Hannah Murray is a painter from London, England. Murray has just completed a Masters in Painting at the New York Academy of Art and was awarded their esteemed Chubb Fellowship 2022. Prior to continuing her studies, she acquired at BFA in Fine Art and was a secondary school Art Teacher for three years. Murray's work employs traditional techniques with contemporary narratives to create illusionistic, seductive paintings. She has exhibited in many exhibitions in London and New York, and was recently also awarded the Elizabeth Greenshields Grant, the most prestigious grant for figurative art. She has had her work acquired by many collectors, including the public Ruth Borchard Collection. 

 

​Delicious colours, seductive textures and alluring light: the women in my paintings hold your gaze. In my work, I find myself re-examining the idea of the goddess Venus: how has she developed and who is she today?  
 
Venus still embodies the concept of feminine sexual beauty, but this beauty is a wealth that the women in my paintings can spend as they so choose. Their power is their own. Their power may be uncomfortable. I aim to present this power in unexpected way; such as an emanation of heat in a shadow. Drawing from how in art history painters have used the sensuality of colour, fabric and skin to seduce the viewer into listening to what they have to say. I have used those tools to put my models into situations where upon closer inspection the message can be unsettling.  
 
By embellishing a metaphoric language of skin with moments of hyper-real truth in an imagined environment, I hope my models continue the reign of Venus as an icon and reimagine her as a woman who can harness the power of her adulation. I want to show that these women -- my friends -- relish in their own beauty. Now it is their own and not a gift from a man’s gaze. Their world will be a better one.

You will also find all my exhibitions etc listed on my website here: 
https://www.hannahmurray-art.com/about