Escarpment Pia Murphy Pia Murphy - Escarpment
Escarpment 2024
EscarpmentPia MurphyEscarpment
Escarpment2024
oil on linen
101.5 x 137.5 cm
SOLD 
Pod Pia Murphy Pia Murphy - Pod
Pod 2024
PodPia MurphyPod
Pod2024
oil on linen
50 x 40 cm
SOLD 
Limestone Seep Pia Murphy Pia Murphy - Limestone Seep
Limestone Seep 2024
Limestone SeepPia MurphyLimestone Seep
Limestone Seep2024
oil on linen
106.5 x 81.3 cm
SOLD 
Sword Sedge Pia Murphy Pia Murphy - Sword Sedge
Sword Sedge 2024
Sword SedgePia MurphySword Sedge
Sword Sedge2024
oil on linen
106.5 x 81.3 cm
SOLD 
Beetle Pia Murphy Pia Murphy - Beetle
Beetle 2024
BeetlePia MurphyBeetle
Beetle2024
oil on linen
55 x 46 cm
SOLD 
Roads & Fences Pia Murphy Pia Murphy - Roads & Fences
Roads & Fences 2024
Roads & FencesPia MurphyRoads & Fences
Roads & Fences2024
oil on linen
55 x 46 cm
SOLD 
Yellow Marina Pia Murphy Pia Murphy - Yellow Marina
Yellow Marina 2024
Yellow MarinaPia MurphyYellow Marina
Yellow Marina2024
oil on linen
55 x 46 cm
SOLD 
Savanna Woodland Pia Murphy Pia Murphy - Savanna Woodland
Savanna Woodland 2024
Savanna WoodlandPia MurphySavanna Woodland
Savanna Woodland2024
oil on linen
101.5 x 137.5 cm
SOLD 
INSTALLATION VIEW 'Florescence' Pia Murphy Pia Murphy - INSTALLATION VIEW 'Florescence'
INSTALLATION VIEW 'Florescence' 2024
INSTALLATION VIEW 'Florescence'Pia MurphyINSTALLATION VIEW 'Florescence'
INSTALLATION VIEW 'Florescence'2024
INSTALLATION VIEW 'Florescence' Pia Murphy Pia Murphy - INSTALLATION VIEW 'Florescence'
INSTALLATION VIEW 'Florescence' 2024
INSTALLATION VIEW 'Florescence'Pia MurphyINSTALLATION VIEW 'Florescence'
INSTALLATION VIEW 'Florescence'2024
INSTALLATION VIEW 'Florescence' Pia Murphy Pia Murphy - INSTALLATION VIEW 'Florescence'
INSTALLATION VIEW 'Florescence' 2024
INSTALLATION VIEW 'Florescence'Pia MurphyINSTALLATION VIEW 'Florescence'
INSTALLATION VIEW 'Florescence'2024
INSTALLATION VIEW 'Florescence' Pia Murphy Pia Murphy - INSTALLATION VIEW 'Florescence'
INSTALLATION VIEW 'Florescence' 2024
INSTALLATION VIEW 'Florescence'Pia MurphyINSTALLATION VIEW 'Florescence'
INSTALLATION VIEW 'Florescence'2024
INSTALLATION VIEW 'Florescence' Pia Murphy Pia Murphy - INSTALLATION VIEW 'Florescence'
INSTALLATION VIEW 'Florescence' 2024
INSTALLATION VIEW 'Florescence'Pia MurphyINSTALLATION VIEW 'Florescence'
INSTALLATION VIEW 'Florescence'2024

Florescence

Florescence, shapes that form and the compositions that bloom. Always leaning into curiosity and finding my way as I go, I follow what surprises and excites me. Layers of colour & texture; droplets, flowers, stems, bulbs and blocks.

‘Murphy’s paintings aren’t formed by sketches or miniatures, there’s no guidelines. They are rendered straight onto the canvas in ways that relay the pulse of the gesture. There are no preconceived outcomes. Scenes from the garden, the house, nature, and memory weave together. There’s a collaboration between familiarity and unfamiliarity.’

‘For Murphy, painting is also a form of hope. In focusing natural forms, she communicates an intense empathy with the world, the piercing profundity of nature.’

Tiarney Miekus 2024.

Pia Murphy 'Florescence'

For regional Victorian-based artist Pia Murphy, the thrill of abstract painting comes from not knowing what is about to emerge from the canvas. She doesn’t sketch out her ideas or attempt to assert an outcome on the process, preferring to leave herself open to whatever creative energy comes forth.

Instinct and experimentation are key. Having originally trained in print-making, Murphy was subsequently drawn to clay sculpture, then watercolour, then oil paint. Though her first compositions were still lifes, she quickly progressed to abstraction to better capture the spirit and power of her imagination, and the unexpected magic that occurs when subconscious play is underpinned by formal principles.

Perhaps counterintuitively, there is as much deliberate destruction in these works as there is making. Paint is applied, then trowelled off, reapplied, then sanded back, scraped and voided as Murphy wrestles the surface towards a balance between gritty manipulation, nuanced colour and intuitive movement.

The works are personal, inasmuch as they’re inspired by Murphy’s place in the world and her ongoing personal evolution, but a degree of ambiguity is important. Murphy wants the viewer to bring their own curiosity and worldview to her work that, when combined with her original intent, creates a language that she hopes is universal.

