Ciarán Murphy

Though Ciarán Murphy paints from photographs, the Irish artist’s paintings are far from photorealistic. In his laconic, soft-pedaled compositions, Murphy focuses on one isolated subject. He treats depictions of animals, palm trees, snowbanks, and, in his more recent work, architecture and sculptural models, with the same soft, monochromtic gaze. All of his paintings have the look of something between security camera footage and an old sepia-toned photograph, questioning the human ability to every truly know or perceive a given subject. In all of these ways, Murphy treats painting as a tool for confronting—rather than clarifying—the way we see.

Murphy was the recipient of the Tony O Malley residency award in 2012 and an Irish Arts Council Bursary in 2009. He has had numerous solo exhibitions in Dublin, Amsterdam, and the United States.