Reviews

Soda Coke Pop Puzzles

Time Out Chicago, December 28 - January 3, 2007, Issue 96, page 75

Chicago Tribune, Friday, December 8, 2006, page 21, c  sec. 7

Chicago Tribune, Friday, June 10, 2005, page 32,  sec. 7

Four Reasons to Step Out of the Sun
Center Stage Chicago by Joanne Hinkel June 6, 2005
Zg Gallery
"Empty Calories: New Painting and Puzzle Works"
through June 25

Mark Murphy's newest series of paintings may make your mouth water. These paintings look delicious enough to eat, but please don't try this (as that would be bad gallery etiquette!). Using the kind of Pop Art techniques that established Roy Lichtenstein and James Rosenquist, Mark Murphy uses the bright colors used in commercial design and focuses on the connections between packaging and consumer desire. Though somewhat abstracted and without any graphics denoting brand, Murphy's subjects are recognizable as they are products normally found on grocery shelves. "Mmmmmmm" shows a beautiful downpour of M&M-like candies; in "Condensation" droplets of gumdrops so slick and sugary sexy pop off the canvas. Also on view is a series of Murphy's Puzzleworks, paintings on actual puzzles. Packaging constantly dupes us into consuming thousands of empty calories. Mark Murphy's exposure of this fact however is undoubtedly nutritious.