. Providing life-giving materials such as paper and lumber, they are central in sustaining humanity. The characters in Twig earnestly interact with their surroundings, though it is unclear whether they aim to salvage, heal, harvest or build with the natural resources available to them.
Though their missions are not clear, the lone figures in Twig each seem to teeter on the edge of something, whether it be a discovery, a disaster, or a wondrous surprise. These epic dramas are absurd reminders of how lucky we are to experience the beauty and power in nature, while also giving the viewer an opportunity to reflect: to ponder the often-flawed idea that solitary attempts at solving a problem, no matter how intricately and exactly executed, can resolve issues that face the entire world.
Ethan Murrow was born in 1975 in Greenfield, Massachusetts in the United States. Raised on a sheep farm in Vermont, he received his Bachelor of Arts from Carleton College and his Master of Fine Arts from The University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill. Ethan’s research and practice focuses on historical narratives and the idealized and uncomfortable ways in which they are told, retold and molded into powerful, absurd and subjective tales. In addition to works on paper, he develops large scale wall drawings, murals and installations for site specific projects and exhibitions, working closely with local communities, stakeholders, institutions and corporations. Recent solo museum shows include the Institute of Contemporary Art Boston, The Cahoon Museum of American Art, The Currier Museum of Art, Museum of Contemporary Art Jacksonville and the Clay Center in West Virginia. Ethan was recently awarded the Stein Emerging Artist Prize by MOCA Jacksonville, participated as Artist in residence at Expedia Group and Facebook Inc., was a fellow at the Ballinglen Foundation in Ireland, and received a Massachusetts Cultural Council Fellowship.
