Matter - Anti-matter (detail)
Book - 1987

Sky Line Over Internet - Acknowledgements

An Endless Wire Museum dedicated to the Art of Murray S. Nelson

"Begin Anywhere" - John Cage

"Chance governs all things." – Luis Bunuel

"That which is created by the mind is more living than matter." - Charles Baudelaire

"Technique is a hazard." - Agnes Martin

"What good are you to yourself or to anyone else if you don’t follow your own passions, instincts, or idiosyncrasies" – R. B. Kitai

"We shall know a little more than we do now. But the real nature of things, we shall never know - never." -Albert Einstein

The list is vast of artists who have served as inspiration and guidance in my decades of studying and creating art. I've come to appreciate the work of a great many visual artists, film makers, musicians and writers who are, or were pioneers in their fields of endeavor. This is not a complete list but includes many of the names of people or groups whose work I continue to be grateful for.

In the making of my artwork, I have made unfettered use of other people's artwork, photos, films, written material, music, advertisements, song lyrics, and other copyrighted material. There is no way I can give credit to everyone for the many pictures or ideas that show up in my artwork - I do not have that information. I mean to honor their work with a Sky Line over their heads and many notes of thank you to all of you.

In my adult life, I have spent a great deal of time looking at art in magazines, books, homes, bars, restaurants, building lobbies and hallways, libraries, streets, galleries, museums and now on the internet. I try to "see" the art work and "take it in" - so that it becomes a part of who I am. I can say I have had many hours of art experience in galleries and museums. Many artists have influenced me and my work in one way or another. However - there are a few that have had much more affect on me than others. I cannot really put them in any kind of order of importance but the list starts with one man in particular. I intend to give credit to at least some of the hundreds of creative people who have brought me pleasure, informed me, and inspired my life. I will get to that list in a moment.


I must first mention the two people who have contributed to the making of Sky Line Over Internet - my dear wife Melissa Mandel and my dear son Gabriel Mandala. This website would not exist without their appreciation, respect, work, constant support and love.

Melissa has been with me in the world of art since we met and headed out to galleries, museums, music events, plays, dance performances and trips into the wilderness. Since Melissa first looked at any of my art work she has liked the work and has given non-stop encouragement, combined with questions and suggestions over the more than 24 years we have been together. She sometimes gives me a mental push when I am not thinking or stalled out in some way. Melissa has encouraged the making of this website since the idea came up more than two years ago. Melissa has acted as my editor-in-chief. Melissa was a lead software engineer and has been my tech support group. I could not have done much without her direction, redirection and her constantly getting me out of the bad computer situations I was creating. Her patience with me sitting at the computer and working long into the night was as great as anyone could hope for from someone else sharing the same space. Melissa's love for me is constant and she keeps me going in many ways that have nothing to do with websites or computers. I cannot thank Melissa enough for all she has contributed to this project of Sky Line Over Internet and to my life.

Gabriel, my dear son and Web Master, the major contributor to the making of this Endless Wire Museum, has been a continuous supporter of my artwork over the last few decades. When the website idea first came up between us, Gabriel may have suggested it to me. He encouraged the idea and agreed to make it. I was to provide the content and Gabriel would build the website. Little did we know of what we had gotten our selves into.

First we made a small website with about thirty-five works of art displayed. That was a nice beginning but it did not say much about all the art work I had made.

I came up with another idea, much more time consuming. Gabriel agreed to make a larger website - an "internet art museum" - dedicated to my artwork. More than two years ago we started work on this project, which grew to twelve galleries within the museum containing more than two thousand images of more than one thousand works of art. Gabriel has spent many, many hours working on the project, cropping, color correcting, and otherwise adjusting the thousands of images and thumbnails, and coding the pages that make up the museum. This was all after long hours at his job sitting in front of a computer screen working as a visual effects compositor for major movies. [Compositing is the high-tech version of collage, for film and television -GM] As long as my website ideas were possible in a website, Gabriel accepted every bit of work and most of the ideas I have sent his way. I do not believe anyone could have done a better job - partially because of Gabriel's closeness to the art and to the fact that he "gets" the art - he relates to the many ideas involved in all of it - the personal aspect of the work, the politics and the humor that can be found in some of the work. In a few locations, Gabe has included a few of his own visual additions as highlights to images. Gabriel has contributed photos, copies and rescans of his collection of my art. He has also contributed to some of the writing found within the museum. Plus, up in Vancouver, Gabriel has been showing my art work to Canadians and to people from other countries - nice. He has said some people say, they have "never seen anything like it before". I cannot think of a better compliment. I cannot thank Gabriel enough for all he has contributed to this project and is doing to get my art work out into the world. Thank you Gabriel, for all you are in my life.


Next, I want to mention six of my professors at the University of Minnesota (1970 to 1974 - BFA major in painting and drawing with a minor in art history).

