2023
Steel & Saltwater
Hammer Gallery · Carmel-by-the-Sea, California
Ten new works in painted steel and patinated bronze. Includes four monumental commissioned pieces previously held in private collections.
A documented scholarly record · 1981–2024
Exhibitions & Press
A chronological bibliography of solo and group exhibitions, press features, and institutional citations — compiled for curators, catalog writers, and museum committees.
Editor’s preface
A bibliography, not a portfolio.
The entries that follow constitute the exhibition and press history of Jim Murray’s studio practice from the first solo presentation at Hackett-Freedman Gallery in 1981 through the present. They are arranged in reverse chronological order and grouped by decade, with venue, city, and date supplied for each citation. The Southwest Art cover feature of March 2022 and the American Art Collector “20 Sculptors to Watch” feature of 2018 are given in full citation form, alongside group exhibitions at peer institutions and museum collection inclusions.
Supporting documentation — exhibition checklists, installation photography, press clippings, loan agreements, and catalogue raisonné excerpts — is maintained at the Carmel studio and is made available to curators, editors, and museum committees on institutional request. Verification materials are typically dispatched within five business days.
Section I
Solo Exhibitions
Selected solo presentations in reverse chronological order. Continuous annual or biennial activity since 1981 across commercial galleries, university galleries, and museum-affiliated spaces.
2019
Forty Year Survey — Drawings & Small Sculpture
Monterey Museum of Art · Monterey, California
A retrospective presentation of works on paper and studio maquettes curated from the artist’s archive. Travelled to the Crocker Art Museum, Sacramento, in 2020.
2014
Headlands
Hackett-Freedman Gallery · San Francisco, California
A return engagement at the gallery of the artist’s 1981 debut. Reviewed in Artforum and Artillery Magazine.
1981
First Solo Exhibition
Hackett-Freedman Gallery · San Francisco, California
Twelve painted steel sculptures and accompanying drawings, opened one year after the artist’s graduation from the San Francisco Art Institute.
A complete solo exhibition history of forty-one presentations — including the full 1980s and 1990s record — is supplied in the press packet on request.
Section II
Group Exhibitions & Press Features
Selected group exhibitions in institutional and museum settings, together with the two landmark press features of the past decade. Numbered for academic citation.
01
Press feature
Southwest Art — Cover Feature
A six-page cover feature documenting the studio’s contemporary sculpture practice and the 2021 Mayo Clinic commission. Includes studio visit photography and an interview with the artist.
Documentation: tear sheet, hi-res scans — available.
02
Editorial citation
“20 Sculptors to Watch”
Selected for the annual list of twenty sculptors working in the United States. Editorial noted the studio’s institutional commission record and a published catalogue raisonné in preparation.
Documentation: full feature PDF — available.
03
Group exhibition
Material Witness — Pacific Coast Sculpture Since 1960
A survey of west-coast sculptors spanning six decades. The studio loaned a 1994 painted-steel wall piece held in a private California collection.
Documentation: museum checklist, loan agreement — available.
04
Permanent collection
Inclusion — Tucson Museum of Art
Acquisition into the permanent collection through the Collectors’ Council. The work is on view in the museum’s contemporary wing alongside holdings by Nathan Oliveira and Manuel Neri.
Documentation: acquisition record, condition report — available.
Additional group exhibitions — including the 2023 National Sculpture Society Patron Award presentation and 2010s university gallery inclusions — are catalogued in the press packet.
Closing the citation record
Request the institutional press packet.
Curators, catalog writers, editors, and museum committees may request a complete press packet — inclusive of full exhibition history, venue press, installation photography in print resolution, catalogue raisonné excerpts, and verified provenance documentation. Packets are typically dispatched within five business days.
Jim Murray Studio · Lincoln Lane Studios · Carmel-by-the-Sea, CA 93921 · +1 (831) 555-0142