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Ciarán Murphy’s paintings engage with the entanglement of technological and analogue modes of image-making. Negotiating an infinity of found images, Murphy splices together various source materials, allowing for chance encounters and incongruity to coalesce and collapse seemingly distinct subject matter into resolved compositions. In doing so, he examines and disrupts the dichotomy between original and copy, in favour of painting a blend or ‘mutation,’ asserting the painted medium’s capacity for verisimilitude; its ability to more accurately capture an atmosphere or sensation through approximation rather than direct mechanical reproduction.
Beginning each painting through a process of cutting and collaging different symbols and motifs across the canvas, Murphy allows competing foregrounds and backgrounds to merge unexpectedly. In this way, each painting is realised through the union of visual elements that might be jarring and harmonious in equal measure. Once a desired subject reveals itself, Murphy sets about rendering it in oils, often utilising a range of techniques, from areas of impasto and passages of scumbling, to the scraping and sweeping of paint from the surface, dissolving the absolute clarity of the subject and allowing the image to fade away from easy perception. Murphy’s paintings therefore engage with the phenomenology of sight itself, asking what the human eye can distinguish that a camera lens or computer screen, for instance, might not.
Elusion is not just part of the technique and substance of the painting, but becomes its subject matter too. His paintings are sometimes in series and pairs but also as isolated occurrences, that explore presence and absence; of people, animals, objects and places. Acts of looking or being observed feature prominently, across a suite of paintings depicting an individual figure shielding their eyes, and also a cropped close-up view of hands clasping a pair of binoculars. Murphy is often showing the viewer one thing, whilst obscuring another referent contained outside the boundaries of the canvas, there is an elusive pursuit both for the subject and the viewer, a feeling of suspense.
This allusion to something that is missing, concealed or yet to appear finds a further visual metaphor in a painting of a mound of small letters held within outstretched palms of an unknown figure. It is a painting that internalises this theme of visual equivocation, referencing the equivalent ability of the written and spoken language, like the language of images, to disguise or misdirect the truth. Within a pile of fragmented letters are endless possibilities of meaning that refuse to be unearthed.
Ciarán Murphy (b. 1978 in Mayo, IE) received his BA at the National College of Art & Design, Dublin (IE) in 2003 and his MA in Visual Arts Practices (MAVIS), IADT, Dublin (IE) in 2005. Selected collections include Azko Nobel Art Foundation, Amsterdam (NL); the Arts Council of Ireland, Dublin (IE); Irish Museum of Modern Art (IMMA), Dublin (IE); MOVE, Amsterdam (NL); Sanders Collection, Haarlem (NL); Xiao Museum of Contemporary Art, Rizhao (CN), among others.
Beginning each painting through a process of cutting and collaging different symbols and motifs across the canvas, Murphy allows competing foregrounds and backgrounds to merge unexpectedly. In this way, each painting is realised through the union of visual elements that might be jarring and harmonious in equal measure. Once a desired subject reveals itself, Murphy sets about rendering it in oils, often utilising a range of techniques, from areas of impasto and passages of scumbling, to the scraping and sweeping of paint from the surface, dissolving the absolute clarity of the subject and allowing the image to fade away from easy perception. Murphy’s paintings therefore engage with the phenomenology of sight itself, asking what the human eye can distinguish that a camera lens or computer screen, for instance, might not.
Elusion is not just part of the technique and substance of the painting, but becomes its subject matter too. His paintings are sometimes in series and pairs but also as isolated occurrences, that explore presence and absence; of people, animals, objects and places. Acts of looking or being observed feature prominently, across a suite of paintings depicting an individual figure shielding their eyes, and also a cropped close-up view of hands clasping a pair of binoculars. Murphy is often showing the viewer one thing, whilst obscuring another referent contained outside the boundaries of the canvas, there is an elusive pursuit both for the subject and the viewer, a feeling of suspense.
This allusion to something that is missing, concealed or yet to appear finds a further visual metaphor in a painting of a mound of small letters held within outstretched palms of an unknown figure. It is a painting that internalises this theme of visual equivocation, referencing the equivalent ability of the written and spoken language, like the language of images, to disguise or misdirect the truth. Within a pile of fragmented letters are endless possibilities of meaning that refuse to be unearthed.
Ciarán Murphy (b. 1978 in Mayo, IE) received his BA at the National College of Art & Design, Dublin (IE) in 2003 and his MA in Visual Arts Practices (MAVIS), IADT, Dublin (IE) in 2005. Selected collections include Azko Nobel Art Foundation, Amsterdam (NL); the Arts Council of Ireland, Dublin (IE); Irish Museum of Modern Art (IMMA), Dublin (IE); MOVE, Amsterdam (NL); Sanders Collection, Haarlem (NL); Xiao Museum of Contemporary Art, Rizhao (CN), among others.
