PAUL MURANYI — FINE ART/ PAINTINGS

Paul Muranyi was born in 1962 in New York City. His mother was an accomplished artist and worked in textile design and as an art teacher and his father is a jazz clarinetist, producer and critic who played with the Louis Armstrong All-Stars. Paul feels it is a natural progression that he plays guitar, teaches, and makes art!

Having grown up in Westbeth Artist Housing where he currently creates his paintings and set designs, he earned his BFA in Fine Arts with a specialty in painting from the School of Visual Arts in 1998. Theatre set design, and production, military model making and guitar playing often influence his skills and inspiration for his paintings. He is best known for his two one-person exhibitions at the Westbeth Gallery featuring the topic of SPECTACULAR EVENTS that featured concentration on the theme of the visuals of extreme weather. The dramatic paintings of various sizes are seen as remarkable in the expression of atmosphere and mood. An uncanny accuracy in creating the threatening atmosphere of on coming tornadoes or a starlit sky with lightening in paint holds a stunning beauty that teeters between the abstract and reality permitting the viewer to participate emotionally. He is known for his painterly presentations of the light of Aurora Borealis, shooting stars and icebergs in mists. His subtle atmospheric transitions evoke a haunting otherness quality that pulls the viewer to return to the work often seeing new aspects.

Paul Muranyi also has a series of work that are commission based. Some of these commissions include shaped wood cut outs and are painted in oil paint, Sport events, Louis Armstrong, WW II are some of the subject matter that has been created for this series. Other noted work includes gouache paintings made for the J. Peterman clothing catalogue. Paul has been an art instructor at the private Bruriah High School for Girls in Elizabeth NJ for over eleven years.

EXHIBITIONS
Paul’s work has been shown in New York group exhibitions at Cheryl Pelavin Fine Arts Gallery during the Art in Box exhibitions; The Wisner Gallery, The Angel Orensanz Foundation for the Arts, The Audart Gallery, Art Initiatives, Test Sight Gallery, The French Connection, The Lime Light Exhibition, The Red Zone, The United Jewish Appeal, and a one person exhibition in the club MARS.

Paul is the installation assistant in the Westbeth gallery to curator Jack Dowling as well at the Denise Bibro Gallery in Manhattan. He is also assistant manager of the High-tech Design Studio for the past 16 years and was special effects coordinator for CYNOSURE FILMS. In theatre he worked as a set painter for The Good Speed Opera House, The Electric Currents Dance Company, James Januzzi Productions, The Edith Stephen Dance Company and for Events Works and he was the set constructionist for the MICROBES exhibition at the Liberty Science Center.