To those who use certain criteria, Murphy's paintings may not be considered good. At first glance, there's too much focus drawn to the subject. Good paintings dont have such focus, they say.

Brenna Sanchez
TODD MURPHY Images that speak for themselves,
Hour, Detroit, 1997
That kind of focus is reserved for advertising. But, though microphone, fawn, hippo or horse may be a focus of the painting, there is art in the composition of each piece.

Brenna Sanchez
TODD MURPHY Images that speak for themselves,
Hour, Detroit, 1997
It starts in the physical construction, in rough pieces of plexiglas, how they're bolted onto each photo, in the play of the oil paint and tar resin over it all.

Brenna Sanchez
TODD MURPHY Images that speak for themselves
Hour, Detroit, 1997
But, though microphone, fawn, hippo or horse may be a focus of the painting, there is art in the composition of each piece. It starts in the physical construction, in rough pieces of Plexiglas, how they're bolted onto each photo, in the play of the oil paint or tar resin over it all.

Brenna Sanchez
TODD MURPHY Images that speak for themselves,
Hour, Detroit, 1997
The result is a murky, underwater lit sense that implies far more depth than exists in its layers, and that should he spared the indecency of analysis past the point of interest.

Brenna Sanchez
TODD MURPHY Images that speak for themselves,
Hour, Detroit, 1997
The images are too intriguing, drawing you into Murphy's rare and precious world, maybe a country of birds and beasts called Exotica where there is little room for intellectual dissection.

Brenna Sanchez
TODD MURPHY Images that speak for themselves,
Hour, Detroit, 1997
"Music is like that," Murphy says. "You just listen to it and you like it. Or you don't. But you don't need a master's in critical theory to talk about why you do like it or don't like it"

Brenna Sanchez
TODD MURPHY Images that speak for themselves,
Hour, Detroit, 1997
it's definitely not where he's coming from. "That's what other people are about. It’s amazing what people write, what they pull out of the stuff."

Brenna Sanchez
TODD MURPHY Images that speak for themselves,
Hour, Detroit, 1997
That said, Murphy's work does come from somewhere. He's sure it's not from his head more from something like a dream. And he does have thoughts and ideas about it; he just dabbles ever so lightly in them. He has few words about the work he's brought to Birmingham's Robert Kidd gallery.
"lt’s about signal sending, animal markings, technological devices. Anything that's about signs that send messages," he says. It's a lot of animals, a lot of patterns. Some animals are patterned to conceal, some are patterned for mating, for display. Some are false, fake eyes on their backs.
"lt all becomes part of a bigger pattern. it's a silly metaphor that makes perfect sense to me. We have our time, we send out our signals and we move on. And that becomes part of a bigger pattern."

Brenna Sanchez
TODD MURPHY Images that speak for themselves,
Hour, Detroit, 1997
"Why is it that we have such difficulty communicating, when other animals seem to do it so well," he wonders. "Or do we?"

Brenna Sanchez
TODD MURPHY Images that speak for themselves,
Hour, Detroit, 1997
The images are too intriguing, drawing you into Murphy's rare and precious world.

Brenna Sanchez
TODD MURPHY Images that speak for themselves,
Hour, Detroit, 1997
"lt’s about signal sending, animal markings, technological devices. Anything that's about signs that send messages," he says.

Brenna Sanchez
TODD MURPHY Images that speak for themselves,
Hour, Detroit, 1997

Untitled, Mixed Media, 1995
11' x 10' (132" x 120")

Untitled, mixed media, 1997
6' x 5' (72" x 60")

©TODD_MURPHY_MICROPHONE_ANLERS_TMS_1997_P5__184_WF.jpg

©TODD_MURPHY_DUCK_MICROPHONE_TMS_----_P6__239_WF.jpg

©TODD_MURPHY_MICROPHONE_MAN_PAINTING_MS__P002_317.jpg

©TODD_MURPHY_MIICROPHONE_MAN_SCULPTURE_TMS_----_P6__258_WF.jpg

Todd Murphy: Kingdom. Phylum. Class. Order. Family. Genus. Radio

Pink Innocent, mixed media, 1995
10' x 10' (120" x 120")

Microphone Man, 1993
10' x 8' (120" x 96")

To those who use certain criteria, Murphy's paintings may not be considered good. At first glance, there's too much focus drawn to the subject. Good paintings dont have such focus, they say.

