Exhibition September 17-October 26, 2024.
Artist Reception September 21, 2024, 1 to 4 p.m.
Artist talk October 19, 2024, 2.

Link to the online exhibition catalog.  

Bill Murphy was born and raised on Staten Island and studied at The School of Visual Arts, The Art Students League, and Vermont College.  He was a Professor of Visual Arts at Wagner College for thirty-six years, retiring in 2020. He continues to teach workshops in drawing at The Art Students League of New York. 
 
He is a highly regarded artist working in the medium of drawing, painting, and printmaking. His subject matter ranges from rural to urban landscape, as well as to figure and portrait studies. An abandoned loading dock (cover) that Murphy discovered in the backstreets of a small upstate New York town inspired him to capture the drama of light and dark, and according to Murphy might serve as a deeper commentary on the transient nature of life:
 
"My subjects are found in the world around me. I find 'the fact' of everyday reality far more interesting, wonderful, and stranger than anything I can summon up from my imagination. My deepest pleasure in the process of artmaking is derived when the process of drawing (or painting) can transcend the ordinary world and bring me into a state of contemplative reverie, a place beyond the narrow confines of thought. The picture is often just a souvenir of this trip, the roadmap of an inner journey.

I feel very much in the service of some sort of Muse. That's whom I work for. She tells me what to do and when."

The important thing is to make myself available for this work as often as possible. I have learned that inner preparation, even vigilance, is necessary. One never knows when one will be called. 
 
Murphy finds the human figure artistically compelling. His figurative works are not paintings of Presidents or Princes but rather drawn from the everyday street traffic of the city, as well as friends and fellow artists. The internationally recognized artist Jerome Witkin, a longtime friend of the artist, is portrayed in his Syracuse studio illuminated by the same sort of dramatic stage light Witkins own portraits are often associated. The portrait of "Donna" on page three illustrates his interest in the humanity of his sitters.  He often experiments with varied textures and materials, which keeps the artmaking process fresh.