Matt Murphy

Matt Murphy lives in London, England, a dismal, "black and white city," which reflects in his work.

















Chief Magazine: Where did you grow up, what was it like, and what positive/negative effects has it had on the artist you are today?

Matt Murphy: I grew up in Toronto, Canada. Most of it was in the suburbs. When I was a teenager I grew restless with the boredom of living in suburbia. And like most kids in my area I stayed at home nights; there weren't many places to go. So I usually sat in front of the TV with a good movie or sitcom on, or with the radio on, and doodled. So growing up in suburbia was a quiet place which nurtured my love of film, music, comedy and art. They were my only outlet.

Does any of that film, music, comedy or art stand out as a particularly strong influence on you?

All of it. It's like a stew that nourishes me. Everyday I take from it and everyday I add to it. It's also more of a place to get titles for my paintings, rather than subject matter.

How are the titles and the subject matter related in your pieces?

---

If a painting strongly recalls a line from a book, or a lyric of a song, or a scene from a movie, then I'll name the painting after that, as an homage to that which has inspired me, and to let people know that I'm a know it all.

Do you get your subjects from the same sources, somewhere else, or are they straight out of your head and imaginary?

No. It's purely imaginary. Often it's an amalgam of body parts rearranged and reassembled cartoonishly, or comically. Like a Mr. Potato Head if it came with more parts and more holes. For example, eyeballs feature prominently, but also morph into testicles, or irises that resemble aureole, which might recall cellular composition, etc. The reiterated patterns in human biology.

So what’s new?

I'm excited to have just learned today that I'm living in Genesis P-Orridge's old house in London. William Burroughs and Ozzy Osbourne have been by the place, so I'm told.

Does his presence still remain and freak out the squares?

No squares around. I just found out the whole street is littered with artists. All the houses on it used to be artist squats in the ‘70s and were sold to them in the ‘80s. The photographer Helen Chadwick lives on my street, Maureen Paley used to have a place there. And it's in the heart of the artsy, trendy East End. I didn't know the history of the place till I moved in. Still, it's in pretty good shape considering its history. All that was left from those days were a couple of tombstones made of painted Styrofoam. So that's one less purchase I have to worry about.

What brings you from Toronto to London?

Getting my Masters was the only way I could imagine getting my art career started. The Slade in London was the school with the best reputation of all of those that accepted me. I've stayed because of the art scene. There's more going on here for painters than New York or Berlin, I'm sure. And having a Masters from the Slade has a cache that I don't think would translate in the States. So I'm here until the art career takes off. The best mix of money and genuine interest in art is right here in London. I need both.

Is there a cohesiveness to the art scene there, or is it simply just a bunch of people doing a lot of art that’s not related?

---

I can't see any scene, probably because I'm too wrapped up in it. There's a lot of talk about money with my peers, but also with all the art fairs and their bald commercialism. But that's probably just my perspective and it would be nothing new. There's an economic boom here but most artists I know are paying off debts, can't afford an apartment, let alone a studio, and have degrees which qualify them for little in terms of a paying job. As for a scene, that'll be decided twenty years from now. Just as, twenty years later, I can call G. P-Orridge of Throbbing Gristle a part of the experimental industrial/post-punk scene, but really, twenty years ago he was only thinking about painting Styrofoam headstones and separating green M&Ms for Ozzy.

Do art and commerce seem to mix well in London?

Quite simply, the economic muscle of London draws a lot of good art and artists here, but there are a lot of flies attracted to that honey, too.

Do you have a particular process that you go through when creating your work?

My starting point is repainting some mediocre piece. I usually start off retouching it or bolstering it but end up reworking it entirely. But the resulting image is a hybrid far more interesting than anything my imagination could come up with. Joan Miro said that he never started a painting without some fault or spill or accident on the canvas. With the painting I did last week is that accident. Sometimes it turns to mud; sometimes it comes out as something hopefully seen as truly unique. If you're painting over something you don't like it loosens you up. Like, “I've got nothing to lose.” If I think, "How bad, or how much worse, can I make this painting?" then I'm not worrying about making it good, and then I'm not worrying full stop.

Some of your art has a cartoonish feel to it, is that a coincidence or something that's influenced you?

There is. It's because there is a bit of malice in my work, and that I don't want it to come off as angry of angsty, so that I always try to introduce humor, to balance out the imagery, and make it more palatable. The cartoonishness is like the sheet that covers the ghost; it emphasizes the meanness but also makes it ridiculous.

Where does your malice come from?

I don't know where it comes from. But when I get some money I'll pay a professional to find out. 

It’s like a child's nightmare. Any paintings inspired by previous nightmares?

No. The only nightmare I have is about being sent back to high school to finish off a year. If you can think of a way to make this into a great painting you're a better artist than me.

I think it'd be hard to fit it all into one painting. Also, a lot of your subjects seem to have surprised of terrified expressions on their face. Can you tell me a little about that?

They might seem so because I'm still terrified and surprised that I decided to become an artist. Or it's that these images were conceived and ripped from the womb before they were ready.

---

I notice that most of your pieces are painted in very downcast, pale hues. Why this instead of bright colors, is it something you do consciously?

I live in London, the city that's black and white even when it's filmed in color. I guess the work reflects that.

Do you work in any other mediums besides just oil paint and canvas?

---

I do watercolors very often, as a sort of a halfway between drawing and painting. I develop a lot of my subject matter in watercolors. It's a good way to focus my thinking. Because of the way that I do them I have only the time it takes before the paper dries to put down my brushstrokes. The images are more free and spontaneous as a result. This enables my instinct for the formal, i.e. color, shape, composition.

I make dozens of watercolors a day, so they most truly reveal what’s on my mind. And because I imagine no one will see them, and because the materials are so relatively inexpensive, being borrowed or scavenged, that they end up being more uninhibited, and inevitably better. Marlene Dumas said a very true thing about watercolors being a refreshing affair away from her marriage to oil painting. Oil painting can be very involving on many levels. It can be like a bad marriage. You have to wear different clothes as soon as you walk in the door. You have to spend a lot of money on it but get little in return. It takes up a lot of time. You always have to clean up after yourself.  And there are a lot of strong chemicals. Watercolors can be like an afternoon quickie. And it's easier to tear up paper than canvas.

What's next on the horizon for you?

Lunch. Then hopefully do a painting or drawing that'll be in my top ten. Other than that I've got to move out of my studio before the wrecking ball comes in two weeks. And I just got it the way I like it. I even just bought some nice throw pillows. But I've got a brand new studio to move into. I'll be sharing with the painter Tahu Deans, so that's something to look forward to.

Anything else you’d like to let anyone know?

Actually, I'd like to plug a friend’s book. His name is Brad Downey, he's a New York/London artist and he has a book coming out by Thames and Hudson publishers, sometime this year. It's a collection of stories about him and his collaborator Leon Reid, and the public artworks they've installed around the world. I'm mentioned in the book somewhere only because I went to school with Brad and helped him on couple of installations around London. I'm not sure how I come off in the book, except that necessarily he may have painted me as an unwilling assistant worried about getting arrested for installing highly illegal artwork in public. I just want to state that he probably did so just for dramatic effect, and by contrast to establish himself as the hero of the adventures in his book. Regardless, it'll be a riveting read and I strongly recommend it for any fan of the arts, including graffiti, or just for a portrait of a young artist. Oh, and I'd like to give a shout out to my sister who just moved to the Lower East Side.

---