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Major Commissions
Completed between 2010 and 2024, ranging from 24-inch studies to 14-foot installations.
Commissions & Acquisition
A documented studio practice, scaled to the room it has to hold.
Studio-Led Commissions · 24 Inches to 14 Feet · Worldwide Installation
How a Murray Commission Begins
The work starts in the room, not in a sales queue.
Every commissioned piece originates in a conversation about site, light, and the way a body of work is meant to occupy a space. Each inquiry is read by Jim personally before a proposal is drafted — typically after a studio visit, a site walk, or a measured review of architectural drawings sent by the client's design team.
From the first exchange to the day a piece is bolted to its plinth, the studio carries the work in-house: drawings and maquettes fabricated on Lincoln Lane, fabrication handled under one roof by a team of four, and final installation supervised by Jim or a senior assistant. Clients receive the same documentation packet — provenance, signed certificate, condition report, crate manifest — whether the work is a 24-inch tabletop study or a 14-foot statement piece for a public lobby.
If you are weighing a commission for a private residence, a hospitality interior, or a corporate headquarters, the path below sets out what to expect, what to send, and what arrives in the crate.
Documented Range
From the study on the desk to the work in the courtyard.
Forty-seven major commissions completed between 2010 and 2024 across residential, hospitality, healthcare, and civic settings. Four installed works are shown below — one at each end of the scale.
The Five Stages
From inquiry to the day the crate is opened on site.
A typical commission runs twelve to twenty weeks from first conversation to installation. The studio works to that arc regardless of scale; the proportions simply change.
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01
Inquiry
Send the studio a brief: site, approximate dimensions, medium preference, and a rough timeline. Replies arrive within five business days, in writing, with a first reading of feasibility and budget band.
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02
Studio Dialogue
A 60-minute call or site visit, drawings exchanged in advance. Jim walks the room, the courtyard, or the lobby with the design team and returns with reference maquettes and a written frame.
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03
Proposal & Contract
Scale drawings, medium callouts, fabrication timeline, crate and install plan, and a single-line acquisition figure. The 50% deposit secures a fabrication window in the Carmel studio calendar.
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04
Fabrication
Handled in-house with a four-person studio team under Jim's direction. Progress photographs are sent at three agreed milestones; the client is welcome to a mid-fabrication studio visit.
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05
Installation & Documentation
Jim or a senior assistant supervises on-site installation. Hand-off includes the signed certificate of authenticity, provenance file, condition report, crate manifest, and a 2024-updated catalogue raisonné entry.
By the Numbers
A practice documented in receipts, not adjectives.
120+
Verified Collections
Private and corporate holdings across 14 countries, all on recorded provenance.
3
Institutional Placements
Four Seasons Hotels, Mayo Clinic, and the U.S. Embassy in Lisbon.
34%
Decade Appreciation
Average secondary-market increase over ten years for documented works.
Every delivered work ships with a lifetime authenticity guarantee and a catalogue raisonné entry updated through 2024.
A Note from a Commissioning Client
"We commissioned two pieces for our corporate lobby, one eight-foot wall work and one courtyard installation. From the first site walk to the day the crates were unbolted, the studio carried the project with the seriousness of an architecture firm — drawings, milestones, photography at every step, and a documentation packet our acquisitions committee could file and reference. The work has held the room for three years now and reads differently with each season of light."