The first item on the truck today is a HUGE Malcolm Bray painting on canvas titled "Barn Interior I". Scheduled for our August 30th sale. Auction Estimate $5,000-$10,000.
About the artist:
Malcolm Bray was born in 1958 in Hull, England and immigrated to the United States in May 1984. He became a citizen of the United States in June 2005, and is currently a resident of Hunterdon County, New Jersey.
Bray attended Hull College of Art for a brief period in 1977. A natural draftsman with an affinity for painting, his initial interests encompassed graphic design, silk-screen printing and oil painting. Amidst a depressed and uncertain economy in England he chose to leave the foundation course preferring employment in Hull and then working in London before traveling to the United States for the first time in 1980.
Eventually, gaining employment in the leather business, Bray settled in New Hope, Pennsylvania where he gained a one person exhibition at Nora Lewis Gallery in 1985. Soon to be self-employed, he supported himself by operating an antique import business for the next two decades - essentially bypassing any formal training. He is considered self-taught.
In 1991, Bray moved to the historic Spoke Works building in Lambertville, a late 19th century warehouse that accommodated both his import business and art studio. He purchased the building in 1994 and continues to paint from this location.
Between 1994 and 2002 this setting became the venue for numerous art exhibitions. Bray has also curated a series of annual shows that catered to many local and regional artists. The group, known as New Eclectic, displayed at MCS Gallery, Easton, Pennsylvania in 2003 and West Chester University, Pennsylvania in 2004. In the spring of 2004, Bray sold his import business to concentrate on his art career full-time.
Described as a late bloomer, Bray's personal brand, his transatlantic oeuvre - is characterized as belonging to a branch of Abstract Expressionism. Over the course of his career, he has drawn inspiration in particular from Picasso, Pollock and de Kooning.
Bray has been represented by Cheryl Hazan in New York, Burnt Mills Gallery and Ruth Morpeth in New Jersey and was included in the 2011 summer exhibit Fifteen Modern and Contemporary Artists at Spanierman Gallery, New York.
