Have I ever seen a more sumptuous unmade bed in my life?
The paintings appeal comes not from its opulence but from its familiarity.
Murphy brilliantly split the picture in two, with each side of the bed occupying its own panel.
Catherine Murphy,Under the Table,2022.
Im the person sitting up, awake, Murphy says.
For how straightforward they are, her scenes still find a way to provoke.
Paintings are a metaphor machine, she says.
Catherine Murphy,Double Bed,2022.
She was also chasing the perfect lighting conditions, which inadvertently became the setup for another work.
So I put the shade up, and then I didnt have enough light.
I said, Well, I need to put a night-light in.
Catherine Murphy,Needs Must,2024.
So I stuck that up.
So I got a towel, I put that up.
And then every time I was leaving the room after working onDouble BedI thought, Theres another painting here.
Catherine Murphy,Bed Clothes,2023.
That other painting turned intoNeeds Must,titled after an old phrase Murphys mother often used.
The mischievousUnder the Table(2022) was an idea she had back when she started painting.
I kept on thinking, How would I do that?
Catherine Murphy,Still Living,2024.
Im gonna have to lie on the floor.
Its gonna be impossible, she recalls.
That painting is heavy on movement.
The thing I liked about putting this painting together is that you naturally read it in perspective.
Murphy did not always paint this way.
In the 1960s, she attended the Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture before getting her BFA from Pratt.
And I said, This isn’t right.
I am not this person.
In taking the real world as her subject, Murphy found a connection to something greater.
I was working on a tree about a quarter mile away and a breeze moved through it.
I couldnt feel it on my skin but it moved through my whole body….
I called it my post-Emersonian, existential moment.
And I said to myself, How could I ever not do this?
Crucially, Murphy is not aphotorealist, who use photographs as their subjects.
Her work is not actually about the detail; its about a different kind of clarity.
And for this one, unlike the pieces made in her studio, Murphy couldnt control the light outside.
She had to be patient, working only when the weather cooperated.
