Eileen Murphy Paintings

Eileen Murphy’s paintings on panels are a mirage of disparate memories. Lived experience, borrowed art historical footnotes, and imagery drawn from literary references swirl together and coalesce into shimmering sylvan scenes. Allusions to Patinir, Jacob von Ruisdael, Frederick Church, lines pulled from Rilke, and Murphy’s own personal history emerge deftly from the same brushstroke. The result is images that are simultaneously foreign and familiar, deeply intimate yet shared in a common vernacular. Murphy builds these compositions from layers of carefully applied oil paint, her brushstrokes growing increasingly specific and nuanced with each new stratum. Because she works on panel, the pigment is not absorbed into the material, but rather, sits atop the surface, the color remaining fully saturated. Without this anchoring effect, Murphy’s landscapes become lofty and voluminous, further intensifying their surrealist quality. Eileen Murphy has spent her life along the Hudson River and has lived in Brooklyn, NY for the last seventeen years. Her current paintings are based on the landscape of Columbia County...