The Private Alphabet of JB Murry

Self taught artist JB Murry (1908-1988), who spent his entire life in rural Georgia, would compose paintings in what he called "spirit script". During religious trances he would channel visions from God into strange and wonderful paintings, adorned with a private alphabet that were much the visual analog of speaking in tongues. These visions began at the age of 77, after hip surgery had forced him into retirement. His use of color is striking but it is his bizarre writing system, the "spirit script", that intrigues me the most. Like all the great spiritual trance art of American folklore, from "Oahspe" to Howard Finster, the work of Murry is both mystical and innocent, almost recalling the childhood visions of angels William Blake famously recounted.