Cristina Mur (Bilbao, 1967)
Lives and works in Madrid.

Fine Arts graduate at the University of the Basque Country. European Interactive Multimedia masters degree at the University of Balearic islands (Spain), at the London College of Printing (England) and in Microsoft – Ireland on a Spanish Ministry of Culture grant (1995).

While at university, she discovered her love for drawing at the studio of the artist C.Huéscar, where, constant practice produced a feeling of serenity. With these daily sketching exercises she was able to master firm strokes with spontaneous flair, which is the basis of the technique used in her present work. A dialogue emerged from this intimate contact with drawing, which, over the years, has grown in depth and is where she feels free to express herself. Cristina shows, through her art, her own particular way of understanding life and her ongoing search for harmony.

This relationship with drawing continued to develop during study for her Masters. This period also coincided with the arrival of the internet in Spain, and her work as an early internet designer represented an important, vital professional experience. She relocated to Madrid in 1999, taking the role of Art Director in the internet departments of various multinational companies. This experience reaffirmed her ability to transfer a concept into a project, and equally an emotion onto paper. It would not be until 2006, in the creative workshops of Jaime Buhigas, when she discovered the theme of her present work. Inspired by the book The Invisible Cities by Italo Calvino, she reconnected with abstract drawing, translating stories and emotions onto paper.

Her sources of inspiration and admiration are, on the one hand, the mystery of Tapies, because of the depth and forcefulness of his art. She identifes with the spirituality of his work, with his quest to understand the concept of “life itself”. And, on the other hand, the graphic expression and techniques used by Cy Twombly, finding his large formats an inspiration.

The year 2012, after her return from a stay in Brussels, is a point of inflection where her authentic firm strokes now become larger areas of bold colour. Today the abstract language of Cristina Mur is her unique manner of expressing herself, where there are no learnt or preconceived ways, and where there is space for interpretation.

Recent significant exhibitions include:

2010 “La Noche en Blanco”, where she participated in a collective performance “ Little big essences”, organised by the HUB Madrid
2011 “Sketch-in-me” individual show in the Artpotheek Gallery of Brussels,
2013 “Art KARLSRUHE” (part of Art Madrid) in “Alive” monograph, with Rodrigo Juarranz Gallery, where her large format work is representative of her present moment.