~LUKE MURPHY . . THE TRAVELING ROAD & THE WISHING WELL
FOLLOW THE YELLOW BRICK ROAD.
LUKE MURPHY . . ‘EVERY PIXEL BRIGHT’
OPENED JUNE 1, 2018
the show runs thru JULY 15, 2018
CANADA
LUKE MURPHY, ‘I thought it was a ladder, she said it was a serpent’, 2018.
Digital sculpture comprised of LED matrix panels / programmed by the artist.
86 x 51 x 12 in.
follow that road . .
look for the light at the the end of the tunnel.
“Stacking, assembling and wiring the panels together, MURPHY gives the works new physical forms and connotations: a monolith or a chimney, a slowly sagging quilt, contorted canvases a la Frank Stella. One work snakes from the wall to the floor – another bows out like an organic form . . ”
~CANADA PRESS RELEASE
there is no beginning / there is no end.
“each object operates with its own rhythm and system – buzzing and glitching in response to their own designated code. In fact, Murphy’s programs don’t repeat like an animation loop. Rather he writes the code to create formal propositions, endlessly generating new shapes, colors, and sequences within his rule, a practice more akin to an endurance-based drawing exercise, organized pixel by pixel.”
~CANADA PRESS RELEASE
on the right, LUKE MURPHY.
busy, and pulsing . . like those overhead shots of LA traffic / opening sequence of some TV melodrama.
at first sight, it seems a flat ribbon of light, but then / the twist, it broke rank – like a bridge that opens to tall ships.
memory association is so strange: it reminded me of the racing Lionel train set / I had as a kid that ran circles thru tunnels / on the plywood ping pong table / the brain trying to make sense of what it is processing. and doesn’t understand.
a cube.
you could throw pennies in, it was ’empty’ / except for the ‘mirrored’ table-top illusion, and the sci-fi aura.
metaphorical pennies, only.
“There’s an irreverence to Murphy’s project but also an intentionality – he tinkers with crude, flashy technologies and applies the attention of a painter or sculptor, urging us to view the objects in this way. Mr. Murphy is more concerned with the capacity for pathos in the works rather than their accomplishment. He seeks out the humanity of screens, the way they confound and alienate us and simultaneously reveal our aspirations, failures, desires, anxieties and even joy.”
~CANADA press release
LUKE MURPHY, ‘Every Pixel bright’, 2018.
30-1/4 x 25 x 25 in.
Digital sculpture comprised of LED panels programmed by the artist.
wood, straps & hardware.
PHOTOS: NANCY SMITH