New Paintings by David L. Murphree Explore The Intersection of Industry and the Natural World
FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. — How can you measure the transformation of the natural landscape in the wake of American industrialism? Fayetteville artist David L. Murphree confronts that dilemma in an exhibit of contemporary oil paintings, “Machines in the Ghost,” on display July 15 – August 29 at the Fayetteville Underground Gallery. The show features 24 new paintings that investigate the dichotomous relationship between the organic world and the scientific apprehension of it in abstract field paintings of intense color and boundless space. This is the first local exhibition for the artist whose work has appeared at the Venice Biennale, and in shows at Virginia Polytechnic University and California State Polytechnic University at Pomona.
Born in rural Mississippi, Murphree was raised with an abiding concern for the natural riches of the Deep South. At the same time, hours spent in the laboratory with his father, a pioneer in the field of plasma physics, stimulated the artist’s fascination with actualizing the forces of nature through the lens of physical science. Murphree is quick to point out, “These influences combined form the central theme of my painting: the land and the battles it wages with the technologies of our age.”
Aiming to “push psychic and metaphysical impressions into a willful embodiment of existing with the world,” Murphree’s paintings represent visual memories accrued over two decades as an architectural and industrial designer in New York, Los Angeles, and Atlanta. Trained in the Fine Arts and Architecture at Mississippi State University and the Institute for Architecture and Urban Studies in New York, Murphree has been affiliated with architects Peter Eisenman, Scoggins Elam Bray, and Mockbee Coker Howorth, and has taught design at the California State Polytechnic University, Virginia Polytechnic Institute, Tulane University, and University of Arkansas. Always skeptical of the constraints of studio practice, he has taken purposeful sorties to invigorate his connection with the dualities of American place that his work portrays, including amassing over 1,000,000 miles of cross-continental travel at the wheel of a Kenworth T-600 tractor-trailer. Select photographs that document his journeys complement the paintings showcased in this exhibit.
Murphree’s “Machines in the Ghost” will be featured in the upcoming First Thursday Gallery Walk, August 6, 5 – 8 p.m. The public is welcome to view the show during regular gallery hours as well: Wednesday – Friday 12:00 p.m. to 7:00 p.m., and Saturday – 8:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m. Fayetteville Underground is located in the basement of the One East Square Plaza building on Fayetteville’s historic downtown square.
CONTACT: David L. Murphree, Artist and Architectural Designer studio m2 479-466-0637 Subscribe to comments Comment | Trackback |
