Incarnate

Artists

• Megan Murphy

Statement

"If you can bear to hear the truth you’ve spoken, Twisted by knaves to a trap for fools, Or watch the things you gave your life to, broken, And stoop and build ‘em with worn-out tools…"

-If, Rudyard Kipling

Incarnate is about illumination, suffering, and being human. The work is rooted in images of waterscapes, with text from mystics, psalms, and saints. It is about clarity, the clarity that comes from so much chaos, suffering, and information. I use to think that clarity comes from removing variables, but now, I realize that my clarity comes from so much life… children, news, elections, family, work and love. It is so much; it is almost unbearable, yet we are charged with pushing through to find our humanity. The paintings are the synthesis of pushing through and the clarity from getting through to the other side.

The work has gone through several stages as I have tried to make sense of this year; pandemics, family, children growing up, friends leaving, and so much loss for so many people. Somehow, I ended up with the solace of water and light, it says everything we need to know. The Paintings are made with photography, laser cut lettering, glass, layers of pigment, oil, and wax. Layered, sanded away, and then another layer added, similar to an archeological dig the history is in the markings and they reveal our humanity. The letters are created by negative space, so the light from the back can reflect though. 

The paintings take references from Gerhard Richter, Agnes Martin, and Christian Boltanski. Sometimes, not knowing what it is, or how it was made, is actually the solace in it.  The work comes from Chaos, they are reflections of the other side.