A new artist has taken up residency in North Beach, bringing with him a collection of colorful artwork celebrating California's rich history of modernist architecture.
Michael Murphy, who previously worked as an architect himself, moved his San Francisco-themed art pieces into Jeff Gard's gallery space at 1317 Grant Ave. (at Vallejo) a few weeks ago. The gallery, which Gard has used for exhibitions and other events since 2013, is now officially closed, but Murphy's long-term presence as an artist-in-residence has just begun.
Murphy, an Outer Richmond resident, moved to the city from London 11 years ago. He's previously exhibited his work at 111 Minna Gallery, the Wonderland SF Gallery and at the La Luz de Jesus Gallery in Los Angeles, but having a gallery space like this is a new experience for him. "It's the first time I’ve done anything like this," he said.
Among the collections on display is Murphy's "Forgotten Modernism" series, which he describes as a visual exploration of San Francisco’s catalog of modernist architecture, along with that of Los Angeles and Palm Springs.
Murphy told Hoodline that in becoming an artist, "I abandoned being a full-time architect," but said he's utilizing his architectural skills to bring the shapes of the city to paper using bold colors and stylized graphics. Buildings and neighborhoods featured in his work include SFMOMA, Saint Mary's Cathedral, the Embarcadero, North Beach and Hyde Street.
Murphy also explores depictions of Alcatraz, Mission Dolores, New Asia Restaurant and Haight Street's Aub Zam Zam with his acrylic-on-canvas paintings, while his "Supersonic" series leaves moods and environments "deliberately ambiguous; it is left to the viewer to decide if they are looking at places of desolation and loneliness or scenes of quiet solitude," according to the artist's statement.
Murphy has set up his own working area in the back of the Grant Avenue space. "The hope is that with artists working and presenting in the space people will be more engaged with the artwork and more comfortable talking to the artists about their work," Gard explained.
"People are not gonna [walk in] all the time," Murphy noted, adding that this gives him the opportunity to use the time in between customers to get some work done. So far, neighbors have come in to inquire about who has moved in, and people in the neighborhood have responded positively to what he's doing, Murphy said.
In the future, Murphy also plans to feature art from some other artists who he respects, but for the moment he has been focusing on getting everything set up in the Grant Avenue space. "I didn't have time for any grand opening," he said. "I was just so busy."
As for the neighborhood, Murphy says that foot traffic on Grant Avenue has been light thus far. "Not many people are heading over from the Financial District," he observed, while Gard also echoed that sentiment.
But Gard also tells Hoodline that he loves "the neighborhood for the devotion shown by the residents and even past residents of the neighborhood."
While gallery hours are somewhat flexible at the moment, Murphy is showing his art on Tuesday and Thursday afternoons as well as on every other Saturday. He tells us that he hopes to be able to add another day in the week to that schedule soon.
If you can't make it in person, prints of Murphy's work, produced using museum quality archival inks and signed and numbered as part of limited editions, are available on his website here.
