NEW YORK, NY.- Marc Straus announced that Todd Murphy has joined the gallery. Murphy’s debut exhibition of new work will open on October 23rd, 2016.
For over two decades Todd Murphy has explored artistic techniques that combine sculpture, painting and photography. Assemblage is an important aspect of his work – Murphy re-contextualizes ramshackle objects and curios from thrift shops to discover the buried language of things. In his hands a billowing dress of inverted twigs completes an antique mannequin to become a seductive dancer.
Like a 19th-century Naturalist, Murphy’s practice involves intensive research trips to the far reaches of the world to document wildlife and landscapes. One monumental mixed media work includes over two hundred painted avian species. His alchemy of materials and recurring motifs connect the viewer to literature, dance, couture, and mythology.
Marc Straus commented: “It is a wonderful that Todd and I are now working together. I was first introduced to his work in 1993 by my son, who had moved to Atlanta after college. Todd was the most renowned Atlanta based artist and his work was in enormous demand. I have watched the development of his practice since, always with language unique to him. His work provides an elegiac window to moments in life which enlarge our perception and gratitude for being a part of something much larger than ourselves. He has had numerous museum and gallery shows in the US and Asia. With Murphy’s recent relocation to Brooklyn, I am proud that it is our gallery to bring his work to a larger audience.”
For his inaugural New York show with Marc Straus, Murphy will present work that explores themes of time, history and fantasy. The installation will feature dress assemblages that stand eight-feet tall, all with theatrical lighting and some include video to introduce another dimension of time and space.
Also in the show is a fifteen-foot painting of a massive and menacing tiger frozen in mid-pounce and a painting of a life-sized stag with majestic antlers made of actual branches protruding protectively overhead. Murphy seeks an experience where time almost stands still and we share moments of Nature and beauty.
Todd Murphy (b. 1962) was born in Chicago and moved to Georgia as a child. After studying art at the University of Georgia, he began his artistic career in Atlanta and continued to show there as well as in San Francisco, Miami, Chicago, Los Angeles and Seoul, South Korea and elsewhere. His work is in many prestigious international private and museum collections including The High Museum of Art, The New Orleans Museum, and The Tampa Museum of Art. Murphy’s work has often been used in film, music, and theatre.
