Gavin McMurray

Artist and Signwriter, Petrolhead and lover of all things automotive.

Born and bred in Edinburgh, this artist chose, against his Father’s advice, to pursue a career in signwriting and commercial art rather than go to art college. This decision was driven by the artist’s desire to start earning right away so he could buy a car and get a girl - when you are a seventeen-year-old boy, it’s all about cars and girls. The first car is long gone, but he still has the same girl.

Fast forward forty years, after a long and successful career in signmaking the pandemic created the time and space for his interest in art to re-awaken and for many hundreds of hours to be spent learning a new craft – automotive art.

A visit to Bicester Heritage Centre led to his first painting of note; a composition featuring the Henri Toivonen Lancia 037 Group B rally car alongside the roadgoing homologation special, the Lancia Stradale, upon which it was based. This was followed by a project, still in progress, to paint the celebrated new Lotus Emira, the last internal combustion engine Lotus will make, in all six First Edition colours.

Gavin’s preferred medium is acrylics on canvas, painting at a scale that allows faithful reproduction of every detail. Portraits are also painstakingly executed, one of his large format works finishing in the top 100 of the Scottish Portrait Awards in 2022.

He signs his work G. Y. McMurray to honour his late father Yuel, a talented artist who was responsible for Gavin’s lifelong passion for classic, competition and performance cars. Yuel painted cars in his youth and during his commercial art career painted the sponsors’ livery on cars campaigned by the local Garagiste, John Laidlay. These included the Hope Scott Chevron B49 driven by Andrew Jeffrey, often seen locked in battle with Jim Crawford and David Leslie’s Hope Scott Ralt RT4 which won almost every race in which it competed.

Gavin retains an interest and active role in Merson Group, who manufacture dealership branding on a global scale for Lotus and Aston Martin, while also looking after the UK dealership signage for Volvo, Ford and Honda. His own Lotus Emira, in Dark Verdant green the same as one of his exhibited works, can often be seen enjoying the best driving roads in Scotland and further afield.

Email: gavin.mcmurray@mersongroup.com

Instagram: @gavin.mcmurray

Telephone: +44 7771717512