Curtis Santiago

The first time saw a Wil Murray painting i was standing in Zak Pashaks home on the East side of Vancouver in that same room there was  Kim Dorland's "Highway 1" and a empty space where Curtis Santiago's "I have a recurring dream" would eventually sit. Immediately i asked Zak who had painted this texture color explosion .He said it was a crazy cat from Calgary named Wil Murray and that he and i needed to meet. First time i saw Wil Murray  he was standing if front of a great big shit making machine... No really he was it was Cloaca-no-5-by-Wim Delvoye. The machine was grand as impressive to the machine was the hair standing in front of it. There are people in my journey i have met that i use the term hipster with to describe and i use the term with the utmost of respect. These people one could place in any time period and they would be ahead of the curve seeming to know whats around the bend while reflecting the past . Wil is that Hep Cat.
This past weekend was Wil Muthafucking Murry's'  weekend. I received notice from the facebook  pigeon that he would be arriving in Toronto to attend a couple art events were his work would be showing .Wil hit me up on the phone when he got to town extending an invite for me to come down to the events. The first was the RBC  Canadian Painting Competition presentation of the 2008 winner 2 honorable mentions and the rest of the finalists. I arrived to find myself in a new arena . Ii had never been to an art event of this nature before it was true depiction of when the the idea's meet the money pinstriped suits shake paint stained hands. It didn't take but a minute to spot the hair in fine form he was smiling and charasmatic it's name was Sexe maniac maniac maniac maniac maniac"    .The artists work where presented by regions East vs West I took a few laps around each room and observed. The styles of work varied from heavy to lean free to structured technical to simplistic. A couple pieces spoke to me and a few left me wondering how they made the finalists list. It was on my second look through did i notice that Wil's piece had won one of the 2 honarable mentions. Not suprised  at all as a lover of texture and bold use of color Sexe maniac maniac maniac maniac maniac would have been my pick for  the grand prize had I not even known Wil. Seeing that honoruble mention tag gave me hope that i could one day be up on one of those walls with a little something by my name . After stuffing myself and drinking far to much of the bankers wine we ended up at the ossington for a celebritory drink and I stumbled my way home.

Saturday night arrived with  freezing rain on his arm. I was bundled and ready to venture forth in to yet another new experince in the Toronto art world. The word from Wil was MOCCA was the place to be. The pubishing house Magenta was releasing there book Carte Blanche 2- Painting. And among the esteemed list in the book was Wils name  and not only that he was to be shown as featured artist at the nights reception. I waked in to the Mocca and the first thing i was impressed with ws the amount of people in attendance. The whose who of the T.O scene where out in full force. As we allow know most of the time the most interesting things in the room are the people but tonight was one of those rare ocassion were Art  yelled back "PAINTING IS HERE BITCHES BEHOLD". I heard the canvas cries loud and clear. Having my mind blown time and time again as i circulated the large rooms about 4-5 times each put so much in perspective. Where i am as a painter where i want to be. So many names i want to mention but wil l just make a seperate bolg and you all can check it out. Once again Wils piece shone in a room of stars i am very honored that this Hep cat thinks im on the right track with my work. Thanks Wil for letting me  be a part of the Wil Muthafucking Murray weekend

http://wilmurray.com/