A look at: Ryan Sarah Murphy

January 18, 2022
  • New York City-based artist Ryan Sarah Murphy's body of work includes sculptures, videos and drawings, provides a multi-dimensional deconstruction of the intuitive, creative process, as expressed through different mediums and technologies.
  • Ryan Sarah Murphy
    Ryan Sarah Murphy (photo by Daniel Krieger)
  • Partition, 2021, Found (unpainted) cardboard, foamcore Partition, 2021, Found (unpainted) cardboard, foamcore
    Murphy’s sculptures are generated from the random discovery of discarded pieces of cardboard that she finds throughout the streets of New York City. Initially drawn to these materials because of their color, she strips them of any identifiable markings such as logos or lettering, then cuts and layers the torn pieces into raw, elegant constructions that allude to cross sections of buildings or overhead maps. The works act as visual meditations on geographical location, placemaking and spatial awareness, fueled by the pure, energetic power of color combinations and their visceral impact.
  • Still from Level Up, 2021, Duration - 1 minute, 50 seconds. No sound.
  • Generator, 2020, Marker, ink, graphite, colored pencil, carbon transfer on spray painted paper
    Ryan Sarah Murphy, Generator, 2020, Marker, ink, graphite, colored pencil, carbon transfer on spray painted paper, 8.5 x 11 in. (21.5 x 28 cm)
    While her sculptures are static objects, her videos have their roots in the capturing of brief moments in time — a certain flashing light or an interesting movement, such as snow falling against the backdrop of a brick exterior, or potatoes boiling in water. Starting with these random, small segments of life on her computer screen, she collages together different sections of the footage, plays with their color, layers them through different effects in her editing software, and then screenshots the results, to be filtered through subsequent layers of technical interventions. The results are enigmatic, animated paintings that can look like pixels, binary code or even deconstructed maps, a visual nod to her fixed cardboard works. In the process of creating her videos, Murphy will often come across a still image that strikes her as particularly dynamic. When this happens, she traces it onto paper, where she then plays more with the color and shape to create yet another layer of expression of an entirely organic process of discovery. Taken together with her sculptures and videos, her work embodies a kinetic loop that documents the interconnectedness of this process, each artwork evidence of another moment in its development.
  • Ryan Sarah Murphy's studio
    Ryan Sarah Murphy's studio