BILL MURPHY--Artworks for Sale. BIDDINGTON'S ART GALLERY--More Paintings and Sculpture.
Bill Murphy Contemporary Realist Painter
Current Exhibition:
"Recent Work: Three Big Ones
BILL MURPHY"
Wagner College Gallery
Staten Island, NY
September 7-October 8,
2005
CREATIVE
PROCESS visits artist
Bill Murphy in his Staten Island (New York)
studio.
Olimpia
Mixed-Media Painting
Bill Murphy: I like to draw. But I want to make drawings that couldn't
have been done 100 years ago.
The Hanged Man-- Bill
Murphy
Large charcoal & graphite drawing on paper
37" X 85" (margins
cropped in photo)
Bill Murphy:
My background is landscape painting and etching. For years, I would take off for
the day with a pocketful of etching plates and work directly from nature--a very
Whistler-like approach.
"In the work of all great artists, there is at least a germ of autobiography. Wyeth considers every patch of ground home to the imagination; every place he walks is drenched in memory, filtered back to him in a way a non-artist would only vaguely understand. There is much of that sense of a personal homeland in Bill Murphy's Staten Island images and in his work in general."--Brett Busang "Bill Murphy and His Quest for Space", American Arts Quarterly Winter 2005
Bill Murphy: Chance brings me things for my work: I found that old globe
(at the top of "Hanged Man") on the street in my neighborhood. Walking around the
upper East Side of Manhattan, I found two black mannequins that a store was
throwing out. They had such a presence that I felt compelled to bring them home.
I wanted to use the mannequins in a way that wasn't a surrealist kind of cliché.
Hanging this mannequin upside-down seemed to work in this
drawing.
Bill Murphy: In my most recent series of large, layered drawings, I have
been using a combination of models, photos and studio set-ups. 
Table in Bill Murphy's Studio (left)
Bill Murphy: I don't like to talk too much about the imagery in the
drawings. Elements in them do have meaning for me and come from specific sources.
But I prefer the viewer make up his own story.
Bill Murphy: I work from varying vantage
points and perspectives. For the very large drawings, I construct drawing boards
so that I can see the set-up and draw at the same time.
Bill Murphy:
These pieces take about two months to make--both unconscious and working time. I
work on only one drawing at a time.
Bill Murphy: I do many preliminary studies for the large drawings-
especially working on placing elements within the composition. I cannot tell you
how many times I sketched this figure and ax to get the right relationship between
them.
Bill Murphy: The same
was true in placing the three figures that form the core of the painted
triptych
"My Search for the Truth". 
Sketch for Bill
Murphy painting "My Search for the Truth"
Bill Murphy: My triptychs and my drawings are organized very differently.
The drawings work in complex layers from back to front.
Bill Murphy: The triptychs appear much more open; these paintings look
simpler than the big drawings. The triptychs expand horizontally from the central
panel outward to the sides. The side panels refer to each other, then back to the
center. Both in composition and in theme, they are layered horizontally. The
triptychs have a narrative quality to them.
Painting triptych "My Search for the Truth"--Bill
Murphy
Bill Murphy: Previously, my work seemed to glorify or romanticize aspects
of the world we live in. Now my work dwells in a place that is more in accord
with the nature of human life--with life's anxieties, complexities and
mysteries.
"Chess Game" Mixed-media Painting
Bill Murphy in His Studio
View Bill Murphy
realist drawings, paintings, etchings and lithographs
for sale in BIDDINGTON'S
Contemporary Art Gallery
Price Range: $200 to $5000.Bill
Murphy is represented in the collections of:
British Museum
New York Public Library
New York Historical Society
Westinghouse Corporation
Staten Island Institute of Arts and Sciences
Nassau Community College
Wagner College
Bill Murphy selected bibliography:
American Arts Quarterly, "Bill Murphy and His Quest for Space"--Winter 2005
Visual Arts Journal--2004
The Artists Magazine--12/93
US Art News--4/92
American Artist, "Bill Murphy's Race against Time"--4/92
The New York Times, "Detailed Realism in Works on Paper"--
12/17/89
ABOUT THIS FEATURE
CREATIVE PROCESS at Biddington's is designed as a forum for watching art in the making. Usually, this process happens in the privacy of the artist's studio. At BIDDINGTON'S Contemporary Art Gallery & upmarket, online art & antiques auction--we find it interesting to witness the steps leading to the end product and to hear the artists speak about their work in the relaxed surroundings of their own studios.
