FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE - 9TH JUNE, 2008
Travelling through lands and meanings Scottish born artist seeks calmness of sense
 |
|
|
|
In Serenity, exhibition of Michael Murphenko’s new works to be held at Randolph Gallery, Edinburgh from 1-15 August, the tranquil forms of nature and symbol seamlessly unite.
Growing up in Australia with Scottish parents, studying in Belgium and falling in love and moving to Ukraine, Michael Murphenko's current vivid, expressive, vibrant art is informed by the vicissitudes in feelings of national, cultural and personal identity. His work, informed as much by English symbolism as Chinese ink drawing, is a truly global art, and in his most recent paintings, the influential monochrome tones of Carrière have given way to a surge of colour that dominates form in lyrical pieces full of meaning that engage the viewer to share in the artist’s inner battles and his quest to create a living art that speaks at once of place and self.
According to Murphenko, art is an outlet for emotional states but above has to be the expression of a positive energy that shows a way forward. Rejecting at once a modernism that surrenders poetry to form and a post-modernism that fails to display sincerity and human warmth, the paintings, full of electric energy and tonal depth, form a living art, integral wholes that strive for values such as truth, love and freedom.
Murphenko describes his painting technique in terms of ‘hitting the canvas’, and defines art as ‘a knife that cuts’. A compulsive painter, who works intensely in euphoric bursts of cathartic energy until the emotion is spent, the resulting works are indubitably honest, an opening up of a visual art that, although steeped in conflicts to which there are no easy answers, and occasionally driven by fear, abjures above all else a dead art, and celebrates the right, moreover the need, for us to live life as we see fit.
“Art beckons you, mystifies and feeds a need in you to know sense, to experience love and to exist truly. A painting is no more than a hint, a magic thread which will lead your soul to the answers you seek. Serenity awaits.”
The exhibition will be held at Randolph Gallery, 3 Dundas Street, Edinburgh EH3 6QC from 1st August until 15th August with a private view on Friday 1st August. For more information contact Randolph Gallery on 0131 556 0808. For background information on the artist and high resolution images of the works visit www.murphenko.com
Exhibition is organized by Danusha Fine Arts (www.danusha-fine-arts.co.uk
tel. 020 7286 4832) with the support of The Embassy of Ukraine.
|