Brenna Sanchez
TODD MURPHY Images that speak for themselves,
Hour, Detroit, 1997
That kind of focus is reserved for advertising.

Brenna Sanchez
TODD MURPHY Images that speak for themselves,
Hour, Detroit, 1997
That kind of focus is reserved for advertising. But, though microphone, fawn, hippo or horse may be a focus of the painting, there is art in the composition of each piece.

Brenna Sanchez
TODD MURPHY Images that speak for themselves,
Hour, Detroit, 1997
It starts in the physical construction, in rough pieces of plexiglas, how they're bolted onto each photo, in the play of the oil paint and tar resin over it all.

Brenna Sanchez
TODD MURPHY Images that speak for themselves
Hour, Detroit, 1997
The result is a murky, underwater lit sense that implies far more depth than exists in its layers.

Brenna Sanchez
TODD MURPHY Images that speak for themselves,
Hour, Detroit, 1997
The images are too intriguing, drawing you into Murphy's rare and precious world.

Brenna Sanchez
TODD MURPHY Images that speak for themselves,
Hour, Detroit, 1997
"Music is like that," Murphy says. "You just listen to it and you like it. Or you don't. But you don't need a master's in critical theory to talk about why you do like it or don't like it"

Brenna Sanchez
TODD MURPHY Images that speak for themselves,
Hour, Detroit, 1997
"It all becomes part of a bigger pattern. it's a silly metaphor that makes perfect sense to me. We have our time, we send out our signals and we move on. And that becomes part of a bigger pattern."

Brenna Sanchez
TODD MURPHY Images that speak for themselves,
Hour, Detroit, 1997
"It’s about signal sending, animal markings, technological devices. Anything that's about signs that send messages," he says.

Brenna Sanchez
TODD MURPHY Images that speak for themselves,
Hour, Detroit, 1997
Under large sheets of plexiglas (crudely fastened with screws to stretched canvas support and caked in tar and oil paint) can be seen photographic tableaux of isolated objects

Dean Smith
Camera to Canvas in San Francisco
Paintography: Todd Murphy at Haines Gallery, Visions, Winter 1994
(porcelain cups, baroque chairs) or men in white embroidered dresses performing stylized actions. All emerge from the darkness lit as if by spotlight on an empty stage.

Dean Smith
Camera to Canvas in San Francisco
Paintography: Todd Murphy at Haines Gallery, Visions, Winter 1994
It is the crouching figure in “Untitled” (Microphone Man turning toward the blackness attempting to communicate (via a 40s-era headset and microphone) with Murphy’s i trademark void, that made for the show's most haunting note.

Dean Smith
Camera to Canvas in San Francisco
Paintography: Todd Murphy at Haines Gallery, Visions, Winter 1994

Wide Awake at the Mattress Factory Todd Murphy By Regan Hofmann, 1995

Todd_Murphy_Poets Artists & Madmen_July_1995__003 copy.jpg

The Collector's Vision, Collection o f Peter Spirer Catalog entry Todd Murphy, Kennesaw College, New world 1995 by Mimmo Paladino

"Reinventing symbols can be touchy work"
Atlanta Journal Atlanta Constitution Art Review by Jerry Cullum

A WORLD APART Todd Murphy's "The New World" by Donald Locke , 1995
Fay Gold Gallery

A WORLD APART
Todd Murphy's "The New World"
by Donald Locke 1995

Brenna Sanchez
TODD MURPHY Images that speak for themselves,
Hour, Detroit, 1997

Murphy’s Studio at the Mattress Factory, Atlanta, Georgia, 1995

Compass Boy, 1995, found object salt
26 x 5 1/2 x 5 1/2 in. (66 x 14 x 14 cm) — Compass Boy, 1995, found object salt 26 x 5 1/2 x 5 1/2 in. (66 x 14 x 14 cm)

Untitled, 1995, mixed media on paper, 46” x 38 1/2”

Untitled (Aethicus Ister) 1995
20 x 20 x 2 in. (50.8 x 50.8 x 5.1 cm) — Untitled (Aethicus Ister) 1995 20 x 20 x 2 in. (50.8 x 50.8 x 5.1 cm)