Unfortunately I do not remember the name of my first English professor who asked his students to read great books and write about serious, timely topics that came from those books. The professor's expressed ideas about many subjects were just what I needed to hear after four years of the US Navy and the Viet Nam war. That professor was the first person to inform me that the university system was not the "Brave New World" I was looking for. He was sure correct about that.

Four professors I admired were from the Studio Arts Department - Tom Cowette, Lynn Gray, Katie Nash and Gary Hallman. All of them influenced me with their artwork, their approach to making art and their very open attitude and thinking as to what art has been, is and can be. They all encouraged me, probably in every way they could. Thank you gentlemen, thank you Ms. Nash, for all of your experience and insight.

I had another teacher I did not care for but one day he said something that really stuck with me. In a painting class with Peter Busa, I was working on a 5' x 5' abstract expressionist painting. By the time I came to a point of what I called finished, the painting had become mostly yellow with a large variety of yellows involved. Mr. Busa came up to me and said - "Okay Murray, you can paint a yellow painting - let's see what else you can do." He was being somewhat of an asshole but every now and then over the years those words echo through my mind - "Murray - let's see what else you can do." At that moment I expect myself to come up with some new art action. You can see some of how I responded to that statement in this website. Not many yellow paintings in here! Wink!


I stay up late into the night working on my art work. A large percentage of my work has been done in the middle of the night. No matter when I am working, I am listening to music about 80% of the time (a low estimate) - helping to keep me in a kicked up, inspired and working groove. I am a drummer and in some ways music has been a stronger element in my life than visual art. I cared about music before being aware of caring about visual art. I have more than 2,000 CD's in my computer music collection but there are singers, musicians, bands, songwriters and composers that have meant much more to me than others.

For me a list of favorites from the world of music has to begin with eight of my foremost musical heroes - Miles Davis, Ornette Coleman, Bob Dylan, The Beatles, Pink Floyd, Bob Marley, John Cage and , Weather Report - probably the best band ever.

My list of music favorites slides on with more great musicians and bands to make visual art by and to live with in life - John Coltrane, Charles Mingus, Charles Lloyd, Nina Simone, Muddy Waters, Jimmy Reed, Albert King, B.B King, Howlin' Wolf, Albert Collins, Big Mama Thornton, James Brown, Jimi Hendrix, The Rolling Stones, Stevie Wonder, Quincy Jones, Hugh Masekela, Van Morrison, The Allman Brothers Band, The Band, Paul Butterfield Blues Band, Janis Joplin, Patti Smith, The Pretenders, Blondie, Laurie Anderson, Bonnie Raitt, Carla Bley, Little Feat, Talking Heads, Prince, Phillip Glass, Medeski, Martin and Wood, and The Black Keys - plus special mention of - Bach, Beethoven and Mozart - Rock On!

I am going to cut the list off here, to thank all those I mentioned above and everyone else who has touched my spirit with their music. You all keep me moving, rocking, drumming on table or desk tops, snapping my fingers, keeping time, tapping feet, singing, and closing my eyes to go - where ever you take me. Thank you so much.


I decided to name a few writers who have made some impact on my thinking and art work - Albert Einstein (conceptual artist), William S. Burroughs, Paul Bowles, Charles Baudelaire, Anais Nin, Aldous Huxley, Hermann Hesse, Henry Miller, John Cage, Robert Bly, Wendell Berry, Ishmael Reed, James Baldwin, Martin Luther King Jr., Malcom X, Alice Walker, Robert M. Pirsig, Arthur C, Clark, Ray Bradbury, Anthony Burgess, John Muir, Edward Abbey, Peter Matthiessen, William Kunstler, Michael C. Ruppert and John Cage. A special low bow of respect to Goethe. These writers and others, from all angles and fields of writing, have made impressions on my being and thinking. They gave me understanding and/or direction to life and art actions, OR - the words just seemed absolutely and completely, fucking right on whatever target. As a salute, I hang a Sky Line over all of them.


Early on in my visual art experience, I became aware of the outdated and misguided idea that "photographers were not artists". By putting list of photographers separate from artists, does not say that photographers are not artists - not in the least.

I entered the world of Art through the eye of photography. I am giving them special credit because of that fact. I feel the need to give credit to the people who really got to me with their photography. First. I am going to tell a quick story of my entry into the art world and then list the photographers I hold responsible for that entry.

The story goes like this... In 1967, I was in the US Navy assigned to an aircraft carrier in dry dock at Hunters Point Shipyards in San Francisco. I spent a lot of my time away from the ship, in San Francisco, exploring the city on foot. One day while walking down Van Ness Ave, I came upon the Museum of Modern Art - then in the Veterans Building. (When I joined the Navy I had signed up to be a Photographer's mate. The Navy made me an Aviation Ordnance man but I did not lose my interest in photography). Once inside the museum, my interest in photography lead me first to a photography exhibit by Jerry Uelsmann, someone I was unaware of at the time and who immediately became one of my all time favorite photographers. I had never seen or thought of a world as Mr. Uelsmann created with his multiple negative images. I am not sure what else I looked at that day but the visit to SFMOMA gave me a direction in life I had not considered before. After spending a good deal of time and energy thinking and fantasizing about what 35mm camera I was going to buy, I bought a Nikon FTN while in Hong Kong in 1968. I started to try double exposures in my camera the first day I had film in the camera.

