Wednesday Artist: Elizabeth Murray Film

[Art]'s the way I discovered. . . of trying to find an equilibrium

in the world, a place where I could balance out the different parts

of myself. I think of art as a tool. It saved my life. . . .

~ Elizabeth Murray at BOMB

Film Poster

Director/producer Kristi Zea's art documentary, Everybody Knows. . . Elizabeth Murray (RubyRed Productions & Human Arts Association), received its world premiere last month during the Tribeca Film Festival in New York City. (See the trailer below.)

Born in 1940, Murray moved to New York City in 1967. In 1972, she debuted in the Whitney Museum's "Annual Exhibition: Contemporary American Painting". Almost four decades later, she became only the fifth woman ever to receive a retrospective at the Museum of Modern Art. Her achievements were hard-won.

The 60-minute film looks at Murray's development and influences as painter, printmaker, and draughtsman; her unrelenting juggling of family life and career; and her place in contemporary art history. In addition to interviews with influential art world figures, the documentary uses home videos, film verite, and Murray's own journal excerpts, voiced by actress Meryl Streep, to relate the artist's struggles as a woman (and single mother) in a male-dominated profession. Named a MacArthur "Genius" in 1999, Murray, who died from cancer in 2007, lived to see herself acclaimed and honored, her oil-on-canvas constructions recognized the world over for their distinctive shapes and eye-catching colors. 

Everybody Knows... on FaceBook and Twitter

Elizabeth Murray at Art21, BOMB Magazine, Gemini G.E.L. Graphics, MTA,  Pace Gallery, Painters on Paintings, Whitney Museum

Here's an Art21 video with Murray; it was filmed in 2002.