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Aangeboden kunstwerken van Ciarán Murphy
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b. 1978, Mayo (IE)
Lives and works in Callan (IE)
Solo Exhibitions
2023
this appear, GRIMM, London (UK)
2022
Merrily, merrily, merrily, merrily, Royal Hibernian Academy, Dublin (IE)
Merrily, merrily, merrily, merrily, The Model, Sligo (IE)
Solid Gone, GRIMM, Amsterdam (NL)
2021
Merrily, merrily, merrily, merrily, Butler Gallery, Kilkenny (IE)
2020
there, there now, GRIMM, Amsterdam (NL)
2018
Hundreds of Nature, GRIMM, New York, NY (US)
Plainsight, GRIMM, Amsterdam (NL)
2014
A Particular Nothing, GRIMM Frans Halsstraat 26, Amsterdam (NL)
2013
A Round Now, Taymour Grahne Gallery, New York, NY (US)
The Paradise, Douglas Hyde Gallery, Dublin (IE)
2011
Equipment, GRIMM Frans Halsstraat 26, Amsterdam (NL)
2010
All That’s Air Melts Into Solid, GRIMM Keizersgracht 82, Amsterdam (NL)
Ciarán Murphy, Douglas Hyde Gallery, Dublin (IE)
2009
March, Mother’s Tankstation, Dublin (IE)
2008
Ciarán Murphy, Kavi Gupta Gallery, Chicago, IL (US)
Ciarán Murphy, Cerealart, Philadelphia, PA (US)
2007
Ciarán Murphy, GRIMM Keizersgracht 82, Amsterdam (NL)
2006
15 single-word Titled Paintings, Mother’s Tankstation, Dublin (IE)
Group Exhibitions
2022
192nd RHA Annual Exhibition, Royal Hibernian Academy, Dublin (IE)
2021
Interludes, Workplace, London (UK)
Inaugural exhibition, GRIMM, New York, NY (US)
2019
The Periodical Review #9, Pallas Projects, Dublin (IE)
Away in the Hill, GRIMM, New York, NY (US)
2018
Hennessy Art Fund for IMMA Collection 2018, Irish Museum of Modern Art, Dublin (IE)
Pop-up GRIMM, Brussels (BE)
2017
Hennessy Art Fund for IMMA Collection, Irish Museum of Modern Art, Dublin (IE)
Soul-Beating, Gorey School of Art, Gorey (IE)
2014
Fieldworks: Animal Habitats in Contemporary Art, Lewis Glucksman Gallery, Cork (IE)
2013
In the line of beauty, Irish Museum of Modern Art, Dublin (IE)
2011
Interlude (Aspects of Irish landscape painting), Douglas Hyde Gallery, Dublin (IE)
Aperture & Anxieties, Royal Hibernian Academy, Dublin (IE)
2010
New Paintings, GRIMM Keizersgracht 82, Amsterdam (NL)
2009
Something Else, Rothe House, Kilkenny, Ireland (IE)
2007
Solo presentation, Mother’s Tankstation at Zoo Art Fair, London (UK)
2006
Ciarán Murphy & Petri Ala-Maunus, Gallery Massimo Carassi, Milan (IT)
Mother’s Ruin – dangerous obsessions and the culture of excess, Mother’s Tankstation, Dublin (IE)
2005
Here Comes Everybody, Project, Dublin (IE)
Eurojet Futures Anthology, RHA Gallery, Dublin (IE)
Remote Access, Rubicon Gallery, Dublin (IE)
2004
Eurojet Futures, RHA Gallery, Dublin (IE)
Work in progress, Studio 6, Temple Bar Gallery, Dublin (IE)
2003
50/50, Temple Bar Gallery, Dublin (IE)
Crawford Open, Crawford Gallery of Art, Cork (IE)
Contemporary European Art, Cella Muille, Eisenstadt (AT)
Flix, Rubicon Gallery, Dublin (IE)
Iontas, Sligo Art Gallery, Sligo (IE)
2001
NCAD Degree Show, Dublin (IE)
RDS Student Award Scheme, Dublin (IE)
Frozen Pipes, Illac Centre, Dublin (IE)
Shoplifter, Illac Centre, Dublin (IE)
2000
Sensationless, Vicar St, Dublin (IE)
1999
National Portrait Award, Dublin (IE)
Selected Collections
Arts Council of Ireland, Dublin (IE)
Defares Collection, Amsterdam (NL)
