B. 1945, Philadelphia, has been an artist since childhood. He has achieved international recognition as a maker of collectable ‘art knives’, with pieces in museums and collections around the globe. He has also had a book of his photographs of Maine published, [Maine, the Home Place, University Press of New England, 2003], and published his first novel, [Above and Beyond, ShadowChasers Press, 2000] under the pen-name, Derek Stockton. Having painted from the age of six, he regards this as his life’s passion.

Murad’s paintings are drawn from his own photographs—with minor exceptions—and the theme that unites them is his effort to capture the nuance and infinite variety of light as it illuminates a broad spectrum of subjects. His paintings are oils on panel, with alkyd medium.

In a review of a recent show of his photographs at the University of New England, Phillip Isaacson wrote: “Mr. Saÿen works in color and uses the medium with the brio of a painter. His series of images taken in turn from images found on the side of boxcars, and his landscapes, particularly “The Davis Barn”, are voluptuous. In them color is raised to the level of an imaginary ideal. The work is a fusion of technical and aesthetic accomplishment that is quite remarkable. (Maine Sunday Telegram, June 18 th, 2006)

PanTerra Gallery is the sole representative of Murad’s in the western U.S., and a broad sampling of his work in both painting and photography is viewable in digital form on the gallery’s computer, and on his website: www.shadowchasers.com.