Deirdre Murphy "Artifice" and Clara Fialho "The Life We Live and the One We Have Forgotten"    Mar 4 - Mar 29, 2008

Deirdre Murphy: Artifice

In the Vault Room:
Clara Fialho: The Life We Live and the One We Have Forgotten

March 4 - March 29, 2008

The Bridgette Mayer Gallery is pleased to present a solo exhibition of new paintings by Philadelphia artist Deirdre Murphy. The show will run from March 4 - March 29, 2008 with an opening reception on First Friday, March 7th, 6:00-8:30pm.

Deirdre Murphy's new collection is an exuberant combination of radiant colors, fantastical idealized landscapes, and animated characters. Her interest in Japanese culture and the natural world are obvious and effectively integrated into her new body of work. Buds bloom into origami flowers, while butterflies pilgrimage to Machu Picchu. Western and Eastern sensibilities are combined to compress and expand the space simultaneously.

Birds are the main characters in this new body of work. Murphy is enchanted with their ability to occupy both land and air giving them freedom to go anywhere. Murphy's imagined landscapes are seen from a bird's eye- literally, and challenge the idea of what is real and what is abstract.

Local institutions were inspiration for "Artifice." The Academy of Natural Sciences, The Philadelphia Zoo, and a western Pennsylvania taxidermy tavern all house artificial containment of nature, that Murphy uses in her paintings. Murphy says of her work, "'Artifice'… is the realization of my research. My paintings have evolved from these artificial dioramas, the zoo's habitat exhibits and other contrived spaces. The chicanery lies in the contrast of nature housed in artificial settings. I find this contrast of real and artificial to be amusing, awkward and beautiful. On a deeper level, this contrast reveals an illusory longing, both to assimilate with nature yet to recognize our separateness."

Deirdre Murphy received her M.F.A. in painting from the University of Pennsylvania - Graduate School of Fine Arts in 2000 and her B.F.A. from the Kansas City Art Institute, Kansas City MO, in 1991. She has recently been awarded grants from the Pennsylvania Council for the Arts and the Abington Art Center Print Commission in 2004. In 2003 she received the Leeway Foundation Window of Opportunity Award. Murphy has had three previous solo exhibitions at the Bridgette Mayer Gallery, and was recently featured in a group show titled "Magical Realism," at the Abington Art Center in Jenkintown, PA. Murphy has also shown work at the Vita Gallery, Portland OR, Mainline Art Center, Haverford PA, Abington Art Center, Jenkintown PA, and the Phoenix Gallery, New York NY. She currently lives in Philadelphia and teaches drawing and painting at the University of Pennsylvania. "Artifice" will run through March 29th, 2008. The artist will be present at the opening reception March, 7th from 6:00-8:30 p.m. The event is free and open to the public. Gallery hours are Tuesday-Saturday 10:00 - 6:00 p.m., other days by appointment. For additional information please contact Bridgette Mayer, 215.413.8893 Fax 215.413.2283

Clara Fialho: The Life We Live and the One We Have Forgotten
Artist Statement 2008

My work is intended to take the viewer away from the world of thought. Most of the time it is process oriented, sometimes containing elements from dreams. It constantly reveals universal forms, which are innately present in every human being. I feel the need to show these elements in order to bring them about. They are often the product of a struggle against society's moral dissipation, a personal disappointment with a planet that is overpopulated and limited in resources. Art, being a response to society, has the potential to serve as its mirror, and at the same time, pointing towards what is behind it. My work projects a desire for equilibrium with the physical world and hopefully, depending on one's willingness and aptitude to be guided by their sensations, takes one away from what is present in their short-term memories, beyond reason and the frustrations provenient from our desire to become independent of each other.