Crackle glaze on ceramic ware always fascinates me, but what's even more fascinating is when the intricacy of its pattern is beautifully replicated in acrylic on canvas. Murphy's skill in capturing this effect is matched only by his ability to render the look and feel of various objects in his fine paintings.

Murphy's still lifes reach back to Baroque in the use of light and frozen moments of time, then he brings the genre into the contemporary era via subtle touches of the surreal. For example, in Moonfish a grey marble plinth placed under a window supports a glass fishbowl. Through the window we see a full moon pockmarked with craters in the same shades of grey used to paint the plinth. The fish seems stunned by the moonlight, it is half gold half pale blue. The borders of the glass bowl, like the window above, are defined by only a simple white line in the rich blue-black ground and the window is reflected with distortion in the fishbowl. This information emerges from a dark ground with a sense of drama that is pure Baroque, however celestial and terrestrial environments meeting and mixing on the one surface suggest the surreal.

Murphy seems to celebrate other artists' creative abilities in his work. His accuracy in reproducing different craft items is more than just an exercise in showing off one's own skills. He depicts a variety of decorated jugs, urns and bowls and objects that reference different cultures known for unique artistic wonders. A small carved ivory Buddha adds intrigue to the otherwise 'simple' still life Apples of Carthage while bright red and green origami works set against rich dark ground in Study for Pijaritas pays homage to complex paper folding skills.

The artist places our view point level with the surface that supports his disparate 'things', he employs correct scale relationships and uses light and shade to create volume. We want to investigate these items with as much attention Murphy has paid to each while painting them. For example in Dragon Pot & Pumpkin we have the large dappled green vegetable with a butterfly resting on it's stem, a purple plum, two red cherries, the above mentioned crackle glazed tea pot and two matching cups, placed in a row on a timber shelf in front of a warm golden wall. There is a sense of infinite space as shadows fall on each object but not the wall beyond. We soon begin to appreciate the subject with renewed appreciation. Then, like the butterfly, our movement and attention are held in check, for a very long time, by the artist's excellent painting skill.

Feed your visual sense with these amazing still life images, you're artistic appetite will be satiated.