A graduate of the Victorian College of the Arts (Bachelor of Fine Art, 2004), Pia Murphy has exhibited in solo and group exhibitions in Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane, and internationally in Santiago de Compostela, Spain. Winner of the 2004 National Gallery of Victoria (NGV) Women’s Association Encouragement Award, her work is held in private collections in Australia, the USA, Italy and Switzerland.

Carrie McCarthy, 2024

Pia Murphy

Born in Melbourne 1981

EDUCATION

2004

  • Bachelor of Fine Art, Printmaking, Victorian College of the Arts

SOLO EXHIBITIONS

2024

  • 'Florescence', EDWINA CORLETTE, Brisbane
  • 'Garden Gravity', Nicholas Thompson Gallery, Melbourne

2022

  • ‘Eternal Springtime’, Michael Reid Northern Beaches, Sydney

2018

  • ‘Twin Flames’, LON Gallery, Melbourne

2017

  • ‘A great big shape and a smaller one’, Caves Gallery, Melbourne

2014

  • ‘Land’ Chapterhouse Lane Gallery, Melbourne

2013

  • ‘Saccade’, Pieces Of Eight Gallery, Melbourne

2012

  • ‘Woolgather’, Chapterhouse Lane Gallery, Melbourne
  • ‘New Work’, C3 Contemporary Art Space, Melbourne

2011

  • Gorman presents ‘Pia Murphy’, Melbourne

2010

  • ‘New Work’, C3 Contemporary Art Space, Melbourne

GROUP EXHIBITIONS

2024

  • 'How to Swim', curated by Sally Anderson, EDWINA CORLETTE, Brisbane

2023

  • 'Small Works', EDWINA CORLETTE, Brisbane
  • 'The Birregurra Art Show', Birregurra, Victoria
  • 'Sunday Salon Showroom', Melbourne, Victoria

2022

  • ‘Softly, Soflty’, curated by Amber Cresswell Bell, Michael Reid Northern Beaches, Sydney

2021

  • ‘The Birregurra Art Show’, Birregurra Hall, Victoria
  • ‘A Square of Sunlight’, curated by Helen Gory, Backwoods Gallery, Melbourne
  • ‘The show must go on’, Sunday Salon, Melbourne
  • ‘Brindar con extranos’, Galeria Trinta, Spain

2019

  • ‘Spring-Time #4’, Lamington Drive, Melbourne

2018

  • ‘Spring 1883’, CAVES inc. Melbourne
  • ‘The Horse’, curated by Noel Mckenna, Darren Knight Gallery, Sydney
  • ‘The Birregurra Art Show,’ Birregurra Hall, Victoria

2017

  • ‘Not Fair’, curated by Tony Lloyd, Sam Leach and Ashley Crawford, Melbourne
  • ‘Last Drinks’, LON Gallery, Melbourne

2016

  • ‘Concrete Agenda’, curated by Tai Snaith, C3 Contemporary Art Space, Melbourne
  • ‘The ordinary instant’, Over 50 works by Clarice Beckett alongside Seven contemporary women artists, Bayside Arts and Cultural Centre, Brighton
  • ‘Faux Studio’, C3 Contemporary Art Space, Melbourne
  • ‘Group Show: Second Iteration’, Arts Project Australia, Melbourne

2015

  • ‘Group Show’, Chapterhouse Lane Gallery, Melbourne
  • ‘Shots off the dices’, an exhibition of Australia and international artists curated by Rhys Lee, Nicholas Thompson Gallery, Melbourne
  • ‘Faux Fair’, C3 Contemporary Art Space, Melbourne

2014

  • ‘Faux Museum’, curated by Anusha Kenny, Melissa Loughnan, Kate Tucker and Ace Wagstaff, C3 Contemporary Art Space, Melbourne

2012

  • ‘Paintings of Steves’ Paintings’, St.Heliers St. Gallery, Melbourne

2011

  • ‘Scarecrow’, curated by Rhys Lee including Rhys Lee, Pia Murphy, Heidi Yardley, Rob McHaffie, Daniel Price and Matt Hinkley, Karen Woodbury Gallery, Melbourne
  • ‘1.85 Million: Art Peripheries’, Campbelltown Arts Centre, Sydney

2010

  • ‘Exquisite Palette Show’, St. Luke. Artist Colourmen, Melbourne

2008

  • ‘Exquisite Palette Show’, St. Luke. Artist Colourmen, Melbourne

2007

  • ‘50 - a print exchange portfolio’, curated by Rona Green, Geelong Regional Gallery

2004

  • ‘Nguyen Van Cuong Printmaking Project’, Hobson’s Bay City Council Gallery

AWARDS

2004

  • Winner, National Gallery of Victoria Women’s Association Encouragement Award, Victoria

BIBLIOGRAPHY

2023

  • Miasma Magazine, Issue 1

2022

  • Hunter & Folk feature by Holly Terry

2016

  • ‘Artists collaborate without talking’ Art Guide Australia, Andrew Stephens, December

2014

  • ‘Pia Murphy + Rhys Lee’, Journal of Australian Ceramics, volume 53, issue 3, by Alicia Sciberras, November

2012

  • ‘A new chapter’ Broadsheet, May 22

2011

  • ‘Ceramic Goodness’ Frankie Magazine, November 24
  • ‘Scarecrow’, Dan Rule, The Age, June 17

COLLECTIONS

Private collections Australia, USA, Italy, Switzerland