Shelter
New York, NY

www.shelternyc.com | rachel@shelternyc.com | @shelter_gallery

In his series of portraits made during lockdown, Matthew Bede Murphy explores the disconnect that so many felt being away from family, work, and normal routine. Each portrait shows either the artist or his partner, and all were painted in the backyard of Murphy’s home – typically the exclusive domain of his landlord. Dissociation and decomposition, both of mind and body, are evident in each painting as the main figure breaks down further and further throughout the series, until representation becomes disembodied heads that exist in a world of colorful brushstrokes.

Repetition of the same subject and the same vantage point speaks to the new routine that many have adopted during the pandemic, and there is a feeling of digestion, acceptance, and growth that parallels the dissonance experienced during lockdown, which continues with the possibility of a resurgence of cases and the looming presidential election.

Falling apart and piecing oneself back together is, in many ways, the lived experience of 2020.