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Hovering between figuration and abstraction, Murphy’s paintings depict a unique presence while having a firm basis in a broader picture-making tradition. After completing a diploma in painting at the National Art School, Sydney, he was awarded a travelling scholarship that saw him taking in the great paintings of the European tradition, while also completing further studies at the Winchester College of Art.

Returning to Australia in 1980, Murphy made a decision to pursue landscape exclusively. In his studio he refers to himself as an ‘impatient painter’. He has a tendency to paint and then scrape the image off and will repeat the process until the work achieves a state of completion. Sometimes he will sand the image back and start over.

Murphy sees a direct relationship between paintings made in the studio and those made in the landscape. While he admits that the larger studio works have more formal structure, they are built with a memory imbued by experience in the landscape.