Murray, Paul

If you’ve seen my work, you will know that light, more importantly, the color & quality of light is an important part of the paintings I do.  To help understand this fascination, let me explain some things about light.  Light is the visible part of the electromagnetic spectrum.  It is, except for it’s wavelength, identical to x-rays & radio waves.  Light begins with infrared & ends with ultraviolet.  To understand the primacy of light, we need only go back to the first chapters of Genesis.  After the heavens & earth, the next thing created was light.  Akhnaton, an Egyptian pharoah, who ruled 13 centuries before Christ, was the first to create a religion based on light.  He chose the sun as its symbol.  Perhaps it is on our self-esteem that light should have its greatest impact.  Consider this: In hydrogen furnaces scattered throughout the universe - what we call the sun & stars - wonderful things happen.  These sources of light have created a stunning legacy.  In the explosive aftermath of a star’s death, elements are released, carbon, oxygen - all the things that we are.  This star residue formed earth.  Coalescing & combining it evolved into oceans & continents, plants & animals, you & me.  It is no wonder that we are so enchanted with light.  We are its offspring.  Our distant relatives are the stars.