Ann B. Murphy
Rising and Falling
ANN B. MURPHY
Brooklyn artist Ann B. Murphy, right, presents “Rising and Falling,” curated by Kimberly Saari at the Eleanor Bliss Center for the Arts. There will be an opening reception for the artist from 5 to 8 p.m. Friday.
Show in Steamboat displays New York artist's work. K. Saari Gallery, Steamboat Springs Arts Council collaborate on event featuring Ann B. Murphy
By Nicole Inglis Thursday, September 30, 2010
Steamboat Springs — Ann Murphy was sitting in a cemetery in upstate New York when she noticed two tombstones that had tilted toward each other until they rested like a head on a lover’s shoulder.
At closer look, the tombstones belonged to a husband and wife who had been married for 75 years. It was a moment when, as an artist, Murphy was taken away from her drawing task at hand and was moved and touched by the sweetness of their story. “I was sitting there sketching and trying to think and being all intellectual, and this just stopped me dead in my tracks,” Murphy said. Murphy uses the interplay between the peaks and valleys of life to express her lively thoughtfulness through her art. It’s the rise and fall, the moments of fire, passion, heat, and the power of sweetness and beauty that cast light on the darkness everyone experiences. “This is one person’s explorations through life,” Murphy said, gesturing at her recently hung art pieces Wednesday at the Eleanor Bliss Center for the Arts. “Some of it’s beautiful, and some of it’s raw and spiky. That’s just part of my humanity.”
In the first collaborative show between the Steamboat Springs Arts Council and K. Saari Gallery, Murphy will display several drawing-on-paper pieces, as well as a seven-minute video installation duringOctober at the Depot. An opening reception is from 5 to 8 p.m. Friday during First Friday Artwalk at the Depot. Arts Council Executive Director Clark Davidson said he hoped the work’s cultural references would prompt discourse. “I think it’s thought-provoking,” Davidson said. “And I’m a firm believer that art should provoke thought and discussion.”
In particular, two works make references to wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, using animal archetypes to illustrate human emotions and reactions. In one piece, two sadistic, horned jackals dominate a herd of turtles. In another, flocks of majestic Canada geese are laying golden eggs on a golf course that Murphy said is inspired by the hills of Afghanistan and places from her childhood in Illinois. Both pieces are colorful and accessible because of the realistic forms, but they carry a higher message, as well. “Some people think it’s funny,” Murphy said about her paper drawing work, some of which is hung unframed on the Depot walls. “And some people think it’s too raw.” Other pieces delve into more personal emotions and her thoughts on the life she’s chosen as an artist, such as a large, colorful piece depicting the back of a car decorated with cans and shoes with the words “just kidding” written where one would expect to see “just married.”
In a separate dark room, away from the drawings, Murphy will play her video installation on repeat. It features cyclical movements of the human body and colorful images. Saari said she met Murphy in Steamboat Springs and was impressed to learn about the scope of Murphy’s work, which also includes stone carving and woodwork. “She has this technical and clean aspect, then there are these organic works on paper,” Saari said. “It really shows the depth of her work.” For Murphy, the variations in her work don’t fragment it; they combine to tell her entire story. “I don’t know how I got here,” she said, reflecting on her 20-year career as an artist. “I just made some really unconventional decisions along the way.”