Todd Murphy

Todd Murphy was an American artist whose large-scale paintings, digital prints, and sculptures explore images of flora, fauna, and bodily forms. Murphy's practice encompasses American history, slavery, architecture, and contemporary art. Drawing inspiration from the work of artists like Anselm Kiefer, his paintings explore the gothic sensibilities which haunt his imagination. Born in 1962 in Chicago, IL, Murphy moved to rural Georgia as a child, absorbing the landscape and culture. He later attended the University of Georgia, and settled in Brooklyn, NY. “The aesthetics of New York play into my art to some extent. It’s so rich with history and with layers that you can literally see different eras happening concurrently,” he said of the city. “Stories accumulate as materials, which, when you think about it, is another way to phrase 'art’.” His works are in the collections of the High Museum of Art in Atlanta, the Tampa Museum of Art, and the New Orleans Museum of Art.