Everard Read Johannesburg: ‘Brood’ by Brett Murray

Brood is a new exhibition by Brett Murray at Everard Read Circa Gallery in Rosebank is an exploration of familial comfort, safety and affection.

‘When I exhibited Limbo in London as the Pandemic was starting to abate, I was surprised,’ says the artist. ‘What I thought I had produced was a single-issue body of work. A response to lockdown and our shared fears. A fragile tenderness. Our shared breath had been held for a few years. On seeing the works installed, however, a broader reading seemed possible. Implicit rather than explicit. The turmoil of the world seemed to weigh heavily on these works as they gaze heavenwards with both trepidation and in a search for answers. They certainly reflect my current state of mind.’

Brett Murray explores a new sensitivity in his work

In a world spiked with conflict and uncertainty, we seek comfort and safety. Often those closest to us are this sanctuary. The value of family and friends, there to offer hearts and hand holding can never be underplayed. It’s those close to us who fill the pauses of life, who we turn to in trouble, and want to protect the most. It’s especially in fraught moments and flux that our brood and brethren take precedence. Brett Murray has been thinking about this, and his own humans, a lot.

The new body of sculptures and reliefs with a show at Circa art gallery in Johannesburg features elephants embracing and groups of monkeys huddled together, referring to Murray’s appreciation of his own wife and children and their lives. And the lives of others.

‘You value your family and friends so much more when the world is going crazy”, explains Murray. ‘It’s taken me many years to realize the importance of intimacy and the confidence to have this tenderness present in my work. Now I get it completely.’

Equally, where Murray’s work often combines hard-hitting words and images, here he has let the simplified forms and materials of these silent animal avatars do all the talking. ‘Words and images live in my mind together, but it was really interesting to only focus on the sculptural here – it’s not as obvious as text’, says Brett Murray.

The exhibition closes on 30 March 2024.

Cost: FREE entry

When: Running until 30 March 2024. Mon to Fri, 9am to 6pm. Sat, 9am to 1pm
Where: 6 Jellicoe Ave, Rosebank, Johannesburg

Website: everard-read.co.za
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