I came to be influenced by a number of photographers and developed many favorites. I have to mention one more photographer as the second person to be a strong influence on me. While in my first photo class at the University of Minnesota, I saw an exhibit of Eve Sonneman's work. Ms. Sonneman taught me a great deal about photography and the time/space of photography. The idea that photographers were not artists - never crossed my mind. If you have not seen the photographs by any of these people - I suggest you check them out sometime - Jerry Uelsmann, Eve Sonneman, Diane Arbus, Man Ray, Bill Brandt, Ralph Gibson, Harry Callahan, Judy Dater, Ansel Adams, Minor White, Barbara Morgan, Ernest Haas, Paul Caponigro, Paul Strand, Robert Frank, Gordon Parks, Roy DeCarava, Ralph Eugene Meatyard, William Klein, Wynn Bullock, Helmut Newton, John Pfahl, Cindy Sherman, Sandy Skoglund, Sebastiao Salgado, Edward Burtynsky, Richard Misrach and Gregory Crewdson.


While studying Studio Arts and Art History at the U of Minnesota I took a couple film classes and made a few 8mm movies. Yes, I have more than a few favorite film makers. Each of these directors influenced my other art work much more than they influenced the movies I made. See their films if you have not already - Luis Bunuel, Michelangelo Antonioni, Jean Luc Goddard, Federico Fellini, Francois Truffaut, Roman Polanski, Stanley Kubrick, Aikira Kurosawa, John Cassavettes Sam Peckinpah, Bernardo Bertolucci, Werner Herzog, Peter Greenaway, Lina Wertmuller and more recently - Quentin Tarantino.


I bow to all of the visual artists I feel I need to mention - if for no other reason - just because of the sheer art enjoyment their work has given me. There has been plenty of influence from this bunch as to what I should do with my art. They taught me to make - whatever I am inspired to make - not to worry about a style, or a direction that is in or out. Being honest and focused was of great importance to the outcome of the art process. The individual discovery of each artist was of significance to me and any order of importance or influence would be a day to day matter of chance. I thank all of these artists for the many hours of great viewing time they have provided me with, for the delightful thinking time they have inspired and for all they have added to my experience of art and life.

You guessed it dear reader, a Sky Line over each of these artists, with one gentleman at the top of the list because he single handedly changed the world of art - Marcel Duchamp. The rest of these people also had a big hand in changing what we consider art to be - John Cage, Joseph Bueys, John Baldessari, Robert Irwin, Joseph Cornell, Vincent Van Gogh, Henri Matisse, Albert Bierstadt, Kurt Schwitters, Joan Miro, Piet Mondrian, Joseph Albers, Georgia O Keefe, Romare Beardon, Agnes Martin, Sol LeWitt, Robert Ryman, Jean Arp, Larry Bell, Isamu Noguchi, Robert Rauschenberg, Jasper Johns, Robert Motherwell, Franz Kline, Jackson Pollock, Helen Frankenthaler, Judy Chicago, Kara Walker, Willem de Kooning, Hans Hoffman, Arshille Gorkey, Al Held, Mark Rothko, Barnett Newman, Bruce Nauman, Eva Hesse, Louise Bourgeois, Jim Dine, Larry Poons, Mark Tobey, Ellsworth Kelly, Kenneth Noland, Henry Moore, David Smith, Donald Judd, Anthony Caro, George Rickey, Claes Oldenburg, Frank Stella, James Rosenquist, Cy Twombly, Roy Lichtenstein, Andy Warhol, Yoko Ono, Tom Wesselman, R. B. Kitaj, William T. Wiley, Robert Arneson, Ed Ruscha, Kiki Smith, Jenny Holzer, Rachel Whitehead, Deborah Butterfield, Edward Kienholz, Anselm Kiefer, Gerhard Richter, Jonathan Borofsky, Elizabeth Murray, Robert Smithson, Richard Long, Mark di Suvero, Richard Serra, Walter di Maria, Christo and Jean Claude, Andy Goldsworthy, James Turrell, Dan Flavin, The Da Da Movement, Fluxus, Arte Povera, Indigenous artists from around the world and Bay Area artist Tom Killion. Special thanks to Rembrandt.


I want to acknowledge here the great appreciation I have for anyone who is reading this sentence - you are looking at my website with some kind of true interest to get here. I hope you are enjoying your visit to this endless wire art museum - Sky Line Over Internet. I thank you for your interest and expenditure of time and energy. Please hang a conceptual Sky Line over your head at some chosen location. Thank you! Cheers and Peace - Murray - Wise Fool's Day - 2016

© Murray S. Nelson 2016