Catalogue Index · 2010 – 2024
Jim Murray
Selected Works — presented in bodies, with provenance on record.
Curatorial Preface
On Series
The works collected here are organised by series rather than by year, because each body of work shares a single material logic — a distinct encounter with weathered steel, patinated bronze, or the slow layering of oil on linen — and is read best in sequence. The catalogue opens with Tideline (2018–2024), the most recent sculptural body, and moves backward through Bodega (2014–2022) and the parallel painting series Inland Light (2010–2023). Each plate records title, year, medium, and dimensions in small caps beneath the image, with a hairline rule. Provenance, exhibition history, and acquisition terms are available on inquiry.
Jim Murray has been in continuous studio practice since 1981. All works shown here are documented, signed, and shipped from the Carmel-by-the-Sea atelier, with full provenance on record.
Series I
Tideline
2018 – 2024 · Welded steel, patina, found marine iron
On the Series
Steel, Salt Air, and the Slow Weather of Form
The Tideline series began after Murray returned from a 2017 residency on the Sonoma coast with a load of recovered marine iron. The studio process is deliberately slow: plates are cut, welded, and then left outdoors against the studio wall for weeks at a time, absorbing salt air, rain, and coastal fog before the surface is sealed. The resulting patina is part chemistry, part chance — bone and umber layered over rust orange, with weld beads preserved as deliberate marks.
Pieces from this series are held in the permanent collections of the Monterey Museum of Art, the Crocker Art Museum, and the Tucson Museum of Art, and have been placed in private collections in Lisbon, Edinburgh, and Pacific Grove. A 96-inch iteration was installed in the corporate collection of the Mayo Clinic in 2022, and a 14-foot work was commissioned for a Four Seasons property in 2023.
Series II
Bodega
2014 – 2022 · Patinated bronze, forged steel, marine salvage
Series III
Inland Light
2010 – 2023 · Oil on linen & oil on panel
A parallel painting practice — the same coastal-light inquiry translated into layered oil on linen and panel, shown here as a horizontal index.
Secondary-market appreciation of 34% over the past decade on documented works.
Request Acquisition DetailsNext Step
Schedule a Studio Viewing
Plates in this catalogue are available for acquisition on inquiry. Studio viewings in Carmel-by-the-Sea are offered six days a week by appointment, with full provenance and condition reports supplied on request. A lifetime authenticity guarantee accompanies every documented work.