The British Dominions Beyond the Seas
20 x 20 x 2 in. (50.8 x 50.8 x 5.1 cm) — The British Dominions Beyond the Seas 20 x 20 x 2 in. (50.8 x 50.8 x 5.1 cm)

Pangea, 1995, oil paint, plexi, photo collage, wood, found object 144 x 180 in. (365.8 x 457.2 cm)

Todd Murphy, The New World, Chassie Post, New York, NY 1995

To those who use certain criteria, Murphy's paintings may not be considered good. At first glance, there's too much focus drawn to the subject. Good paintings dont have such focus, they say.

That kind of focus is reserved for advertising. But, though microphone, fawn, hippo or horse may be a focus of the painting, there is art in the composition of each piece.

It starts in the physical construction, in rough pieces of plexiglas, how they're bolted onto each photo, in the play of the oil paint and tar resin over it all.

But, though microphone, fawn, hippo or horse may be a focus of the painting, there is art in the composition of each piece. It starts in the physical construction, in rough pieces of Plexiglas, how they're bolted onto each photo, in the play of the oil paint or tar resin over it all.

The result is a murky, underwater lit sense that implies far more depth than exists in its layers, and that should he spared the indecency of analysis past the point of interest.

The images are too intriguing, drawing you into Murphy's rare and precious world, maybe a country of birds and beasts called Exotica where there is little room for intellectual dissection.

"Music is like that," Murphy says. "You just listen to it and you like it. Or you don't. But you don't need a master's in critical theory to talk about why you do like it or don't like it"

it's definitely not where he's coming from. "That's what other people are about. It’s amazing what people write, what they pull out of the stuff."

That said, Murphy's work does come from somewhere. He's sure it's not from his head more from something like a dream. And he does have thoughts and ideas about it; he just dabbles ever so lightly in them. He has few words about the work he's brought to Birmingham's Robert Kidd gallery.

"lt’s about signal sending, animal markings, technological devices. Anything that's about signs that send messages," he says. It's a lot of animals, a lot of patterns. Some animals are patterned to conceal, some are patterned for mating, for display. Some are false, fake eyes on their backs.

"lt all becomes part of a bigger pattern. it's a silly metaphor that makes perfect sense to me. We have our time, we send out our signals and we move on. And that becomes part of a bigger pattern."

"Why is it that we have such difficulty communicating, when other animals seem to do it so well," he wonders. "Or do we?"

The images are too intriguing, drawing you into Murphy's rare and precious world.

"lt’s about signal sending, animal markings, technological devices. Anything that's about signs that send messages," he says.

To those who use certain criteria, Murphy's paintings may not be considered good. At first glance, there's too much focus drawn to the subject. Good paintings dont have such focus, they say.

That kind of focus is reserved for advertising.

That kind of focus is reserved for advertising. But, though microphone, fawn, hippo or horse may be a focus of the painting, there is art in the composition of each piece.

It starts in the physical construction, in rough pieces of plexiglas, how they're bolted onto each photo, in the play of the oil paint and tar resin over it all.

The result is a murky, underwater lit sense that implies far more depth than exists in its layers.

The images are too intriguing, drawing you into Murphy's rare and precious world.

"Music is like that," Murphy says. "You just listen to it and you like it. Or you don't. But you don't need a master's in critical theory to talk about why you do like it or don't like it"

"It all becomes part of a bigger pattern. it's a silly metaphor that makes perfect sense to me. We have our time, we send out our signals and we move on. And that becomes part of a bigger pattern."

"It’s about signal sending, animal markings, technological devices. Anything that's about signs that send messages," he says.

Under large sheets of plexiglas (crudely fastened with screws to stretched canvas support and caked in tar and oil paint) can be seen photographic tableaux of isolated objects

(porcelain cups, baroque chairs) or men in white embroidered dresses performing stylized actions. All emerge from the darkness lit as if by spotlight on an empty stage.

It is the crouching figure in “Untitled” (Microphone Man turning toward the blackness attempting to communicate (via a 40s-era headset and microphone) with Murphy’s i trademark void, that made for the show's most haunting note.

TODD MURPHY (1962-2020)