Endurance an exhibition by Irish artist Mary Murphy
22 October - 23 November 2009
The exhibition was officially opened by
Liz Meaney
Arts Officer, Cork City Council
The artist’s work explores the human frame in line and form and the experiences which mould our bodies and alter them. The resulting studies of sinewy muscles, paper dry wrinkles, bone jutting through skin and the play of light over them make for powerful viewing. She explores a variety of media including threads stitched through cotton as a method of drawing.
“Stitching has now taken over my life as a relentless activity for me. It feeds all of my work and it is itself developing at a furious pace, so while I can work out new proposals for paintings in other materials through it, it also digs deep into itself. I’m happy for it to go this way and in some ways it is very difficult for me to control what is happening. I feel that I do direct these works but that they also direct me. It is to this constant struggle that I am addicted.”
After receiving a Degree in Fashion Design, Mary won the National Designer of the Year Award for Ireland. This enabled her to work and travel in Milan and her Fashion Illustrations have been published in Image and L’Official.
August of this year saw her portrait of Samuel Beckett featured recently in the 2009 RDS National Annual Exhibition and was highly praised for its ”spontaneity of markmaking and ability to convey character” - Janet Edmunds, Judge.
