From Detroit - lives and works in New York City
My work examines the ongoing aftermath of late-stage capitalism through a process of color taxonomy and its relationship to varying landscapes. I use simple objects such as broken concrete, common big box store building materials and cheap domestic products as stand-ins for the aftermath. What was shiny and desirable becomes dull and unwanted. Objects that now oscillate between a brownish red and a rose pink ultimately have failed to remain appealing.
Growing up in Detroit, a world of industrial crumble and mute palettes, led to a desire to also create a taxonomy of the seductive colors hiding in plain sight. They manifest in the form of neon check cashing signs, dollar store facades and nail salon color charts. Together with the full spectrum of landlord colors, mauves, institutionalized greens etc., symbolizes our relationship to economics, material and form.
My process involves walking through a place picking up objects found in brownfields and purchasing bulk materials from Home Depot's orange bins and combining the two. I intervene with the objects by dipping them into yummy colors, creating installations which show how newness fuels our desire to consume again once our new smell plastic and metalish objects are discarded for what comes next. That which was shiny, red, blue and desirable in a short time becomes undesirable, another failed object oscillating between fire engine red and teeth chattering blue, resting in an awkward transitional purple.
Education
Master of Fine Arts, Columbia University, New York, NY: Start Date 2012 Printmaking Department
Bachelor of Arts, Bennington College, Bennington, VT: Start Date – 2004 Focus in Painting and Printmaking
Studio Arts Center International, Florence, Italy: Start Date 2006 Focus in Painting and Art History
Exhibition History Solo Shows:
All The Woo In The World, 9338 Gallery, Hamtramck, Michigan, August 5 - August 27, 2016
What Else Can We Measure It Against If We Can’t Measure It Against Everything That Came Before, Young World Gallery, Detroit, Michigan, September 12 October 24, 2015, curated by Matt Taber
Group Shows:
Local Objects, International Objects, Brooklyn, NY, March 18—May 28, 2023, co-curated by Trang Tran, Matt Taber and Nate Heiges
Jason Murphy + Gwenn Thomas, Abattoir Gallery, Cleveland, Ohio, September 25—November 7th, 2020, co-curated by Lisa Kurzner and Rose Burlingham
DYKWTCA (Do you know where the children are?), the Corner at the Whitman-Walker, Washington, DC, January 25 - March 29, 2020, curated by Ruth Noack
Landlord Colors: On Art, Economy, and Materiality, Cranbrook Art Museum, Bloomfield Hills, Michigan, June 22 - October 6, 2019, curated by Laura Mott
Delights Of The Garden, Simone DeSousa Gallery, Detroit, Michigan, March 11 – April 8, 2017, curated by Simone DeSousa
The Tyranny of Common Sense has Reached Its Final Stage, LeRoy Neiman Gallery, New York, New York, March 27 - April 14, 2017
Essay’d V, 9338 Gallery, Hamtramck, Michigan, April 9 - May 7, 2016, curated by Steve Panton
Mumbo Jumbo, Public Pool, Hamtramck, Michigan, March 5 - April 23, 2016
Green Go Home, LeRoy Neiman Gallery, New York, New York, May 20 - June 25, 2014, co-curated by Rirkrit Tiravanija & Tomas Vu
Selected Press:
Abattoir Gallery Brings New York-Based Artists Jason Murphy and Gwenn Thomas to Clark Fulton for a New Exhibition, September 21, 2020, by Shawn Mishak. Click Here
National Launching Pad, “Why Not?”: Abattoir Takes the Long View, September, 3, 2020, by Joseph Clark. Click Here
Landlord Colors: On Art, Economy, and Materiality. @ Cranbrook Art Museum, July 13, 2019, by Glen Mannisto, Detroit Art Review. Click Here
The Spirit of Russell Street. Click Here
Delights of the Garden: Ben Hall, Andrew Mehall, Jason Murphy. April 3, 2017 by Glen Mannisto, Detroit Art Review. Click Here
Behind The Counter Episode 9: Russell Street Deli, January 11, 2017, by Andy Didorosi. Click Here
Essay’d: Short Essays on Detroit Artists, 48 Jason Murphy, March 22, 2016, by Anthony Marcellini. Click Here
Detroit's ripple effect. September 21, 2009, by Sheena Harrison, CNN Money. Click Here