Brendan Murphy

Denison University

We live and navigate space in a society dead-set on efficiency - point A to point B, obligation to obligation, shift to shift. On a cross-country road trip, we choose to drive through the night to get where we’re going. I, on the other hand, find myself longing to stop in Cawker City, Kansas to get a picture with the world’s largest ball of twine. Art demands that we pause and look around and decipher our experiences. Thus, in a hyper-efficient society, not everyone can be an artist. I am interested in the experiences that I miss as a participant in this efficiency-based system. While I define myself as a painter, my practice is rooted in durational walking - compiling notes, taking photos, looking for ways to intervene and inject art within the urban fabric. Investigations into craft and object making are also integral to my practice. I create work for the same reason you might write something down on your hand in hopes of remembering to tell a partner about it later. In a larger context, I am interested in the role space plays in a society rooted in efficiency as well as the ways people respond to the system.
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