10 ACUMEN • SPRING 2023 “I try to paint for that moment in me, and if I can spark that in me, then I think I have a pretty good chance of sparking that in an audience,” says Murphy, teaching assistant professor of art in the department of art, architecture and design. “I want the work to feel effortless when they look at it and to have this hit of beauty where it makes them stop in their tracks for a moment.” “From there, I want it to be more than just beauty,” she adds. “I want it to spark this curiosity where they’re going to look at it for more than four seconds, which is what the average view time of the Mona Lisa is.” Murphy believes that too many people don’t actually look at a work of art like the Mona Lisa with their naked eye; instead, they hold their cellphone camera up, take a picture of it and then post the memory of them being there. But they don’t have the memory of really seeing it. “I want them to see something they haven’t seen before or make a connection they haven’t made before,” Murphy says. “I want people to just stop and look and observe as carefully as I’m observing nature.” The overarching theme of Murphy’s oeuvre is not just observing but representing the interconnected patterns that exist in both art and science through the lens of biological patterns and data visualization. While these elements have been present in her artistic consciousness for over 30 years, Murphy has spent the past decade specifically Artists of all stripes try to capture and represent moments that have made an impression on them. These moments might consist of just about any image, sound, current experience or past memory—in fact, the whole range of human experience—and the artists use their medium of choice to share their interpretation of them with the world. For a painter like Deirdre Murphy, the most important moment is that sudden “light bulb” insight that encourages mindfulness and engenders appreciation. Sparking Moments of Mindfulness STEVE NEUMANN Deirdre Murphy is a Philadelphia-based painter whose art is constantly evolving while staying grounded in the patterns and perspectives of science and nature PHOTOS BY DOUGLAS BENEDICT
RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy MTA0OTQ5OA==