Simply stated, Now On View celebrates and showcases the artists of Society6 and their work. Get to know them—and then get lost in their gallery.
As a way of introducing yourself, who are you and what do you do?
Hi, my name is John Murphy I am an artist and educator from Ireland, but I’ve been based in Spain for the last 20 years.
Current city: Madrid, Spain.
How did you make these?
So, they are digital paintings created using Gimp, Photoshop and Krita. I start by making my own marks, lines and shapes on paper. Then, I scan those into the program and make brushes out of them.
All of my work is made the same way. That is, laying down different shapes and textures, then deleting parts or all of those shapes, and repeating this over and over again until something interesting happens. Usually, the best pieces come about when I get out of the way, when I stop thinking and trying to control the outcome. One minute it’s a mess, and then something interesting happens. So, the work is often deciding when to stop.
Where do you draw your inspiration from?
I guess I draw inspiration from architecture, books, music, other art and so on, but I am not an artist that looks for or needs inspiration to work. My practice is a process of adding and erasing shapes. So, I follow the process, and more often than not, the art comes. Also, when some pieces pose problems or possible relationships, they often inspire other work and later get developed into new pieces.
What is the best advice you’ve gotten as an artist or the most important thing you’ve learned?
Work. Work. Work.
Just start making marks and sooner or later interesting things will start happening or not, but you can only get there by doing the work.
Social: @johnesfeliz on instagram
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