James Austin Murray in Group Show: Black & White & In Between
August 27, 2019
Black & White & In Between: Contemporary Art from the Frederick R. Weisman Art Foundation
Frederick R. Weisman Museum of Art, Pepperdine University, Malibu. Curated by Billie Milam Weisman
August 27, 2019 – December 8, 2019
This eclectic grouping of contemporary black and white drawings, digital media, photographs, prints,
paintings and sculptures are gathered together for this exhibition from the Frederick R. Weisman Art
Foundation. In color theory black and white are complete opposites. In scientific terms, where color is
determined through the visible spectrum of light, black is the absorption, or absence, of all visible light;
and white is the reflection, or presence, of it.
When color is determined through pigment, or molecular coloring agents, the reverse is true -
black is the presence of all colors, and white is their absence. Given that how we see color is
interpreted differently within each of our brains, limiting the palette in this way creates high
contrast that has a big impact on the viewer.
Black is visually heavy while white is light and open. Shades of gray between black and white -
referred to as grisaille - present the viewer with various visual and psychological effects by using
gradation from light to dark. For example, the high contrast of black-on-white, or white-on-black
intensifies the viewer's focus on the intended subject or object, while shades of gray are viewed as
neutral and stable, heightening detail.
Early monochromatic palettes were used by artists to fool the eye into thinking that paintings or
drawings were not flat paintings but illusions of marble, stone or plaster reliefs. With the advent of
photography, monochromatic works were sometimes inspired by the varying shades of gray or
sepia tones in the photograph. As gray moves towards black it becomes mysterious, towards
white it becomes dynamic.
This exhibition features works by Lita Albuquerque, Charles Arnoldi, Richard Artschwager, Larry
Bell, James Drake, Joe Goode, Andy Moses, Ed Moses, Manfred Muller, Robert Rauschenberg,
Andy Warhol and many others artists who have explored the formal, conceptual, technical, and
material possibilities of black-and-white and "in between."
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