Murphy, Brian (Painting)

Brian Murphy lived in New York until 1980 when he moved to California and was soon enrolled in the School of Arts at the United States International University in San Diego. The multinational diversity of the student body there brought with it a unique learning environment that not only helped develop Murphy’s artistic skills but also broadened his outlook of the world. He received his BFA in 1983 and soon moved to Los Angeles to pursue a career in commercial art. During his years as Art Director for a leading southern California design firm, Murphy had the opportunity to travel extensively throughout the United States as well as to Japan, Singapore, Korea and China. During his travels he made a point of visiting every museum he could and his vision for his own art began to form. While visiting the Chicago Art Institute he spent hours studying the vast French and American Impressionist collection, and while in New York he was given a private viewing of John Singer Sargent’s watercolors at the Brooklyn Museum of Art. This was a life-altering moment for the artist. Taking the vision of the early impressionist painters and the clarity of Sargent’s technique, Murphy started to develop his own style. He happened across the Irvine Museum in Irvine, California, and discovered an incredible collection of early California Impressionist paintings. These artists got their inspiration from the French Impressionists but painted their subject matter with a more realistic approach and many painted en plein air. This was the turning point for the artist and from that point on he has immersed himself in the plein air movement and has continued to try to capture the light of the fleeting day and put it on canvas. Murphy began teaching oil painting classes at the Palos Verdes Art Center in southern California in 2001. His work is represented in galleries in California and Oregon. He has won numerous awards at art festivals throughout the country. In 2003 Murphy relocated to the mountains of North Carolina and started to paint the magnificent local landscapes with the same passion that drove him on the West Coast. His work can now be seen in a number of galleries in North Carolina. He is a member of the California Art Club, the Blue Ridge Art Clan, the Rehobeth Art League and the Ashe County Arts Council. He continues to give painting demonstrations and his body of regional work grows every day.