bio

Margaret Murphy was born in a Baltimore row house. From an early age she was surrounded by elements of kitsch, religious icons, and an appreciation for the peculiar. Murphy’s paintings are informed by material culture and its ability to reflect, influence, and mis-represent views of gender, culture, class and history. Rendered in a realistic style, Murphy’s paintings address these personal and societal concerns in a provocative way.

Murphy received her BS degree with Honors in Art from Towson University in Maryland, summa cum laude in 1990 and her MFA in Painting from Mason Gross School of the Arts, Rutgers University in New Jersey (1992). She also studied at The Schuler School of Fine Arts in Baltimore from 1980 -1984. Here she drew from plaster casts, studied anatomy, sculpture, mold making and life drawing. Upon graduation she took a job as a mold maker at New Arts Foundry (1984-1986) in Baltimore as the first female employee of this lost wax bronze foundry.

Murphy is the recipient of many professional awards. These include a New Jersey State Arts Council Fellowship in Painting (2008), a Brodsky Center for
Innovative Editions Print and Paper Fellowship (2008) a Gallery Aferro Studio Residency(2008) a MacDowell Colony residency and travel award (1993), two Geraldine R. Dodge Foundation fellowships to attend Virginia Center for Creative Arts and the Vermont Studio Center residencies (2004-2005), a Puffin Foundation Grant (2006), a Change Inc. grant (1993) and two projects grants from Cook County in Chicago (1993-1994). She was one of the first artists in the Aljira Emerge program (1999 - 2000) and has held residencies at Weir Farm in Connecticut (2006) a summer residency at Cooper Union in NY, and was an Artist-in-Residence at the Newark Museum (2001).

Her paintings, collages and videos have been exhibited in solo and group shows internationally. Recent exhibitions include solo shows at Real Art Ways in Hartford, CT., Pentimenti Gallery in Philadelphia, and Cheryl McGinnis Gallery in NY. Group exhibitions include The Feminine Mystique at the Jersey City Museum, HPGRP Gallery in Tokyo and NY, and ArtNews Projects in Berlin to name a few.

Publications and literature include five reviews in The New York Times, New American Painting #63, The Star Ledger, The Philadelphia Inquirer, The Jersey Journal, and State of the Art - a half hour PBS program featuring prominent New Jersey artists. Online reviews include ArtInfo.com, Fallon and Rosof Artblog, Art Fag City and others.

In addition to making and exhibiting work Murphy is a curator in her exhibition space The Garage in Jersey City. She curates exhibitions twice a year in this raw, street level venue. The first exhibition there -GIRL TALK- was reviewed in the New York Times art and leisure section March 6, 2005. Housed in a garage this exhibition space is directed, funded, curated, and administered by Ms. Murphy. Exhibitions bring together mid career artists with emerging artists from the tri-state area. A special emphasis is placed on site specific projects that utilize the garage door.

She has been invited to curate exhibitions at New Jersey City University, Home Girls, which was reviewed on ArtInfo.com and Flushing Town Hall a Smithsonian affiliate (OASIS, 2007). Other curatorial projects include Consumer Reports at Tomasulo Gallery of Union County College, and Introducing: Christina Mancuso and Rae Staseson, a presentation and discussion of feminist video and performance art at the Jersey City Museum. She participated in Curating as Social Sculpture; being a part of the cultural conversation beyond the studio walls at the Tribeca Performing Arts Center. This was a four artist’s panel on artists as curators.

Murphy’s work is in the collection of Deutsche Bank, Jersey City Museum, Hudson County Community College Foundation, The Brodsky Center at Rutgers University, and numerous private collections.

She now resides in Jersey City, NJ. For fun she trains in Naginata with her nine year old daughter.