Documenting artist Brett Murray’s career over the past 30 years, this book boasts both powerful imagery and reflective texts from his 80s cultural/struggle work, through his career to The Spear—the natural outcome of his art and reflections on injustices past and present. Featuring short introductions at the start of each body of work included, and contributions by Roger van Wyk, Michael Smith, and Steve Dubin, it is an in-depth look at the artist and the man. Brett Murray staked out his artistic turf early in his career and has doggedly cultivated it ever since; Murray’s impatience with political correctness, and disgust with the constraints imposed by artistic gatekeepers, has scarcely been disguised. This was demonstrated by The Spear in 2012, which became the most vilified work of art ever produced in South Africa. Murray was branded provocative, subversive, sardonic, bitter, and an angry young artist.

Brett Murray is a Pretoria-born, South African artist mostly known for his steel and mixed-media wall sculptures. He studied at the University of Cape Town Michaelis School of Fine Art where he was awarded his Master of Fine Arts degree in 1988 with distinction. From 1991 to 1994 he established the sculpture department at the University of Stellenbosch.