2024 | SERGE MURPHY
MONTREAL
Jul 4 - Aug 31, 2024

Blouin Division is pleased to welcome a new foray into the poetic universe of Serge Murphy.

At times a landscape with porous boundaries, at other times an enigmatic dance of unusual figures, this universe unfolds in a swirl of eclectic objects, each as calmly understated as the next, which suddenly take flight as they encounter one another.

Looking at Serge Murphy’s work, there is a tendency to see oneself in it, to dredge up familiar forms from the murky water of his uncanny and dream-like concoctions. It is a natural human inclination to anthropomorphise that which is unfamiliar, at once allowing us to connect with novelty and take something away. Murphy’s work is interpretable at the same level of consciousness that allowed it to be made: a realm of possibility, association, and intuition. Our memory is fluid and capricious, much like Murphy’s forms themselves. We think we see, or remember, something, and in the next moment it may escape us, be elaborated on, or transform into another thing entirely. 

It is almost as if the images abounding in Murphy’s menagerie are snapshots in time of subjects that will continue their metamorphoses, bound to change form in another moment beyond our gaze. Edges are never perfectly straight, they bubble and fluctuate; forms begin to bear resemblance to things we can identify, and then suddenly wriggle past our understanding. This malleable outer reality is in harmony with the inner spirit of Murphy’s creations, while also being a window into his process. The artist’s own memories and perceptions are poured into each form, but intuitively, maybe even subconsciously, as the work is being done. A gesture, an initial action, sets off the flow towards resolution; each next step becomes clear only as the result of those previous. As viewers, we partake in the nebulous, dream-like state of Murphy’s work, drawn into an atmosphere of drifting memory and the obliteration of solid landmarks.