Taymour Grahne Gallery is proud to present A Round Now, a selection of new oil paintings and watercolors by acclaimed Irish artist Ciarán Murphy, marking the artist’s first exhibition in New York.

Murphy’s enigmatic paintings take their starting point from a wide-ranging and ever growing archive of images found, collected and carefully arranged into categories by the artist over the years. This previously unseen archive forms the backbone that haunts the finished works. Through a process of editing, erasing, overwriting or simply replacing what has been painted and unpainted, the work leaves a sense that is not quite of loss, or absence, but rather the presence of a non-thing. Recently, the subjects within his paintings have become more obscured and elusive. The recognizable forms in his earlier work have given way to indeterminate shapes and architectural forms. Although some might be described as abstract, they still feel as if they are, at some point, photographically derived and “indexically tied to some frozen instant that existed before the painting,” as Chris Fite Wassilak writes in the catalog essay “Documentary.” The sense of dislocation or unease that comes from experiencing Murphy’s work isn’t located in any single image, rather it is an accumulated sense that grows while walking amongst a gathering of his paintings. This perpetual feeling of dislocation ensures that the viewer can never institute any prospect of having ‘arrived’ or feeling ‘at home.’

Art critic Luke Clancy refers to Murphy’s paintings as spectral images; “His ghost shapes and almost disintegrating (or never even forming) objects come from a place into which we are all heading. They are speculative paintings in that they share with speculative fictions an ability to peer imaginatively into a future and in the act of looking, call that speculation into being. In this, the paintings propose a way to explore figuratively the limits of our understanding, to offer objects that undermine our understanding of objects, objects that dramatize our expectations not just of comprehension, but of sensing.”

A 48-page publication designed by Peter Maybury with catalogue essays by critics Luke Clancy and Chris Fite Wassilak accompanies this exhibition.

Since the first solo presentation of Murphy’s paintings in Dublin in 2005, his work has achieved considerable international critical success, with solo exhibitions in Kavi Gupta Gallery Chicago, Grimm Gallery Amsterdam, Douglas Hyde Gallery, Dublin, Zoo Art Fair, London. Upcoming exhibitions include ‘The Line of Beauty’ in The Irish Museum of Modern Art, Dublin ‘Paradise Series’ Douglas Hyde Gallery, Dublin. His paintings are held in many public and private collections through out the world. The artist currently resides and works in County Cork, Ireland.

Taymour Grahne Gallery seeks to foster a diverse, international program of groundbreaking contemporary art, with a special foundation in contemporary the art of the Middle East region. Working collaboratively with curators and critics, the gallery is committed to cultivating emerging talent and supporting established artists from around the world.

Taymour Grahne Gallery is situated in the heart of Tribeca in a landmarked 4,000 square foot space designed to accommodate a dynamic public events program organized in conjunction with the gallery’s exhibitions and related publications. Widely recognized for creating the most comprehensive and widely read blog dedicated to contemporary art from the Middle East, gallery founder Taymour Grahne brings a special foundation and specialization in Middle Eastern and North African art. Exhibiting artists include: Tarek Al-Ghoussein, Noor Ali Chagani, Reza Derakshani, Daniele Genadry, Nermine Hammam, Hassan Hajjaj, Mohammed Kazem, Sanaz Mazinani, Ciarán Murphy, Nicky Nodjoumi, Farah Ossouli, Albert Yonathan Setyawan, Walid Siti, and Camille Zakharia.

Taymour Grahne Gallery
157 Hudson Street
New York (NY) 10013 United States
Tel. +1 (212) 2409442
info@taymourgrahne.com
www.taymourgrahne.com

Opening hours
Tuesday - Saturday
From 10am to 6pm

Related images

  1. Ciaran Murphy, 2 Ideas, 2013, Oil on Canvas, 7.87 x 11.81 in (20 x 30 cm) / Courtesy of Ciaran Murphy and Taymour Grahne Gallery
  2. Ciaran Murphy, Untitled Structure No. 12, 2013, Oil on Canvas, 27.56 x 39.37 in (70 x 100 cm) / Courtesy of Ciaran Muprhy and Taymour Grahne Gallery
  3. Ciaran Muprhy, Light on (No. 3), Collage/Watercolor on Paper, 8.66 x 11/22 in (22 x 28.5 cm) / Courtesy of Ciaran Murphy and Taymour Grahne Gallery
  4. Ciaran Murphy, Arrangement in D., 2013, Oil on Canvas, 19.69 x 23.62 in (50 x 60 cm) / Courtesy of Ciaran Muprhy and Taymour Grahne Gallery
  5. Ciaran Murphy, Ten Ion, 2013, Oil on Canvas, 31.5 x 31.5 in (80 x 80 cm) / Courtesy of Ciaran Murphy and Taymour Grahne Gallery
  6. Ciaran Muprhy, Highway Kind 1, 2013, Oil on Canvas, 19.69 x 23.62 (50 x 60 cm) / Courtesy of Ciaran Murphy and Taymour Grahne Gallery