Irish Museum of Modern Art (IMMA), Dublin (IE)
Sanders Collection, Haarlem (NL)
Lives and works in Callan (IE)
Solo Exhibitions
2023
this appear, GRIMM, London (UK)
2022
Merrily, merrily, merrily, merrily, Royal Hibernian Academy, Dublin (IE)
Merrily, merrily, merrily, merrily, The Model, Sligo (IE)
Solid Gone, GRIMM, Amsterdam (NL)
2021
Merrily, merrily, merrily, merrily, Butler Gallery, Kilkenny (IE)
2020
there, there now, GRIMM, Amsterdam (NL)
2018
Hundreds of Nature, GRIMM, New York, NY (US)
Plainsight, GRIMM, Amsterdam (NL)
2014
A Particular Nothing, GRIMM Frans Halsstraat 26, Amsterdam (NL)
2013
A Round Now, Taymour Grahne Gallery, New York, NY (US)
The Paradise, Douglas Hyde Gallery, Dublin (IE)
2011
Equipment, GRIMM Frans Halsstraat 26, Amsterdam (NL)
2010
All That’s Air Melts Into Solid, GRIMM Keizersgracht 82, Amsterdam (NL)
Ciarán Murphy, Douglas Hyde Gallery, Dublin (IE)
2009
March, Mother’s Tankstation, Dublin (IE)
2008
Ciarán Murphy, Kavi Gupta Gallery, Chicago, IL (US)
Ciarán Murphy, Cerealart, Philadelphia, PA (US)
2007
Ciarán Murphy, GRIMM Keizersgracht 82, Amsterdam (NL)
2006
15 single-word Titled Paintings, Mother’s Tankstation, Dublin (IE)
Group Exhibitions
2022
192nd RHA Annual Exhibition, Royal Hibernian Academy, Dublin (IE)
2021
Interludes, Workplace, London (UK)
Inaugural exhibition, GRIMM, New York, NY (US)
2019
The Periodical Review #9, Pallas Projects, Dublin (IE)
Away in the Hill, GRIMM, New York, NY (US)
2018
Hennessy Art Fund for IMMA Collection 2018, Irish Museum of Modern Art, Dublin (IE)
Pop-up GRIMM, Brussels (BE)
2017
Hennessy Art Fund for IMMA Collection, Irish Museum of Modern Art, Dublin (IE)
Soul-Beating, Gorey School of Art, Gorey (IE)
2014
Fieldworks: Animal Habitats in Contemporary Art, Lewis Glucksman Gallery, Cork (IE)
2013
In the line of beauty, Irish Museum of Modern Art, Dublin (IE)
2011
Interlude (Aspects of Irish landscape painting), Douglas Hyde Gallery, Dublin (IE)
Aperture & Anxieties, Royal Hibernian Academy, Dublin (IE)
2010
New Paintings, GRIMM Keizersgracht 82, Amsterdam (NL)
2009
Something Else, Rothe House, Kilkenny, Ireland (IE)
2007
Solo presentation, Mother’s Tankstation at Zoo Art Fair, London (UK)
2006
Ciarán Murphy & Petri Ala-Maunus, Gallery Massimo Carassi, Milan (IT)
Mother’s Ruin – dangerous obsessions and the culture of excess, Mother’s Tankstation, Dublin (IE)
2005
Here Comes Everybody, Project, Dublin (IE)
Eurojet Futures Anthology, RHA Gallery, Dublin (IE)
Remote Access, Rubicon Gallery, Dublin (IE)
2004
Eurojet Futures, RHA Gallery, Dublin (IE)
Work in progress, Studio 6, Temple Bar Gallery, Dublin (IE)
2003
50/50, Temple Bar Gallery, Dublin (IE)
Crawford Open, Crawford Gallery of Art, Cork (IE)
Contemporary European Art, Cella Muille, Eisenstadt (AT)
Flix, Rubicon Gallery, Dublin (IE)
Iontas, Sligo Art Gallery, Sligo (IE)
2001
NCAD Degree Show, Dublin (IE)
RDS Student Award Scheme, Dublin (IE)
Frozen Pipes, Illac Centre, Dublin (IE)
Shoplifter, Illac Centre, Dublin (IE)
2000
Sensationless, Vicar St, Dublin (IE)
1999
National Portrait Award, Dublin (IE)
Selected Collections
Arts Council of Ireland, Dublin (IE)
Defares Collection, Amsterdam (NL)
Irish Museum of Modern Art (IMMA), Dublin (IE)
Sanders Collection, Haarlem (NL)
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