Through the artist’s eyes: Michael Murphy

My portrait of Moses Collins, a gentleman who works at the recycling center near my home in Milledgeville, has been the inspiration of this piece of work. It is a 15 foot by 8 foot nontraditional rendering of a photographic image. It is constructed entirely of bamboo and steel wire, with the negative space provided by the black wall behind the piece. It took about two weeks to cut the golden bamboo out of Professor Katie Aiello’s backyard and another week to husk and clean the canes. The entire piece took close to two and a half months to construct. The process involved the use of digital cameras, projectors and various other technological gadgets. It is a hand rendering of a digital image.

The purpose of this piece is to celebrate and memorialize Moses. It is my way of telling him and others that he is important and special. I met Moses while I was recycling my trash and knew immediately that he was the person that I wanted to honor.

This piece of art will be on view at the Merge Visual Exhibition being held at the Museum of Arts and Sciences in Macon, Georgia. The show is hosted by Craig Coleman and will also feature the work of GCSU faculty Ernesto and Emily Gomez. The opening reception for the show will be held Friday, Sept. 12 beginning at 7 p.m. The show is free and open to the public. The focus of the exhibition is on the ways in which technology has impacted how artists work.

Posted by Colonnade Archives on Sep 12 2008. Filed under Spotlight. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry