Ray Murphy

Bio

Ray lives and works in Cork. He graduated from the Crawford College of Art in 2001 and received his Masters from Wimbledon College of Art in 2008. He has gone on to exhibit widely in Ireland, the UK and China.

Ray has received various awards from bodies such as the Arts Council of Ireland and has had several residencies such as at the Cill Rialiag Project in Ballinskelligs.

His work has been collected by such public institutions as the Office of Public Works. Ray has co-ordinated intervention art projects with the group POST and group exhibitions of Irish art in China with BigSmall.

Artist Statement

In my ‘Shoeing the Child’ paintings the gangly balancing act of dressing my daughter and getting her out the door comprises an unlikely, brief equilibrium of pulling and pushing forces, before the rush re-commences again.

The figure is foregrounded and used as a totem of memory. The painting is kept close to the initial drawing. Enough volume and colour to become a painting but still having the looseness and immediacy of a drawing. Briefly an awareness and enjoyment of the moment competes against the pressures of time.

Membership: Backwater Artists Network