COPYRIGHT: Images and information within www.biddingtons.com are Copyright Biddington's, Inc. 1997-2005--except where superceded by individual copyrights of the artists.
Downloading or printing for online or print reproduction of any materials without specific written permission from Biddington's, Inc. is prohibited.
Email Biddington's with your comments: webmaster@biddingtons.com
BIDDINGTON'S CREATIVE PROCESS Archives:
Sigmund Abeles Expressive Realist Painter
Javier Astorga Metal Figurative Sculpture
Nancy Azara Sculptor
Tova Beck-Friedman Sculptor & Mixed-Media Artist
Todd Bellanca Abstract Painter
Carol Bruns Bronze Figurative Sculptor
James Burnett Non-Objective Painter
Cynthia Capriata Peruvian Painter & Printmaker
Catalina Chervin Argentine Surrealist Artist
Diane Churchill Expressionist Painter
John Clem Clarke Pop Artist
Lisa Dinhofer Illusionist Painter
Tom Duncan Narrative Polychrome Sculpture
Michael Eastman Faux-Primitive Painter
Eduardo Fausti Natural History Paintings
Lynne Frehm New York Abstract Painter
Betsey Garand Minimalist Painter & Fine Art Printmaker
Mary Teresa Giancoli Personal Documentary Photographer
Debora Gilbert-Ryan New Image Painter
Janet Goldner African-Influenced Steel Sculpture
Harry Gordon Monumental Sculpture
Marilyn Greenberg Narrative Abstract Painter
Patricia Hansen Portrait and Still Life Painter
Richard Heinrich Welded Steel Sculpture
Charles Hewitt Painter & Monotype Printmaker
Diane Holland Intermedia Collage Artist
GH Hovagimyan Pop/Conceptual Artist
LA Hughes Pop Artist
Frances Jetter Bronze Sculptor & Editorial Illustrator
Scott Kahn Fantasy Painter
Susan Kaprov Digital Printmaker and Abstract Painter
Babette Katz Narrative Printmaker and Book Artist
Richard Mock Abstract Painter & Linocut Printmaker
Bill Murphy Contemporary Realist Painter
Jim Napierala Abstract Painter
Frances Pellegrini New York City & Fashion Photographer
Joseph Reeder Cross Media Artist Paintings & Ceramics
Laura Shechter Contemporary Realist Painter
Annemarie Slipper Figurative Bronzes & Ceramic Sculpture
Gary Slipper Fantasy Painter
Margaret Speer Landscape & Travel Paintings
Serena Tallarigo Marble Sculptor
Rein Triefeldt Kinetic Sculpture
Vivian Tsao Painter of Light
Nancy Van Deren Contemporary Painter
Joan Berg Victor Drawings from Nature
Edward Walsh Figurative Sculpture
Kate Wattson Contemporary Colorist Painter
Betty Winkler Organic Minimalist Painter & Printmaker
COPYRIGHT: Images and information within www.biddingtons.com are © Biddington's, Inc. --except where preceded by individual copyrights of the artist.
Downloading or printing for online or print reproduction of any materials without specific written permission from Biddington's, Inc. is prohibited.
PEDIGREE & PROVENANCE--art words & terms defined.
JAKE BIDDINGTON'S INVESTING--financial advice for art collectors.
BIDDINGTON'S BENTLEY--travel for the art & antiques connoisseur. MY ART--Art for kids.
BIDDINGTON'S--Home & Search