butch Murphy’s sculpture practice came late in life when searching for a meaningful form of expression and creativity. Through his journey, Murphy was mentored by long-time friends, artists Michel Beaudry and Bonnie Baxter, as well as life-long partner, Corva with her foundation in Art History. Murphy’s work has been exhibited in several local galleries, with a solo show at the Ashby Hodge Gallery of American Art. He has developed several ongoing venues for public display of his work throughout mid-Missouri, the Kansas Flint Hills, the Kansas City metro area, South Carolina and Oklahoma.

I’m the creator, fabricator and abstract metal sculptor, autodidact by training, combining new and found carbon steel producing representational forms. I make no drawings beyond a simple chalk drawing on my work bench. Stealing words from Jackson Pollock, as I’m producing my sculptures there is a definite period where I spend time just getting acquainted, thus providing direction and evolution. I create to instill a degree of spectator confusion asking for responsive participation. Although in recent years I’ve focused on horse sculptures, I’ve been inspired by such things as a reflection on the ceiling or an early morning dream, many that just vaporize, fortunately. I don’t see myself being trapped by a leitmotiv, however, I am definitely captured by geometry and the Cubist movement. I’m taken by the layering three dimensional effect seen in paintings by Braque and best described by what Donald Baechler defined, and I borrowed, ‘editing’. For now, each production is a study … never expecting perfection, as that would eliminate the search, and for me, the end. — Murphy